And there it was. If he told them about the fat man, he’d have to share it all. Explain why he and Kenzie were there at dinner. Put all of their suppositions out in the open and hope that they didn’t sound like some paranoid’s rant. But he needed their help to keep her safe. The alternative was to leave Kenzie and hope the Russians didn’t come back. And that was no alternative at all.

“Bear with me,” he said. “Some of what I’ve got, I can back up with a paper trail, but a lot of it is speculation. You guys need evidence, and I don’t have it. Yet.”

“Tell me your story,” Duran said.

Ted didn’t tell them all of it. Most of it. But he held off on pointing the finger at Jackie Clavette, identifying her only as “a lawyer.” The first time he got to a point in the telling where he might have used her name, he skipped right over it without a thought. But by the time he described the scene in the steak house, he was acting with full deliberation. He knew why he was doing it. Not to protect Jackie or the firm. He was looking out for Jill.

“I dialed 911 and tried to keep the rain off her face.” Ted wanted water. His mouth was dry from exhaustion, stress, and too much talking. “Give me a minute before you start asking questions, okay?” He went to the men’s room, used the urinal, washed his hands, and lapped some water from the tap. When he straightened up, he found Detective Kasabian standing at his side.

“I buy your story, but you’re not giving us all of it,” Kasabian said. “If there’s something you want to share in private, now’s the time.”

Ted wasn’t prepared for this. Had Kasabian switched roles, bad cop turned good buddy? Was this a new game they were playing? Or was this cop on the level? There was no reason to trust him. But if opening up a touch helped to close the deal, it was worth the gamble.

“What does Duran say?”

Kasabian took his time answering. Ted thought the detective was having his own difficulties with trust. “He’s in with your girlfriend telling those other two detectives that this is now our case. He believes you, if that’s what you’re asking. Like me, he’d love to take down a city councilman and a big-shot developer.”

Ted recognized that he had been handed an important piece of information. Which meant that he was expected to reciprocate and offer some of his own.