Archer returned to the room and pointed to the attached bathroom. He said he’d meet her downstairs when she was done.
“Tea or brandy?” he asked before he closed the bedroom door behind him.
“I could use both, if you don’t mind,” she said, smiling.
Within a minute she was in the shower, with the water as hot as she could stand. She felt off kilter being naked in a strange bathroom, and yet it was good to get the river stench off her. As she shampooed her hair, her eyes ran along the sides of the tub. There was nothing to suggest that a woman currently spent time on Archer’s premises. Suddenly her thoughts rushed back to Jack and Molly. She’d been so preoccupied talking to Archer that she’d lost track of that part of the night’s horror show. All those months she’d obsessed over what had happened to her marriage and why she’d been abandoned. Had the answer been literally right in front of her?
When she emerged from the steamy bathroom fifteen minutes later, she discovered a sundress lying across the bed. So, she thought, there is someone in his life and he’s loaning me her clothes. She slipped the sundress over her head, put her sneakers back on, and carried her wet skirt and underwear downstairs in a bundle. Archer was reading in an armchair. On the coffee table was a tray with a pot of tea, an empty mug, and a glass of brandy.
“Better?” he asked, looking up.
“Yes, much. I can’t believe how I’ve imposed on you-without even knowing you. Thanks for the dress, by the way.”
“One of my stepson’s girlfriends left it here-I believe she’s gone off to Finland, so I’m sure it won’t be missed.”
Tucking her wet hair behind her ears, she settled onto the couch.
“I hope you’re not an Earl Grey kind of girl,” Archer said, raising his chin in the direction of the teapot. “All I had was English Breakfast.”
“That’s perfect,” she said, pouring.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” Archer said. “I want to hear everything.”
He wasn’t going to let her just sit there and decompress. He was a reporter, after all. But she’d known that when she came here.
She started with her call to Alexis and then took him through everything else, including her presentation and the way Levin had shut her down.
“I was being dismissed, obviously,” Lake said. “And this whole meeting with Melanie-it was clearly a setup, a way to lure me over to some dark street in Brooklyn.”
“Are you sure? What if she had good intentions but simply got cold feet? I even wonder if something might have happened to her.”
Lake hadn’t considered that. But after a moment she shook her head.
“It’s possible, I suppose, but I don’t think so. Though someone could have followed me to the Waldorf, I’m almost sure no one followed me to Brooklyn tonight. I remember that when I parked on the street, there weren’t any cars behind me. Melanie must have alerted someone at the clinic when she’d heard from me and they told her to set up the meeting. Though I doubt she knew they planned to kill me.”
Archer tapped his fist lightly against his lips, a gesture she’d seen him use before.
“But what in hell do they think you’ve got on them?” he asked. “All you actually know is what Alexis told you, and there’s probably nothing the police could do with that info anyway.”
Lake massaged her damp head as her mind tossed everything around. What could they think she knew? Did it go back to Keaton? Was Levin aware she’d been with him that night and assumed he’d told her why he was pulling out of his deal with the clinic?
“Speaking of the police,” Archer said, tugging her from her thoughts, “tell me why you haven’t called them.”
She took a long, slow breath. She needed an explanation that Archer would buy-one that wouldn’t arouse his suspicions.
“The night Mark Keaton was killed a group of us had dinner with him,” she said. “The police came on strong during the interview with me the next day. Keaton had a reputation as a player and they may have wondered if I’d been having an affair with him-and then murdered him. I just don’t want to direct their attention toward me. I’m in a bad custody battle and my ex is clearly looking for anything he can use against me.”
Archer didn’t say a word, just stared at her. Though his face was expressionless, she could see the question in his eyes: Did she have an affair with Keaton? The next question would be: Did she murder him? She took a sip of tea to break the eye contact.
“But if you don’t involve the police,” he said after a minute, “this guy won’t be apprehended. And he may try to hurt you again. Look what happened to Keaton-this all might be connected.”
“I know he may try again-and it’s terrifying,” Lake said. “But I honestly don’t think telling the police will help. It’s not like this guy left his fingerprints in the park. They’d never be able to trace him.”
“But someone down there may have seen him getting into a car.”
She had to get Archer off the police angle.
“Maybe,” she said evenly. “But if these two homicide detectives find out I was chased into the East River, they’re going to suspect something funny is going on with me. Remember what you said about coincidences? Even if I tell the cops I suspect the clinic of arranging the attack, it still puts too much focus on me.”
“But what they might actually do is investigate the clinic. They could end up arresting people-including this thug from tonight.”
Lake shook her head. “But as you said before, there’s no way the cops can just walk into the clinic and investigate. They need proof, and there isn’t any. All we have is Alexis’s word, and, as your producer pointed out, she has a tendency to come off as a nut job.”
“Okay, let’s talk about proof, then,” he said, leaning back into his armchair. “You never found anything in the files?”
She could feel her whole body unclench now that he’d stopped pressing her about the cops.
“Nothing that indicated what they’re up to,” she said. “But when I looked at Melanie’s file tonight, there was a funny little notation-something I’d also seen in another patient’s file.”
From her purse Lake pulled out the scrap of paper on which she’d jotted down the letters. She handed it to Archer, explaining that she’d seen them next to the names on the information sheet.
“Any idea what they mean?” he asked.
“Not a clue.”
“Could they refer to the specific infertility problem Melanie had-or the treatment the doctors prescribed?” Archer asked.
“I’m not an expert, but I know a fair amount of the terminology now, and those letters don’t correspond to anything I’ve heard of. I’m wondering if they’re a code that indicates Alexis’s embryos were transferred to Melanie. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to look at Alexis’s file again. Brie, the office manager, caught me going through the files the first time, and I didn’t want to take another chance.”
“She saw you going through the files?” Archer said. He straightened up in his chair. It seemed some bell had gone off in his head.
“Yes. I made up an excuse, but I don’t think she bought it.”
“Couldn’t that explain why you were attacked tonight?” Archer said, his blue eyes flashing. “You may not have any real evidence, but they think you do.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she said hesitantly. “I’ve just assumed the attack was connected with Melanie.”
Archer stared at the letters again.
“Can you make another attempt to see Alexis’s file?” he asked. “If the letters match what’s in Melanie’s file, we could have something to go on.”