“Evelyn, please do not hang up,” she said.

She sounded panicked, her breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

“Why are you calling me, Celeste?” I asked.

“He is going to let them arrest me,” she said. “I found his other ledger. The real one.”

I looked at Julian, who immediately sat up straighter.

“What about the ledger?” I asked.

“I will give it to you,” Celeste said. “Everything. The shell companies, the bribes, the fake valuations.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked.

“I want immunity,” she sobbed. “I want you to promise your lawyer will protect me when the police come.”

“Where are you?” I asked.

“I am downstairs,” she said. “In the lobby of the Carlyle.”

A sudden knock sounded at the service door in the kitchen.

Marta froze.

I stood up slowly, the phone still pressed to my ear.

“Celeste?” I asked.

“I am outside your back door,” her voice said from the receiver.

The brass knob of the kitchen service door began to turn.

I held my hand up to silence Marta.