“Discovered your lies, but you are still the liars, and when you get together to plan violence against other people, you are also criminals.” Shane held up both hands. “It’s simple math.”
“Violence.” For the first time Jeff’s face fell. He stopped the chest puffing and all the other nonsense and sat there with a stunned, openmouthed expression. “What are you talking about?”
For a second she bought it. Got sucked into the look and the stuttering tone. Then she remembered who he was and how well he could sell a story. “You celebrated me getting attacked.”
“Someone talked about it.” He hesitated between each word. “There are hard feelings, sure, but no one on the loop had anything to do with that.”
Shane never took his focus off Jeff. It was as if he was constantly assessing and analyzing. “The evidence suggests otherwise.”
Jeff jumped to his feet. “The evidence is wrong.”
The drama was back in full force and she was even less impressed this time than she had been during the first round. “Sit down.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” He muttered something under his breath. Sounded like a nasty name.
“Yeah, she can,” Shane said.
Jeff slowly sank until his butt hit the bench again. “I’m being set up.”
It was Shane’s turn to swear under his breath. “Is that the only excuse you know how to say?”
“You don’t understand.” Jeff’s gaze traveled between them. He threw in the gestures and facial expressions. Seemed determined to convince them of his innocence. “We blow off steam. We talk about how to put our lives back together, to find jobs. To figure out how to take down the website and erase the information that’s been spread.”
That didn’t amount to gunfire, but it had the potential to blow up into that. People could talk in code or get the wrong idea. The dangers of groupthink were especially high when the group had a single sworn enemy. In this case, her. “So you know, nothing about that sounds innocent.”
Jeff shifted in her direction. Spoke straight to her. “If something happens to you, the stories get told again. The spotlight will switch from you to us in a matter of minutes, and all the information on the website explodes all over our lives again.”
She figured that probably was an accurate description of what would happen. She refused to feel guilty about that. “So?”
“Making you a martyr would make my life hell.” Jeff glanced at Shane. “That’s the reality. I need you alive and well, and preferably quiet.”
“Or would it free you if she were gone?” Shane asked.
“You’re wrong.” Jeff’s shoulders fell. It was as if the air rushed right out of him, deflating him. “Both of you.”
With one final exhale, Jeff stood up. Slipped out from the bench and stood next to the table. He scooped his keys off the top and tucked them in his pocket. Didn’t say another word as he turned around and started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Shane asked in a voice that carried a cool chill.
Jeff still didn’t turn around. “To find out who is setting me up. You’ll see. I’ll prove it to you.”
She watched him go. The cocky walk was toned down, but the mess he left in his wake remained. “He’s a bit too confident, don’t you think?”
“He’s had a lifetime of practice at lying.”
Now, that was the truth. Somewhere along the line, lying had become Jeff’s one true skill. The thought of that made her sad.
She rested her arm on the table and turned to face Shane. “So, now what?”
“Easy.” He handed her the pen. Legal or not, the one with the microphone that taped every word. “We keep digging.”
Chapter Seventeen
Tyler showed up the next day. Not at her boarded-up house or the picnic area or even at Corcoran headquarters. No, Tyler came to the safe house. Walked right up to the front porch and knocked.
Shane almost shot him through the door.
He’d tracked him as he came up the drive. Watched him ditch the car around a curve and not near the house. Normally it would have been out of the line of sight of the front door and almost impossible to see. The hidden security cameras helped fill in those shadows.
None of that changed the facts. Tyler shouldn’t be here. He couldn’t be here. The fact that he knew where to track them down, let alone that he’d left his house to travel to them, had Shane itching to fire his weapon. He fought the urge to grab the other man, drag him inside and slam him up against a wall.
He’d ducked questions and responsibility. For a man who spent his life exposing others, his secrets rose to the same level as many of the people he condemned. In Shane’s mind, that made Tyler the worst sinner.