"Kate, it's just--Kate, it's just plain silly to think that the two deaths were related, or that they had anything to do with association or corporation business." "Is it?" Kate said, outwardly bland, inwardly begging to be convinced. "Sarah died of botulism, for God's sake," Axenia said, her voice rising, "and Enakenty fell off a balcony. He probably had a fight with his girlfriend and she pushed him over, for all we know!" "How did you know about the girlfriend?" Kate said. Axenia stopped as if she'd run into a wall, her mouth half-open, staring at Kate. "I--don't know, I thought everybody knew. It's common knowledge." Her eyes slid from beneath Kate's. "Well, it was an accident anyway," she muttered. "Nothing to do with Sarah. And nothing to do with the board." Her expression was mutinous and determinedly uncommunicative. Kate sighed inwardly. "Look. All I'm asking is that you think about it. Don't let yourself be used. When they're done, when they've stolen everything they can, when they've grabbed all they can carry, those carpetbaggers will either squash you like a bug or worse, leave you alone and twisting slowly in the wind, trying to explain where all the money went.
