I stared at the video. The Nina in it barely came up to the guy’s forehead, even in these same heels. Both of their heads were at least eight or more inches below the entryway to the house. But here with me, in the exact same shoes, Nina’s eyes were perfectly level with mine. She had, as always, the grace of a gazelle…but the height of someone much, much taller than the woman talking to Vamos.
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered. “Nina, I…” I shook my head again and again.
“I said it wasn’t me,” she said sadly. “But you didn’t believe me.” She closed her hand over the phone, silently bidding me to put it away. “Why didn’t you believe me, Matthew?”
My mouth just opened and closed like a damn fish, my heart pounding so loud I could practically hear it banging like a drum. Fuck. Oh, fuck.
“If you had waited a few more moments. Answered any of my calls, we could have figured it out together. But you left. You ran away. And now…” She drifted off, as hopeless as I felt.
I blinked again and again between her and the photo. “So, it’s…”
“That is my friend,” she said quietly. “And someone you know…intimately. Her maiden name is ‘Caitlyn Calvert,’ although I believe she goes by Shaw now. Some people, myself included, have been known to call her Cait.” She raised a sleek blonde brow. “I have wondered if that might correspond to another Kate you’ve been looking for. She’s from Paterson too, you know.”
I blinked. Derek had said as much on the phone when he called me here, but I hadn’t really believed it. Not until now. And I hadn’t even thought to ask Caitlyn herself about her relationship with Nina’s husband—fucking idiotic, considering she had been right in front of me less than two weeks ago in the Hamptons. Given our history, I had spent most of that day trying to avoid someone I saw as an obnoxious, desperate try-hard, but it was clear now what Caitlyn was trying so hard to be. She wasn’t just attempting to become a member of Nina’s class and station. She was actually attempting to be Nina de Vries herself.
And this was why.
“Jesus,” I murmured.
“Convincing, isn’t she?”
“So…I don’t get it,” I said. “What are you doing here, then? If that’s not you, what are you turning yourself in for?”
Nina tipped her head, eyes full of resolution. “Because I still know things, Matthew. It’s still my name on the deeds. On the company. Is it not?”
“You said yourself those weren’t yours. Caitlyn was obviously the one who showed up to sign those papers, Nina. It’s identity fraud, not your conspiracy.”
“Yes,” she said, a hell of a lot more calmly than I would be if I found out my childhood best friend had literally stolen my identity. “But just the same…” She shook her head. “For a moment, I thought I would have to be here anyway. Calvin called me just after you left, wanting to waive spousal privilege. But last night, his attorneys talked him out of it again. And I drove back from Boston right away.”
She turned to look down at her hands, which were folded in front of her skirt again. For a moment, I thought I saw the shadow of a bruise on her neck, just under her ear. But before I could say anything, a scratch of static indicated that the room’s speakers were turned back on.
“Zola. He’s on his way up.”
I glanced toward the mirror, behind which I knew Derek was standing. “Shit.”
“This is what’s going to happen,” Nina said calmly as if we were still having the same conversation. “I’m turning myself in for the crimes I mentioned. Maybe that makes me an accessory to this whole disgusting scheme. Maybe it doesn’t. I looked it up. Identity fraud or not, I’m still part owner of a variety of real estate used to traffic young women into sex slavery throughout the tristate area. So, I’m going to own it. Because that’s how I can help put Calvin where he belongs. You said it yourself, didn’t you?”
I glanced toward the door, half expecting my boss to come tearing through any second. “I said…”
“You said the only way around it was if I was an accessory to the crime. Well, I am, as I just discovered. So I’m turning myself in.”
I nearly dropped my phone as I shoved it back into my pocket. “Nina, before you do anything, you need to call your lawyer. The new prosecutor on this case is here to—”
“New prosecutor?” she interrupted. “What do you mean, new prosecutor?”
“I recused myself yesterday. Told my boss about you and me, and as of yesterday, I’m off the case.”
“You—you what?”
“I recused myself,” I repeated, this time impatiently. “Nina, I had to. I should have done it from the start. And because I didn’t, technically I’m on administrative leave. I’m not even supposed to be here. We shouldn’t even be talking. I just—”
“Zola,” Derek interrupted sharply with a knock on the glass. His meaning was clear.
I frowned at the mirror, then turned back to Nina. “Look, Cardozo is solid, but he doesn’t know you. Get a lawyer, Nina. Now. Do not put yourself through a deposition. Do not say a word until you have someone to advise you legally. Please. Do it for Olivia, if not yourself. Do it for—for me.”
There was a knock on the glass, which I took to be my final warning.
“I have to go, Nina,” I said. “Fuck, I’m…I’m so goddamn sorry.”
Her eyes widened again, as if she was just registering that I was going to leave her once more. “You know, I could have borne anything if I’d thought you believed me.”
A
