"I know why," I said. "She was expecting you to join her."
He smiled. "Maybe."
I just had to know. "Did you tell her that? Or did she just assume?"
"She assumed," he said. "But hey, I would've told her anything to get rid of her."
"Anything?" I teased.
"It was either that, or kill her," he said.
It was an obvious joke. Still, it was a good reminder that Jack owed me some details that he'd promised earlier.And it was time for him to pay up.
So when he and I returned to my private bedroom to pack for the trip home, I asked, "So, are you finally going to tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"Everything you did on the book tour. You said you would, remember?"
"You already know the most important thing."
"You mean with the judge?"
"No. I meant with you." He reached out and yanked me close. "I fell in love."
Even as I laughed, I told him, "I'm serious. If you don't tell me, I'll go crazy."
And, so he did.
It took him nearly an hour, and by the time he finished, I was staring in absolute shock.
Turns out, he'd planned the whole book tour as a cover for his secret activities, which included putting a whole bunch of corrupt people behind bars – or at least heading seriously in that direction.
And the funny thing was, Jack had done all of this in secret, without any cooperation from authorities.
As he rattled off the names and occupations of the people he'd exposed in one way or another, I sat in silent wonder. His list included two judges, a police sheriff, a couple of lawyers, three drug dealers, a banker, several corrupt businessmen, and more.
And now that I knewwho, I was dying to knowhow. As we sat on the edge of my bed, I asked, "How'd you do it?"
"That depended on the person," he said. "Like take the judge. From those pictures, you might've guessed he was being blackmailed."
"Yeah, I guessed, but it didn't say that in the news."
"I know," he said. "It hasn't gotten out. Butheknows."
"You mean the judge?"
Jack nodded. "Those pictures – he was storing them in his safe. They weren't the originals. And when the pictures started popping up around the court house, he didn't take it so well."
I felt my lips twitch with the sudden urge to smile. "And how exactly did they start popping up?"
Jack shrugged. "I might've mailed a few copies."
"To who?" I asked.
"A few lawyers, a couple of law clerks, their janitorial service–"
"But wait, why them?"
