“I don’t remember it exactly. We’d just come home from St. Barts and Ridley was going on in the background about some stupid book he’d lost. It was hard to concentrate, and she surprised me. I told her I’d think about giving her the money. I wanted to talk to you first, find out what was going on. Then she called again, maybe a couple of days later, asking for the money. I figured I’d help her out, so I said all right. I told her she could come over and I’d write her a check. But she never came by.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before? I’ve been worried sick about her, and she’s probably off at a clinic somewhere. Why didn’t you tell me she called you?”

“I didn’t want to upset you. I know you’ve never gotten along with your sister. I’m sorry, I thought it would make things worse.”

“What was the rehab called?”

For the first time, Martin was lost for words. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “I’m blanking on it. I know I jotted some notes on a bit of paper, but it’s in my desk somewhere. You know what an awful mess that is. I’ll find it.”

“Thanks for droppin’ by,” Jesse said. “Tomorrow you’ll have a sit-down with New York’s finest. They’ll want every detail, so you better get your story straight.” He reached for my hand and led me to the elevators. “Don’t worry if you forget to call,” Jesse called over his shoulder. “I’ll have ’em call you. They’ll be happy to come by your office for a meet-up. They’re real obligin’ that way.”

Once the elevator doors closed, I wilted against the mirrored wall. The hollow feeling in my chest made it oddly hard to draw breath. Jesse was muttering to himself. “Thing I can’t figure is what the hell he wants. Slithers over here with a cock-and-bull story about your sister. Slippery as quicksand.”

“What do you mean?”

“You believe him?” Jesse demanded.

“Why would he lie about Claudia calling him?”

The elevator doors opened and we stepped into the hallway. “Okay, even if that part of his story’s true, you gotta wonder why he has to come over and clap eyes on you to tell you. He knows how a phone works. He’s fixin’ to worm his way back into your life again.”

I tried to ignore the last thing he’d said, even though it made my heart skip a beat. “I can’t believe Claudia asked him for money. Why wouldn’t she ask me? Or Tariq?”