“You ran into her at the cop shop, offered her a ride back to her vehicle, but took her to dinnerinstead.”
“Yeah—and that’s it. She and I have not slept together.” It was true at the moment, so, hey, goodenough.
“Are you telling me she was just stopping by for a casual visit lastnight?”
“Something like that. I didn’t even know she was there.” That was true, too, in a strictly literal sense. He’d known she was coming over, but he hadn’t known she was there at that moment. “This asshole took a bunch of shots at her, fired a shot at me through my windshield, and made a mess of my truck. I would have called you back, but I was at the hospital with Ms.Starr.”
Tom went quiet for a moment. “Chief Irving called me thismorning.”
“Yeah?” Joaquin tried to sound like he didn’t have a guiltyconscience.
“He said that the administrative assistant he fired is accusing Cate of asking her to stealdocuments.”
¡Carajo!
It was legal for a reporter to take possession of stolen documents—as long as they had nothing to do with those documents being stolen. If Cate hadaskedIrving’s assistant to steal that file, she had committed acrime.
“That’s a serious allegation. What does Catesay?”
“She’s off trying to get the service record of the most recent victim. When she gets back, she and I are going totalk.”
“Is Irving going to presscharges?”
“He said that if the paper had gotten a hold of those pages and published them, he would. He said the fact that he caught the source before that happened is the only thing stopping him. I assured him that no member of my staff would ask anyone to steal files. Then I asked him if you had tipped himoff.”
Joaquin’s breath seemed to freeze in hischest.
“He said one of his detectives warned him. Apparently, this guy had been watching her, waited for her to make her move, and then toldIrving.”
Thank you, Darcangelo andIrving.
But Tom wasn’t finished. “The question then is: Did someone tip off the detective, or did he figure this out on hisown?”
“I guess you’d have to know which detective it was and ask him—orher.”
“You’re good friends with some of those detectives.” Tom had always had an uncanny sense of people. “But I am letting this go. In this instance, I’m glad they caught the source. I’d rather lose a story than see the paper up to its chin in legal bullshit. We don’t need that kind of trouble. Something like that could destroy a reputation I’ve spent most of my career trying to build andprotect.”
“I hearthat.”
“HR has processed your leave. You’ve got a week, and then we’ll re-evaluate. If Irving’s boys would do their job and catch thisbastard…”
“Don’t Iwish.”
“See you in a week. And, hey, Ramirez, watch yourass.”
“Willdo.”
As he walked back into the cabin, Joaquin realized it was the second day in a row that he’d dodged abullet.
He found Mia finishing up the breakfast dishes. Her head came around the moment he stepped through the door, her eyes filled with anxiety forhim.
“It’s all good.” He slipped off his boots. “I still have ajob.”
Relief blossomed on her face. “What did your bosssay?”
He told her about his talk with Tom—leaving out the bit about Cate possibly breaking the law. “Then he asked Chief Irving point blank whether I had tipped him off, and Irving told him that he’d gotten word of it from one of hisdetectives.”
Mia dried her hands. “I’m glad to hear that. I was afraid he was going to fireyou.”