“Becky, it’s Ezra. Is everything all right?”
Hearing his voice conjured his face, and that of his brother, and again Livia had to suppress a wave of disgust. Apparently MacKinnon was having a similar reaction. She closed her eyes and swallowed, then said, “A reporter came to my house today. Asking me questions. About Father. About when we were children.”
“Hold on a minute, hold on. What reporter?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t even give me her name, or organization. But she said she had information, about when—”
“Hold on, hold on. How do you even know she was a reporter?”
Livia nodded grimly. She had predicted Lone would be afraid to talk about anything specific over the phone. That he would be afraid to discuss this in any way other than in person. So far, she’d been right.
“Well, who else could she be?” MacKinnon said.
“I don’t know. Some crazy person. Someone unstable who thinks she can make things up to blackmail us. Who knows? Now, did she say anything specific? Just yes or no, Becky. You don’t have to tell me details.”
MacKinnon glanced at Livia. “Yes. Extremely specific.”
Perfect.
“I need to talk to you, Ezra. I need to know what’s going on. If this is going to affect my family.”
“Nothing’s going to affect your family, Becky. Everything’s going to be fine. Now, I can’t talk right now. I’m in Bangkok and it’s the middle of the night—”
Bangkok? Livia thought.
“—and I have meetings starting early tomorrow and then throughout the afternoon. And the next day. It took a lot to set up these meetings with the Thai government people, and I can’t get free for a bit. I just can’t. But I can stop in San Francisco on the way back. Why don’t I come by? I can stay with you—”
“Absolutely not. You will not stay in this house.”
Perfect, Livia thought again. It was exactly the way they’d role-played it. You have to sound reluctant, Livia had coached her. Not like you’re trying to draw him in—like you’re trying to keep him out. Otherwise he could sense a trap. So make him work for it. Make him feel he’s trying to persuade you.
“All right, fine. I’ll stay in a hotel. We can meet in the lobby. Or anywhere else you like. But I think we should talk about this in person. Not over the phone.”
MacKinnon glanced at Livia. Livia nodded.
“When?” MacKinnon said.
“Three days. I’ll get my itinerary revised and text you my flight and hotel information as soon as I have it.”
“If that woman comes back to my house . . .”
“Listen. Whoever she is, if she contacts you again, try to get a name. Or at least a phone number. Whatever information you can. Then you get that information to me, and I’ll find out what we’re dealing with. And I’ll handle it. In the meantime, you tell her nothing.”
Livia glanced at MacKinnon and made the okay sign with her thumb and forefinger.
“I don’t like this,” MacKinnon said, again playing it grudgingly.
“Neither do I, Becky. It’s probably just some crank who wants to hurt us. I’ll be out there in a few days and we’ll figure it all out. And . . . it’ll be good to see you. It’s been too long.”
MacKinnon clicked off.
Livia glanced at the phone to confirm the connection had been broken, then looked at MacKinnon. “You were great, Becky.”
MacKinnon nodded, then started shaking again.
“I know,” Livia said. “I know. But you were great. Completely convincing.”
MacKinnon leaned over and nuzzled the dog’s head. “We’re okay, girl,” she said. “We’re okay. We’re okay.”
A moment passed while she collected herself. Then she straightened and said, “Can you be away for three days?”
“No,” Livia said. “But I can get back easily enough.”
But what she was thinking was, Bangkok.
There was one more thing she needed. Instinct had told her she should wait to bring it up, wait until MacKinnon had first taken some concrete action, like calling her brother. Then what came next would seem a smaller leap. But still . . . it would be a leap.
“The problem is,” Livia said, “I don’t think he’s going to tell me what I need to know unless I have some leverage.”
MacKinnon’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I’ve dealt with a lot of suspects. Hundreds. And there are various ways you can get someone to cooperate, if you have a knack for these things. If you had a good mentor, like I did. But with someone like your brother . . . I can’t just ask. I need something to threaten him with.”
MacKinnon shook her head, apparently sensing where this was going, and not liking it at all. “You said you would tell him you tricked me. Pretended to be a reporter. That he would never know I helped you.”
“Yes, I did. And I could do it that way. But what’s really going to get his attention is you and me working together. Two of his victims, with no connection between them other than his crimes, corroborating each other’s stories.”