The Villa

deaths, a shooting and what might have been a fatal accident involving herself, her mother, a friend and a young girl."
    She remembered the cold rage on Jerry's face when she'd been in New York and Sophia and her fanner had cornered him. "Obviously she's pissed somebody off."
    Not her problem, Kris assured herself. Not her deal.
    "Besides you, Ms. Drake?" Maguire said pleasantly.
    "It's no secret that I left Giambelli on less than amicable terms, and the reason for it was Sophia. I don't like her, and I resent the fact that she was brought in over me when I clearly had seniority and more experience. And I intend to make her pay for it in the market."
    "How long were you being courted by DeMorney and La Coeur while you were still drawing a salary from Giambelli?"
    "There's no law against considering other offers while employed with another firm. It's business."
    "How long?"
    She shrugged. "I was first approached last fall."
    "By Jeremy DeMorney?"
    "Yes. He indicated that La Coeur would be pleased to have me on their team. He made an offer, and I took some time to consider it."
    "What decided you?"
    "I simply realized I wasn't going to be happy with Giambelli as things stood. I felt creatively stifled there."
    "Yet you remained there, stifled, for months. During that period, were you and DeMorney in contact with each other?"
    "There's no law against—"
    "Ms. Drake," Claremont interrupted. "We're investigating murder. You'd simplify the process by giving us a clear picture. We simplify it for you by asking questions here, where you're comfortable, rather than bringing you into the station house where the atmosphere isn't nearly as pleasant. Were you and DeMorney in contact during that period?"
    "So what if we were?"
    "During those contacts did you give Mr. DeMorney confidential information about Giambelli—business practices, promotional campaigns, personal information that may have come into your hands regarding members of the family?"
    Her palms went damp. Hot and damp. "I want to call a lawyer."
    "That's your privilege. You can answer the question and help us out here, maybe cop to some unethical business practices we're not interested in using against you. Or you can hang tough and possibly end up charged with accessory to murder."
    "I don't know anything about murder. I don't know anything about that! And if Jerry… Jesus. Jesus."
    She was starting to sweat. How many times had she gone back over the scenario Tyler had painted in Jerry's apartment? How often had she wondered if what he'd said, even part of what he'd said, was true?
    If it was, she'd be connected. It was time, she decided, to break the link.
    "I'm willing to play hardball to get what I want, in business. I don't know anything about murder, about product tampering. I passed Jerry some information, yes. Gave him a heads-up on Sophia's big centennial plans, the scheduling. Maybe he asked about personal business, but it wasn't anything more than office gossip. If he had anything to do with Tony…"
    She trailed off, and her eyes glimmered with oncoming tears. "I don't expect you to believe me. I don't care if you do. But Tony meant something to me. Maybe, at first, I started seeing him because I saw it as another slap at Sophia, but it changed."
    "You were in love with him?" Maguire infused her voice with sympathy.
    "He mattered to me. He made me promises, about my position at Giambelli. He'd have made good on them, I know it, if he'd lived. I told you before, I'd met him in Sophia's apartment a couple times. Not," she added, "the night he was killed. We were cooling it awhile. I admit I was upset about that at first. Rene had her clutches in him deep."
    "It hurt you when he married her?"
    "It pissed me off." Kris pressed her lips together. "When he told me they were engaged, I was angry. I didn't want to marry him, for God's sake. Who needs it? But I liked his company, he was good in bed and he appreciated my professional talents. I didn't care about his money. I can make my own. Rene's nothing but a gold-digging whore."
    "Which is what you called her when you phoned her apartment last December," Maguire stated.
    "Maybe I did. I'm not sorry for saying what I think. Saying what I think's a long way from having anything to do with killing somebody. My relationship with Jerry's been professional, right down the line. If he had anything to do with Tony, or any of the rest, it's on him. I'm not swinging with him. I don't play the game that