Chapter Three
Martha paced the floor between the TV and the closet of Park’s hotel room. “Did you really just tell me you went to yourex-boyfriendfor legal advice?”
“Not advice. I want to hire him.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Ask anyone. Jackson Kane is the best criminal defense attorney in the city.”
Martha dropped her arms but continued to pace. Park couldn’t think of whenhe’d ever seen her this angry. “First of all, you snuck out of here without your security detail, which was an incredibly stupid thing to do under current circumstances.”
“I know, but—”
She held up her hand. “I looked up Jackson Kane. He’s a well-respected defense attorney, sure, but for white-collar crime. He mostly defends sleazy billionaire CEOs who get into legal trouble. His partner,Michael Reed? Law school buddy of Kane’s, apparently. Knows tax law inside and out. These guys don’t defend murderers. But I guess you just answered my question about that.”
For some reason, the comment about Reed being a law school friend of Jackson’s caught Park’s attention. He tried to remember if he’d ever met Reed before that morning. He picked up his phone and called up the Kane & Reedwebsite. The man in the photo looked vaguely familiar, the sort of guy Park might have run into at those stuffy law student parties Jackson had liked to go to, back a million years ago, but Park didn’t remember this guy being much of a fixture in Jackson’s life. Maybe they’d developed a friendship after Park had left.
Maybe they were fucking.
Park felt boneheaded for even thinking it—theywere most likely simply law partners—but Park found himself wondering if Jackson found this guy attractive. Looking at the photo made him insane with jealousy he had no right to feel. Jackson had surely moved on with his life; he was probably in a solid relationship now, making some guy very happy.
And absolutely none of that mattered, because the police were probably going to arrest Parkfor a murder he didn’t commit.
Martha was still ranting. “You should have at least taken me. Shaking Dee and Dum, can’t blame you for that, but you can’t just decide who your lawyers will be. Nobody knows this guy. He hasn’t been vetted.”
Dee and Dum, their nicknames for the brick-bodied bodyguards that followed Park around like Secret Service Agents, were standing right outside the hotelroom, probably giving themselves aneurysms trying to listen in on this conversation, but the beauty of this particular hotel was its excellent soundproofing.
“You don’t know him, butIdo. We can trust him.”
“Because you used to bang each other?”
The wordbanghit Park like a punch in the face, particularly since it was so inaccurate. Park and Jackson hadn’t just banged. They’d hada long-term committed relationship. That Park had walked away from for good reasons. “He won’t talk to the press. He never has. No one has ever dug him out of my personal closet, either. He’s safe and he’s a good lawyer.” Park pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache starting to bloom behind his eyes. “Did you really run a background check on him?”
Martha finally relented in her pacing anddropped into the desk chair. She leveled her gaze at Park, who sat on a love seat. “Don’t run out on me again,” she said. “After you told me where you were when I called this morning, yes, I ran a background check. Jackson Kane is pretty fucking boring, relatively speaking. Something of a phenom, given that he’s only thirty-three. He’s ridiculously successful. Excellent credit score and all that.Of course, the interesting thing about him is that he shares three known previous addresses with you.”
“Yes.”
“Over a course of almost six years, from what I can tell.”
“That seems right.”
Martha’s shoulders went slack. “You were with a man for all that time, you were in a significant, committed relationship that clearly ended after I started working for you, and you never sawfit to even mention that to me?”
“It...didn’t seem relevant.” But Park’s heart was already racing. He should have trusted Martha. They’d been friends for almost as long as she’d been working for him. She was right to be offended that he hadn’t told her.
Martha pressed her lips together for a long moment and seemed to decide something. “Right. So, you hire Kane, and someone in Thompson’scamp starts digging.” Martha got to her feet again. “God, I knew you were going through a breakup when I first came to work for you, but I had no idea it was something like this.”
“So I tell them we were roommates or something. That I hired Jack because we’re old friends.”
“No.” Martha walked over to Park and pressed a finger to his lips. “He is no longer Jack. He’s Mr. Kane if you hirehim, which I don’t think you should do.” She backed away. “This is so unlike you, Park. What made you go see him?”
“Honestly?” Park leaned back into the sofa. The cushions had seen better days and the lack of spring bothered his back, but he tried to focus on the issue at hand. “This is a really fucked-up situation. I still don’t really have any idea what’s going on or what’s going to happen.I just... I felt like I needed an ally. I needed to talk to someone who knows I’m not capable of hurting that girl.”
“You have lawyers.”
“Sure, for campaign stuff. But Ray doesn’t know much about criminal law and Dan is more interested in public perception than the truth. Besides, these are guys you hired. I don’t make my own decisions anymore.”
Martha frowned. “You hired me to—”
