“Did he check it for viruses first?” Joe asked.
“Of course not. He assumed nobody had touched it since he tucked it away in that locket. In his mind, it was perfectly safe.” Clearly enjoying herself, Larissa radiated confidence. “Not that it would have mattered. There isn’t an antivirus program around that would have caught what I buried in the video file.”
Fiona made a mental note never to get on this woman’s bad side. “So now what happens?”
“Well, while we wait to see what he does next, I’ll download everything that’s on his phone and see if we can use any of it against him.”
“Holy crap, you can do that?”
“It’s her superpower,” Joe said. “You should see what she does to people who really piss her off. It’s the stuff of legend around here.”
Larissa leaned forward in her chair, her eyes fixed on the screen. “Your boy just took several screenshots from the video and sent them to someone.”
“Any idea who it was?” Fiona asked.
“Not yet, but I’ll find out. Oh wait, now he’s dialing that number. This ought to be good; let me turn up the volume.” She pressed a key and the call carried over the laptop’s speaker.
“I told you not to call this number.” Senator Trask sounded pissed.
“It’s important, Benny.” There was no respect in Dennis’s voice, only the haughty tone of a man who believed he held all the cards. “Or would you prefer I just go ahead and leak that video to the press?”
“It’ll hurt you as much as me.”
“Your face is on camera, not mine,” Dennis countered. “I can always modify my voice so it’s unrecognizable.”
“He’s got him there,” Larissa said.
There was a long stretch of uncomfortable silence before the senator finally spoke again. “What do you want?”
“You know exactly what I want. This month, and you might as well send me the January installment while you’re at it. I expect the full amount in my account no later than tomorrow morning. If you’re late again, I’ll make sure you’re the lead story of every news outlet in the nation.”
The call abruptly ended.
Joe let out a low whistle. “Please tell me you recorded all that.”
Larissa shot him a look over the top of her glasses. “This isn’t my first rodeo. Criminals tend to be sloppy and predictable. Makes my job a lot easier.”
Something deep in Fiona’s chest loosened as she let out a shaky breath. It wasn’t over, not by a long shot, but she felt a spark of hope that Dennis would finally face some consequences for his actions. “So what happens next?”
Leaning back in her chair, Larissa took another sip of her drink and set the mug on her desk. “In the interest of plausible deniability, it’s best I don’t answer that question. Go home, relax, maybe watch a movie, and take comfort in the knowledge that Officer Heckler is going to have some really bad days in the near future.”
After thanking Larissa, they left the room. Joe reached for Fiona’s hand, his fingers interlocking with hers, and the simple connection soothed her soul in a way that nothing else could.
“How long do you think it’ll take for things to start happening?” she asked as they crossed the lot to her car.
He shrugged. “I wish I could give you a definitive timeline, but this is uncharted territory for me. From what I understand, the press will want to verify a few key pieces of information before they present the news to the public. My best guess is that it’ll take a week, maybe two for that to happen.”
Not as fast as she’d like, but she could live with it, so long as Dennis finally paid a price for being an awful excuse for a human being. And he would. Given the evidence against him, it was only a matter of time.
At the car, Joe leaned against the door and gathered her into his arms. He felt so warm, so strong and solid, and her body hummed from his touch. She softened against him with a sigh and rested her cheek on his chest.
“It’ll be over soon, I promise,” he said, his breath a whisper against her hair.
Tilting her head, she peered up at him and embraced the warm, fuzzy feeling that started deep in her chest and spread through her body like wildfire. What had started out as a simple arrangement between two people who barely knew each other had grown into something far deeper than anything she could have ever imagined. He was more than her friend, more than a lover.
When she looked at him, she saw her future.
“My place or yours?” she asked, and then arched against him when he stroked a hand down her back.
