“So at a minimum, Kayla is getting herself a local-interest piece on a bestselling author. At best, she’s going to get a scoop on abuse of power at a local level?” Derek asked.
“Yep. Complete with bribery, blackmail, sabotage and much, much more. Everything hinges on how far Mary Perkins can be pushed. The plan is to keep her out of the spotlight and ignore her so-called power and authority.”
As they spoke, Gabrielle and Derek kept an eye on Mary Perkins. As if scripted, the mayor had already approached Kayla and introduced herself. As planned, Kayla shook her hand and excused herself, walking away from the mayor.
Kayla headed straight to Gabrielle’s table, where she paused, leaned over as if she had something important to discuss, and winked at Gabrielle before zeroing in on someone else.
The mayor tried once more to talk to Kayla, but found herself brushed aside for Gabrielle’s mother. Kayla continued to make notes and book interview times-with everyone but the town’s long-standing mayor.
Derek placed his hand on the back of Gabrielle’s chair protectively. “She doesn’t look happy,” he said, sneaking a glance at Mary Perkins, who’d turned her attention to the sole cameraman at the Wave.
As per instructions, he was to keep the long-distance camera angle on Gabrielle at work, not on the mayor or anyone else.
“It’s going to get worse,” Gabrielle said. “There’s one more part of this plan.” What she found fascinating was that Mary Perkins was so predictable that they were able to play this out exactly as they’d hoped.
Gabrielle picked up her phone and dialed. “Richard?” she whispered to her best friend’s fiance. “It’s time,” Gabrielle said softly, and flipped her phone shut.
A few minutes later, the telephone behind the bar rang. George answered, then called out to the crowd. “Ms. Lawson?” the bartender called out to Kayla.
She turned. “Yes?”
“Phone call for you.”
Kayla shook her head. “Take a message, please?”
George spoke to the person on the other end of the phone, then called out, “It’s Mr. Richard Stern. He says he’s a personal friend of Gabrielle’s and he’d be happy to add his insights to your project. His fiancee, Sharon Merchant, is Gabrielle’s best friend. Isn’t that right, Gabrielle?” George asked her.
“It is. Sharon and I went to high school together, so you’ll want to interview them,” Gabrielle said to Kayla. “Besides, Richard is running for mayor. People will be interested in hearing from him, too.”
Beside her, Derek groaned. “Boy, when you plan, you plan big.”
Gabrielle didn’t meet his gaze.
Kayla glanced at her appointment book. “Tell him he can have 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning,” she called to George.
The older man gave her a thumbs-up and relayed the message.
Mary Perkins’s face turned beet red at the conversation shooting around the bar.
“I wasn’t keeping the plan from you.” Gabrielle pretended to work as she spoke to Derek. She lifted her laptop open and hit the power button. “If you’d been around yesterday, I’d have filled you in. And I would have done it last night, but you insisted I try on my newest purchase, and after that, you couldn’t keep your hands off me,” she said, deliberately reminding him of how good things had been between them.
The thought turned her insides soft, and despite the crowd and the intense scene playing around them, desire thrummed low in her belly. With Derek behind her, his body heat surrounding her, the yearning only grew.
“I can’t keep my hands off you now,” he said, his voice low in her ear.
Meanwhile, obviously feeling impotent, Mary glared first at Kayla, then unmistakably at the source of all the media attention-Gabrielle-before storming out of the Wave, extremely unhappy at being ignored.
Gabrielle shivered. “I think she left frost in her wake,” she murmured.
Derek’s hand moved from the chair to Gabrielle’s back in a warm, protective gesture. “I’m more worried about what she’s going to do to get even.”
DONALD WATSON, EDITOR-IN-chief of the
When Richard Stern had approached him off the record and asked to be notified if any photographs of his future wife passed Donald’s desk, he’d agreed. Hell, he’d have endorsed Stern if he wasn’t afraid of Mary Perkins’s wrath.
The favor might be off the record, but Donald was a newspaperman and unable to contain his curiosity. He’d done his research. Donald glanced at the photo and shook his head. Poor woman. To be so violated at such a young age. At least she’d had the guts to send the guy who’d drugged and photographed her to jail.
But, then, who’d sent the photograph in an unmarked envelope to the newspaper? And how had they gotten their hands on police evidence?
Donald had earned the editor-in-chief position the old-fashioned way. He’d started sweeping floors during high school and worked his way up, earning the trust of the editor-in-chief before him. Along the way, he’d built up some good friends in important places. Even small-town papers had to get their scoops.
Another glance at the photograph, and he decided to call his “friend” who worked the evidence room at the police station. “Hey, Rob, I’m calling in that favor.” Two months ago, he’d covered for Rob with his wife, claiming Rob had been at their weekly poker game when, in fact, he’d been with his mistress.
He asked Rob if anything was missing from the Evidence Room and Rob began to stutter before saying no. Since that was his poker tell, Donald knew the man was lying.
“What kind of trouble are you in, buddy?” Rob wasn’t just a cheater, he was a gambler, and he often owed more than he had on hand.
Five minutes later, Donald had his answer. He also had, thanks to Rob, the evidence Richard Stern needed to take down his mayoral opponent.
AFTER JULIETTE’S INTERVIEW, Hank Corwin was granted his turn. Kayla sat across from him at the Wave and waited as they did a sound check on Derek’s father.
Derek couldn’t help but laugh. Hank’s tune about discussing the curse in public had certainly changed. Not his views on the curse, those he expressed in detail, reminding the world-and Derek-how tragedy had befallen every Corwin man who fell in love.
How tragedy always would follow.
Derek couldn’t shake the foreboding that settled over him. Without Holly and her cheerful voice bouncing around him, Derek felt the loss keenly. He could live with the temporary custody arrangement because he could look forward to the next time he could be with his daughter.
But what if there wasn’t a next time?
What if Marlene’s threat became reality?
He shivered and forced his attention back to his father’s interview, trying without success not to internalize the older man’s words.
As he listened to Hank, his gaze was drawn over and over to Gabrielle. His beautiful Gabrielle, perched on a bar stool in her emerald sundress that offset her hair, watching the crew work. He couldn’t let himself think about his feelings or anything else about her, for fear his father’s prophetic words would kick in at any time.
Kayla wrapped up Hank’s interview and Hank headed outside, preening and proud of himself and his time in front of the camera.
“Derek, do you have a minute?”
Derek turned to see Richard Stern. “Hey, Richard.” Derek shook the other man’s hand. “What’s up?”
“I think I have the information we’ve been waiting for,” he said quietly.
“Hello, boys.” Gabrielle joined them. “Why are your two heads together?” she asked, clearly not intending to be left out.
“Richard was just saying he had information for us.”
Richard leaned in closer. “The photograph of Sharon was stolen from the Evidence Room at the police precinct. The guy who works the day shift has skeletons in his closet, which left him vulnerable to blackmail. But he wasn’t stupid. He refused to deal with a middleman. He wanted to know who he was stealing for.”
