Matt said something about needing time to work out the details. They tentatively planned to kill David the following Friday, in five days. It seemed David was out of town until the end of the week. They talked about seeing a movie that night. Kelly had to turn off the sound for a few minutes. She felt sick to her stomach.

Worse, she felt betrayed.

It was only then she realized how much Matt meant to her. Her remark to Tony had been largely vindictive—she had wanted to push his buttons. But now she saw that having Matt in her life had made it easier for her to play hardball with Tony. Romantic fantasies about a proven criminal were of course absurd. To hear Matt calmly discuss murder with that bitch shook her to the core. What had Amy done to him that he would even consider this?

Kelly knew. Matt had caught Amy and David screwing. Then Amy had promised to stop if Matt would just screw David big time. When Kelly had run into Matt the other night, he had been out of his mind. Amy had probably been able to flip his insanity so that she came across in his mind like a sweet-natured nun with guy problems. I’m the victim. David is the bad guy. All we have to do is get rid of David. Then we can be happy together …

Matt had fallen for it. How could he be so naive?

Kelly had not failed to notice Amy’s disinterest in whether Matt got off the boat or not. It was obvious Amy was ready to play both ends of the equation. If things went bad, she could always point the finger at Matt. He killed my husband. He is supposed to be dead. He has my baby. Either way Amy was going to win. She would dispose of David, inherit the money, and have her son back. Matt was so smart, why couldn’t he see that?

“He might see it. He might just need time,” Kelly said to herself as she paced her apartment. Should she give him that time? It was the scariest decision she’d ever had to make. David could die. Matt could be locked up for murder. But to intervene now would destroy all she was attempting to do. She could not arrest Matt and she could not warn him away. Then she would never know if he would have gone through with it. She would never know if she should care.

That is why she felt sick.

She wanted to care. He cared for her.