Page 23 of Blood Game

“Do you think that's the reason the Tavern was broken into?” Innis asked.

The Tavern, the incident at the airport, then again at the hotel, something that had bothered him about the person he saw. And now the discovery that Cate's server had been hacked into, and it wasn't random.

He called Kris’s cell phone. When she didn't answer, he called Anne.

“I spoke with her this morning,” Anne replied. “Apparently her publisher was pretty adamant about her returning to New York as soon as possible. She had a meeting with the police first thing this morning about the break-in at the Tavern, and then caught an early flight to London.”

CHAPTER

SEVEN

The conference call with New York had ended a little over an hour earlier. Everything had now changed.

Plan B, determine their legal position with just the partial manuscript. It was out of her hands.

She returned other calls, met with the director of marketing at the London office, and then made another call.

“I have your flight Ms. McKenna,” Alec's assistant poked her head into the office.

Jewel was young, fresh out of university, literature major, glossy blunt-cut hair, and wearing retro 60's flower-child tunic and leggings.

“Eight-thirty tomorrow morning from Heathrow will put you into New York by midafternoon. And I've arranged transportation for the morning from your hotel. I hope that's not too early, but it was the best to be done on short notice.”

“That's fine.”

“And Alec...Mr. Cameron asked about supper this evening?”

Kris smiled. She heard the hesitance, and subtle change in Jewel's voice.

“And Brynn Halliday with Sky News returned your call. She'll meet you at seven at the Blue Oyster.”

She'd made the appointment with Jonathan Callish at the Bankside Gallery. Cate had been working with him on a showing of her father's photographs. He was obviously surprised by her call, but had agreed to meet with her at the gallery. The appointment afterward with Brynn Halliday was public relations on behalf of the publisher.

Kris had been putting her off. But if she didn't give her something, she'd just invent her next story about Cate and the accident. She was a shark, and like a shark, she was looking for a story by dropping bait of her own in the form of information she had supposedly received from one of her sources about the accident in France.

Kris had mixed feelings about meeting with her but she had her own reasons. She wanted to find out what Brynn Halliday knew.

She slipped on her jacket and grabbed her shoulder bag. With all the meetings and phone conferences there hadn't been time to go to her hotel earlier in the afternoon, and she was still wearing the jeans and sweater she'd put on that morning.

“Oh, and security called a little while ago.” Jewel commented from the doorway of the office.

“There's a man downstairs asking for you.”

Kris frowned. Beyond the staff at the publishers and Brynn Halliday, no one else knew that she was in London.

“Is there a name?”

“Didn't say. Don't forget your phone,” Jewel reminded her, a little too anxious to be rid of her.

Alec Cameron had his hands full with this one, Kris thought, as she headed out the door.

The elevator bumped down at the ground floor lobby and she stepped out. She looked up in surprise.

James Morgan took her by the arm and walked out of the building with her.

“We need to talk.”

Kris frowned as she stared out the rain-beaded window of the rental car outside the Bankside Gallery.