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“I know that now. That’s where I screwed up. I went to your mom. I told her what Ithoughtwas going on.”

“Told herwhat? I want to know exactly.”

Patrick struggled, then answered. “I told her that Sandra was using your father’s credentials to access Naïveté Two.”

“Oh, my God. You made her think my father was sleeping with Sandra Levy.”

“I’m sorry. Sandra told me she got the credentials by ‘playing the boss.’ I assumed she meant your father.”

“She meant Jeremy Peel.”

“Yes. We all know that now. But back then, I was just thinking the same thing everybody thought about Sandra and your father.”

“That they were having an affair.”

“Yes. I didn’t even realize what I’d done untilnow. That’s not an excuse. You have every right to be furious with me. But I want you to know that your mother was so brave, Kate. I told her how awful this project was, especially for girls and young women. I told her Sandra was doing it for her daughter. And you know what she said?”

“What?”

“She said, ‘Well, then, I’ll do it for Kate.’”

Kate’s knees nearly buckled. “I have to sit down,” she said, and she found a couch. Patrick sat beside her.

“Here’s the weirdest thing,” said Patrick. “When Liu pushed Olga off the building, he said the same thing. ‘I did it for Kate.’ How could he possibly have known that’s what your mother said to me—‘I’ll do it for Kate’?”

“He got it from the note my mother left: ‘I did it for Kate.’”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but that’s a really strange suicide note.”

Kate’s expression turned very serious. “That’s because it wasn’t actually a suicide note.”

“Then what was it?”

“I think my mother wanted it to look like a suicide note. But she chose those words so that you would recognize them and know that it wasn’t.”

“Why?”

Kate hesitated to say it, but it was where her thoughts had led her. “Maybe it was her way of letting us know her death wasn’t really a suicide.”

“Whoa.”

“Yeah. Whoa.”

Kate rose. Patrick joined her in the walk to the elevator, and they rode up together.

“When’s the last time you showered?” she asked.

“I don’t remember.”

“Get cleaned up in Enrique’s room. I’m sure he has clean clothes that will fit.”

The elevator doors parted, and they stepped off at the seventh floor.

“You’re acting funny,” said Patrick.

“I just discovered my mother may have been murdered. How do you expect me to act?”

“What are you going to do?”