Page 199 of Dirty Rival
“Take a cruise,” Gabe suggests. “Tell him you have a family thing and can’t interview until you get back.”
“I’m not leaving with all the transitions and merger going on,” she says. “Think of another plan and talk to me tomorrow. I told him I’d call him at my lunch hour tomorrow.”
We disconnect and Gabe and I stare at each when there’s a knock on the door and Carrie sticks her head in the door. “I’m here. So is Blake.” They both enter the office and Gabe and I turn to face them.
“Nothing happened,” Carrie says, “But Cat called just to see if we’d talked about the wedding location. It made me think about her safety.”
“We automatically put a team with them,” Blake says. “They don’t know but they’re safe.”
“How badly is Reese going to freak out at the risk to Cat?” Carrie asks. “Maybe bringing him here with all of us waiting to drop this bomb on him isn’t the right move.”
“He was pretty fucked in the head when Cat was threatened,” Gabe interjects. “And that wasn’t that long ago. He didn’t even know she was pregnant last time.”
“I’ll go to him.” I pull my phone from my pocket and dial Reese. “Have you left to come over here yet?”
“About to leave now. Why?”
“I’ll come to you, but I still need you one on one. I have a personal liability in this a particular legal scenario and I don’t want to upset her.”
He’s silent a beat, in which I know he’s dreading whatever I’m about to hardball at him. “The bar in the lobby of my building in thirty minutes.”
“That works,” I say, and when we disconnect, I get right to updating Carrie and Blake on the developments. “Elijah offered Connie a job and a fifty-thousand-dollar sign-on bonus. She told him she’d think about it and call him at lunch tomorrow.”
“That’s insane,” Carrie says. “He’s blatantly going after you and everyone around you.”
“I don’t want her anywhere near him.” I look at Carrie. “Like I don’t want you near the wife”
“The wife does yoga three nights a week,” Blake says. “My wife is going to try to connect with her at tonight’s session. She’s already there. She has a good read on people. Our hope is that she can access where her head is right now. Even a glimpse of stress, of an on-edge mood, can tell us things are rough at home.”
“I still think me talking to her gets us the furthest,” Carrie adds. “She can help. She can tell us what he’s up to and she will have a connection to me.”
“That she fucked me?” I snap. “Seriously, Carrie? Tabitha lied and fucked me to get to her husband,” I say. “What else will she do? No. The end.” I look at Blake. “I’m not playing these games. I don’t want to know what mood that bitch is in. I want to know how to ruin her. We’ll make her help us.”
“If you’re expecting pushback,” Blake says. “You won’t get it. I’m already working on her dirty little secrets.”
I think of the shooter in that store. “Let me be clear,” I say, “I’m over that talk earlier about him being insane. He’s a sick bastard. Check. Got it. All the more reason to put him down now. Those offshore accounts you found aren’t enough. Why do they exist? Who’s in on it with him?”
“Three board members with offshore accounts,” Blake says.
“I need everything you have in my inbox by the time I get done talking to Reese.” My cellphone rings and I pull it from my pocket to frown. “What is it?” Carrie asks, urgently, crossing to stand in front of me.
“Our building security,” I say, answering the line on speakerphone. “Reid Maxwell.”
“You have a guest here that insists it’s urgent.”
“Who is it?” I ask.
“Tabitha Woodson.”
At the mention of Elijah’s wife, my eyes meet Carrie’s. There’s not a chance in hell I’m going to meet her in my apartment. “Hold on,” I say, pushing mute and looking at Blake.
“Keep her in the lobby,” Blake says. “And buy time. I’ll wire you.”
I nod and unmute the call. “Tell her I’ll be right there.” I disconnect and look at Carrie. “Stay here with Gabe.”
“Not a chance in hell,” Carrie says. “And if you think that’s happening, we’ll be divorced before we get married. You aren’t meeting that woman without me. The end.”
Blake interjects. “It could be a set-up meant to look like another hookup. Take your future wife with you.”