“We’ll be out there soon,” I told her. “Once you’re done saying all the nasty stuff he deserves. Then we get a turn.”
We sat with her for a few more moments as she cried, sighed, and swore under her breath. When we hung up, Axel and I just watched each other heavily for a few moments.
“How did this leak?” I whispered as I pushed the phone aside.
“That’s what we’ve gotta figure out.” Axel pointed to what he’d drawn on the sheet. Columns were labeled according to salacious detail:secret family. Ian Fairchild.“We’re going to write down who knows about each one of the details that came out. Because this shit…” He paused, shaking his head. “This shit was close to the chest. Whoever betrayed us…”
I sighed, resting my elbows on the countertop so I could cradle my face. “I fucking hate this.”
“We gotta do it. And we’ve gotta take action.Today.”
He was right. Of course he was right. But deep down, I knew where this was headed.
We laid out the names of who knew about each detail. The overwhelming majority featured only two names: Francis and Jessa. Felicia and Madison, our receptionists, showed up in a few columns, but there were too many details on this sheet that they’d have no way of knowing, short of sonar hearing and mindreading. Ian had access to the nitty gritty details about his own existence, of course, but there were too many particular details about the SEC investigation in the article that Ian would have no access to. We discounted Trace, since we agreed that he wouldn’t leak a secret brother to the press after keeping it a secret fromusfor almost fifteen years.
Besides, this hurt Trace, too.
“So,” I said, my gaze raking over the two names that appeared the most frequently. “What’s our takeaway.”
“That this fucking sucks?” Axel rubbed at his eyes. “I don’t know, man. You’re the data guru. Tell me what we should do.”
“Data says it has to be one of them.” I tapped my thumb against the sheet, my own words sounding hollow, forced.
Axel shook his head, squinting over at me. “But it just doesn’t seem possible.”
I didn’t truly believe it could beeitherof them.
“But it has to be,” I said, more as a test than a fact. “Right?”
We stared at each other for an eternity, wracked with doubt.
“Right,” Axel concluded, looking at me severely. “If we had to pick one, who would it be?”
My mouth went dry. “I don’t know.”
“Who needs money more?”
I pinched my eyes shut, the realization crashing over me. Of course the press would pay well for news like this. Money had to be the main motivating factor. It always was.
“Jessa’s family is pretty much always hounding her for money,” I said quietly, not even wanting to speak the words. “I thought we paid her enough. Maybe they were asking for too much.”
Axel crossed his arms, staring at the list. “I don’t think she’d do it, though.”
“Me neither,” I whispered.
More silence. More confusion.
“But neither would Francis,” Axel whispered. He knocked his knuckles against the countertop. “Okay, we’ve gotta take our emotions out of this shit. Here’s what I know. Francis has been around sensitive information foryears. He has a proven track record. Jessa doesn’t.”
I stewed over this, remembering what Jessa had told me in the car returning from the Hudson Valley.
“Jessa has a new roommate, Kendra,” I blurted. “Maybe it was her. She could have broken into Jessa’s phone, or her email…I pulled up some information on her but didn’t look it over yet.” I swiped through my phone, accessing my secure documents. I’d run a background check, which had come back clean. Seeing that had satisfied me for the moment, so I hadn’t combed through the specifics of this woman’s life.
“You think a new roommate could have anything to do with this?” Axel asked, doubt in his voice.
“I don’t know jack shit anymore,” I replied, scanning the information as quickly as I could. Place of birth. Siblings. Degrees obtained. Place of employment. “Except that it couldn’t have been Jessa.”
Axel sighed, rubbing at his face as I scanned the information as quickly as I could.