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“Yeah?” she asked cautiously.

“Look, I’m sorry. It’s Jazz, right?”

“Yeah,” Jazz said, and started walking again.

“I got out of line, and I apologize. It is strange, though, don’t you agree?”

“I do.” She struggled with it for a few seconds, and admitted, “I was out of line, too.”

Another brief silence. “You think you’re being played?”

“Probably.”

“Yeah, me, too.” The sound of papers rustling. “I don’t like this phone thing. It’s a paper trail. They can interpret it however they want.”

“They, who?” Jazz asked.

“They anybody.”

“You’re not paranoid—”

“If they’re really out to get you,” Lucia finished. “Sorry for interrupting.”

“Hey, that’s your freak, not mine. Me, I hate being lied to.”

This time, she did hear an emotion in the voice. “We have something in common after all.”

“So.” Sol’s was ahead. Jazz quickened her pace to get past it faster. “You want to do this thing? Talk face-to-face?”

There was a long, silent pause, and then, “I don’t know. Yes. I think so. Otherwise—”

“There’s a check,” Jazz said. “I have it, it’s made out to us both. For a hundred grand.”

“For awhat?”

“One … hundred … thousand … dollars.”

“I didn’t think you meant cents,” Lucia said. “Is it good?”

“I’ll check it tomorrow, but yeah, I’m kind of leaning toward the idea it is.”

“Why?”

She couldn’t really say, until she tried to put it into words. “The guy they sent. He was … credible.”

“Really,” Lucia said doubtfully. “If we’re thinking about any of this, I will insist on seeing the law firm. In New York. And talking to this lawyer you met, face-to-face.”

Something lightened in Jazz’s guts, because those were the exact same steps she would have taken, in Lucia’s position. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Sounds good.”

“But first, we need to meet. In person.”

“When?”

There was a pause, and then Lucia said, with a hint of a laugh in that smooth, professional voice, “What’re you doing tomorrow?”

“Wait … you’re in Washington, right?”

“I travel,” she said. “Happens that I’m in transit right now after a case in Dallas. I can reroute through K.C. Can you meet me at the airport?”