‘Yes.’
‘So I’m guessing she didn’t come up with the goods so now you’ve come to me?’
‘I thought it was the right thing to do.’
‘So how can I get it?’
‘If you’d like it I can email it to you when I get back.’
Kelly realised that this was his insurance. She’d have to let him go if he promised her something.
‘Is there something else? You could have told me this over the phone.’ Her hands twitched and she was desperate to see the footage but she mustn’t rush and scare him off.
‘We can overlook your timelines,’ she said.
‘I saw Sandy come in from outside just as he fell.’
‘Tuesday evening?’
A nod.
‘Had she been smoking?’
‘I don’t know. I guess she could have been.’
Kelly’s heart sank. Lee Lovett was suffering. Now paranoia had kicked in and he was grasping at anything he could to assuage his desperate abandonment at the hands of a predatorial woman. Sandy had wounded him and so he wanted to repay her in kind by pinning something on her.
She understood.
‘I hadn’t seen her go out,’ he said.
Now Kelly paid attention because this was more interesting. Lee was in love with Sandy, that much any fool could tell, so he’d pretty much stalked her the whole conference. This detail was significant to him.
‘When did you see her before then?’
‘In the conference talking to the American in the cream suit.’
‘Hank Hampton?’
‘Yes, Mr Hampton.’
‘So are you telling me, then, Lee, that you suspect that Sandy could not have gone from talking to Mr Hampton inside to being seen outside?’
A nod.
‘You’re telling me you think she used the back stairs?’
A nod.
‘Why would she do that?’
Lee’s face showed her that he was confused, yes, but also unsure, worried.
Troubled.
He was fighting with his conscience. He’d fallen in love and when that happens, hope emerges strong and clear. That hope had been dashed by Sandy’s callousness. She’d dumped him. Now he wanted to offload.
‘Do you think the timing of her being outside at that moment was important?’
