“Before you do anything, you need to have a really hard think about the consequences of going any further.”
Jilly’s lips clamped together. She wasn’t impressed with his advice. Five years ago, he probably would have been the same. But time and a whole lot more experience had taught him a valuable lesson. The truth wasn’t always what it seemed. And sometimes, telling the truth had more lethal consequences than keeping quiet.
“Something tells me, Logan Allen, that you know more than you’re saying.”
“What I know or don’t know isn’t important. Forget about Tess for a minute. What do you think this story will mean for your career?”
“Professional recognition. A promotion, maybe a new job in a bigger city.”
“It could also get you fired, or at the very least, demoted. The police couldn’t prove anything last time. You need to have water-tight evidence before you even consider taking a story to your editor and the paper’s legal team.”
Jilly titled her chin. “I’m not scared of a story.”
“Maybe you should be.”
“I can’t believe you just said that. You’ve won three awards. A Pulitzer Prize. Your columns are syndicated to newspapers across the country. You don’t get that type of recognition by writing about the ten most popular paint colors of the year. You’re lying to yourself if you think you wouldn’t follow this story.”
“I’m not following the story because it could hurt far more people than the Senator. Leave the people that are involved to come up with the evidence and go to the police.”
“What have you found out?”
Logan sat back in his chair. He felt far too old and jaded to be having this conversation with Jilly. She still had high ideals and an ambitious streak that could take her to the top of her career or sink her like a stone.
He’d promised Tess he wouldn’t say anything, and he’d keep his promise. But if Jilly wrote a story, Tess would have to do something fast.
“Leave the story alone, Jilly.”
“Are you giving me that advice as a friend or a colleague?”
In the past, Logan had treated the line between friendship and work with a blurry grayness when it suited him. But he wasn’t that person anymore. “My worry about your safety comes as a friend. As a colleague, I’m telling you to be very careful. Senator Gibson won’t take your accusations lightly. He’ll come after you and won’t leave you alone until you’re either gone from the paper or charged with defamation.”
Jilly picked up her bag. “I’m willing to take that risk. I’ll pay for dinner on my way out.”
Logan watched her walk toward the reception desk. He didn’t like what Senator Gibson had done any more than Jilly did. The only person with enough evidence to put him away was his ex-wife. Until she was ready to go to the police, Jilly didn’t have enough information to force a conviction. And with no conviction, her career and the life Tess had built were in danger of being destroyed.
He turned his cell phone on. He needed advice from someone who knew how to keep people safe. And Dylan was the only person he knew that could help.
Chapter Nine
“You do know what the time is, don’t you?” Dylan stood in his living room, scratching his head.
“I know, but I couldn’t leave it until the morning.” Logan walked across to the kitchen and turned the coffee machine on. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“I could have had a woman in here,” Dylan grumbled. “We could have been having wild monkey sex. What would you have done then?”
“Made myself at home while you died from exhaustion.”
Dylan grunted, then flopped down on the sofa. “You can make coffee for me, too. What’s so important that it couldn’t wait until the morning?”
Logan pulled a couple of coffee mugs out of the pantry and told Dylan about Tess, Jilly, and the Senator.
“You’ve got yourself more than a handful of problems.”
“You could say that. What do you think I should do?”
Dylan stretched his legs out in front of him and looked at the pink curtains hanging from the window. The house he was living in was a rental. Logan knew he’d taken it sight unseen from a realtor when he’d first moved to Bozeman. It was supposed to have been an in-between step until he decided whether he wanted to rent or buy. But apart from the pink curtains, it had suited Dylan, so he’d stayed.
Until recently, Dylan had appreciated the solitude that living out of town gave him. But solitude didn’t work too well when you were looking for a girlfriend. So he’d started looking for a house closer to town, somewhere he could bring his dream date back to. Logan had no idea what would happen once she got there, but that was up to Dylan.
Dylan took the mug Logan held out to him. “Sit down and tell me more about the Senator’s ex-wife. She’s the one with the power to blow this story right through to the White House.”
Logan sat down and told Dylan what he knew about Marcie Gibson. “She’s ambitious. Senator Gibson’s lawyers tied her into a prenup she wasn’t happy about. She wants revenge, but she wants his money as well. She’s fighting their divorce settlement with everything she’s got.”
“Where’s the copy of the Senator’s hard drive?”
Logan frowned. “I don’t know. She said it’s somewhere safe.”
“She’d better hope it is. If her ex-husband finds out she’s got it, he’s not going to be happy. What does she look like?”
“Tall, brunette, big green eyes. She won the Miss Virginia contest six years ago.”
“Photogenic?”
Logan nodded. “She’s stunning, if you like that sort of woman.”
Dylan drank his coffee. “I’ve got an idea, but you might not like it.”
“Try me.”
“Talk to Marcie before Jilly finds her. Convince her to let you write a story. Get professional photos taken of her looking sad and unhappy, real tear-jerker stuff. Publish the story, then make sure she goes to the police. Once the story hits the headlines, the police won’t be able to ignore her allegations, especially with the evidence she’s got.”
“What about, Tess?”
“If Tess gets caught up in the fiasco, Mrs. Ex-Senator will be lucky to get a mention. From what you’ve said, that will be the last thing Marcie wants.”
“It’s the last thing Tess wants, too.”
“Keep Tess out of it. Don’t mention her name. It might be good if she goes on vacation when the story’s about to break.”
“Jilly and Tess are going to hate me.”
Dylan stared at him. “Who are you most worried about?”
“Tess.”
“Look out for her, then. Jilly will eventually forgive you.”
“Yeah. In about fifty years’ time.”
Dylan didn’t look remotely concerned. “It’s better than Tess hating you.”
“She’ll do that, anyway.” Logan knew that whatever happened, Tess wouldn’t be talking to him. If he didn’t get to Marcie Gibson tomorrow, Jilly would be publishing a story that would land Tess in the spotlight.
He had to decide what to do, and it had to be tonight.
Dylan walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He had a pillow and a duvet in his arms. “Here…” He threw the whole lot on the sofa beside Logan. “If you’re not going to get much sleep you might as well stay here. At least I’ll know you haven’t crashed on the way home.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it. You might need to repay the favor one day. If you wake up with a pillow over your head, it’s because you’re snoring like a train.”
“Nice to be appreciated.”
Dylan snorted and left him on the sofa. “I’m going to bed. Don’t wake me up when you leave.”
They both knew that wouldn’t happen. Dylan slept for about as many hours a night as Logan did. Between them, they were almost normal. He could guarantee that four-thirty would roll around and they’d both be up, drowning their sorrows in
the biggest mug of coffee they could find.
And right at the moment, that thought was more comforting than what he had to tell Tess in the morning.
***
Tess kept an eye on the clock as she made a vegetarian quiche. Logan was late this morning.
She’d left a big note on the front door handle asking him to come and see her. She wanted to know what his reporter friend had said last night, and what she planned on doing next.
She added garlic, mixed herbs and cheese to the egg and milk she’d already mixed together. She’d half expected Logan to give her a call last night, but he hadn’t. It had been a long night. She’d spent most of her time tossing and turning and getting no sleep.
Tess jumped when someone knocked on the front door. She wiped her hands on her apron and walked into the café. Logan was standing outside with his running gear on and sweat trickling down his face. She opened the door and let him in.
“I stayed the night with Dylan.”
“Oh.” Tess locked the door behind him. “How did you end up at Dylan’s house?”
“I went there after Jilly left the restaurant.”
“Does that mean it was a good or not so good dinner?”
Logan walked through to the kitchen and took a glass out of the pantry. “Dinner was good, but she wants to write an article about Senator Gibson.”
Tess sat on a kitchen stool and stared at Logan. “She can’t.”
“She can, and she’s going to.”
“Does she have any evidence that he was supplying drugs to Evie?”
Logan finished his glass of water. “She’s spoken to a few people, but she hasn’t got anything concrete.”
Tess felt like her whole world was collapsing. “Does she know about me?”
Logan nodded. “She knows about your modeling career, about Evie, and about the Senator. She wants him to face criminal charges for what he did.”
“I want that too. But doesn’t she realize he’s dangerous? He has friends who know how to bury a story. He’ll destroy her career, then come after me.”
Logan pulled some paper towels out of the dispenser on the wall and wiped his face. “I have a plan.”
Tess dropped her head into her arms. She’d had a plan, too. A plan that involved running a café in Bozeman, having a happy life. “Jilly can’t write her article without solid evidence that will stand up in court. I need to call her and tell her what happened last time.”
“She knows what happened last time. She’s going to write her story regardless of what you say.”
The timer on the oven beeped and Tess took out a tray of chicken pot pies. “What’s your plan?”
“Do you want to put the other pie in the oven?” Logan looked at the vegetarian quiche she’d been making.
As soon as he’d mentioned Jilly’s article she’d forgotten all about the quiche. She looked down at the half made mixture and poured the filling into the pastry shell. She added sliced tomatoes and Parmesan cheese to the top. There were five different vegetables in the quiche, but right at the moment she didn’t care how healthy or good it would taste. All she cared about was the article Jilly wanted to write.
While she’d been daydreaming, Logan had washed his hands. He lifted the quiche off the counter and slid it in the oven “How long?”
“Forty minutes.” Tess watched him move around the kitchen with the ease of someone who’d been working here a long time. Except he hadn’t been working, not officially anyway. Sometimes he made breakfast for her and Annie. He’d helped make salads and put together more panini and toasted sandwich combinations than most people knew how to make.
She didn’t know why he’d made her café his halfway mark on his morning run. She’d thought that after Connie’s wedding he would have stopped dropping in, but he hadn’t. She enjoyed Logan’s company. Most of the time.
Today, she wasn’t so sure. Especially when he had a determined frown on his face. “Tell me about your plan.”
“I need to write a story about Senator Gibson before Jilly does.” Logan held his hand up when she started to interrupt. “Hear me out first. Senator Gibson’s ex-wife has all of the evidence a court needs to make a conviction.”
After everything that had happened, Tess wasn’t trusting anyone’s word on what they might or might not have. “How do you know she’s telling the truth?”
“She showed me the files. The Senator was meticulous when it came to his finances and business transactions. His hard drive has the dates he bought drugs, supplier details, the works. I had the information checked by a lawyer and there’s enough evidence to send him and his suppliers away for years.”
“Does Jilly know you’ve talked to the Senator’s ex-wife?”
“No, and she won’t get the chance. The story will be with my editor by eleven o’clock today and published tomorrow morning.”
Tess felt sick. “You can’t do it.”
“I’m focusing on Marcie Gibson’s story about her husband. He supplied other models with drugs. I won’t mention your name or Evie’s.”
“But other reporters could look into what happened and do exactly what Jilly did. They might connect the stories from three years ago and find me. What if Senator Gibson does the same thing? He doesn’t know I’m here, but if he found out I could be in trouble.”
“I’ve thought about that, too. Mom’s arriving this afternoon from Seattle. You can go to Yellowstone National Park tomorrow with her and Dylan.”
Tess didn’t move. She wouldn’t run away and do what she’d done last time. “Annie doesn’t start work until seven o’clock. I’ve got to get everything ready. After the café is sorted, I need to make the meals for Pastor Steven. I can’t take the day off.”
“Dylan isn’t leaving until eight o’clock, so you could still bake in the morning. Annie will be here to help you and Kate arrives in the afternoon. They’ll be fine. I’m sure Molly or Emily would give them a hand for a few hours.”
Tess knew it would take more time than any of her friends had to help in the café. She did have two other people she’d hired before to help when someone had been sick. But that was beside the point. She wasn’t running away.
“I’m not going anywhere and you can’t write a story about Senator Gibson. I can’t hide for one day and expect everything will be back to normal after that. I’ve got the rest of my life to think about.”
Logan walked across to the plastic trays Mr. Kussack had left in the café that morning. He separated the trays until the custard and raspberry bread knots were in front of him.
Tess watched him inhale the sweet smell of the glazing. “Are you even listening to me?”
“I am, but I’m also admiring these buns.”
Tess glared at him. “You don’t normally have such a sweet tooth in the morning.”
“It’s been a long night. Can I have one? I’ll leave the money beside the cash register.”
“You don’t need to worry about leaving any money. You do enough around here.”
Logan chose one of the buns and bit into it.
Tess waited until it was half eaten before trying to talk some sense into him. “Why aren’t you going with your mom to the Park?”
Logan swallowed the mouthful of bun he was chewing. “I’ll be deflecting the calls I get from other reporters. If I encourage their interest in Marcie, it will keep them away from you. I asked Dylan if he wanted to go. He can look after you and mom better than I could. He hasn’t been out to Yellowstone, so you could be their tour guide.”
“I’m not going.”
Logan finished his bun and licked his fingers clean. “I’ve got a story to write. I’ll see you at lunchtime.”
“I’m not going, so don’t think you can talk me into doing what you want me to do.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he said dryly. “Talk to Annie. See what she thinks.”
“I don’t need to talk to Annie and you’re not going to write a story. Your plan won’t work.” Tess glared
at his back as he walked out of her kitchen. Not only wasn’t he listening to her, he wanted her to take his mom on a sightseeing tour. And then there was Dylan. The man positively screamed danger. How anyone could go anywhere with him and not attract attention was beyond her. He probably carried a gun and knew how to use it.
Logan wasn’t sending Dylan with her to spend the morning in the sunshine. He wanted Dylan to babysit her. She didn’t need anyone looking after her because she wasn’t going anywhere. She’d stay right here, get the café ready for their first customers and pretend she wasn’t involved in the story she didn’t want Logan to write.
And then she’d head upstairs at the end of the day and wait for disaster to strike.
***
The next morning, Tess looked up when the kitchen door opened.
“Are you ready to be our tour guide?” Dylan stood in the doorway looking all outdoorsy in his khaki pants, white t-shirt, and cotton shirt.
“Logan must have forgotten to tell you that I’m not going.” Tess flicked her gaze to the clock on the wall. “I thought you would have left by now?”
“I’ve been waiting in the truck with Logan’s mom. He must have forgotten to tell you we’d be waiting out front.”
The gleam in Dylan’s eyes told her he found her stubbornness amusing. The rest of his face hadn’t moved from commando cool. It was scary to think she was getting used to his non-existent body language.
Tess frowned. “Logan didn’t forget to tell me you’d be out front. I chose to ignore it. Annie went outside ten minutes ago and told you to go without me.”
“So she did.” Dylan didn’t move. “Seems like we’re at one of those impasses.”
Tess threw a handful of mixed herbs in the pie filling she was making. “No, we’re not. I know exactly what I’m going to do. I’m staying here.”
“Logan asked me to look after you, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“I’d suggest you get Logan’s mom out of the truck then. I can make you a cup of coffee and you can enjoy the ambiance of the café for the rest of the day.”
All of Me (The Bridesmaids Club Book 1) Page 16
