No Stranger to Scandal - By Rachel Bailey Page 0,51

Lucy?”

Eyes blazing, she seemed to grow about two inches. “You’re questioning my personal integrity now?”

The accusation hit him square in the chest, but he didn’t waver. “Most people have a line in the sand somewhere. Many don’t know where that line is until they reach it.”

“And you, the famous investigator—who even as a child stood up for truth and justice—do you have a line?” She stared at him, waiting while he didn’t answer. Then, suddenly, her eyes softened. “Josh,” she said.

He nodded, every muscle in his body tight. He’d let Josh spend his first nine months being raised Brooke’s way, against his better judgment. Nothing, nothing was more important than Josh. And there was nothing he would choose over Josh’s best interests ever again. Not a woman. Not his career. Not his own life. Josh was his line in the sand.

Lucy’s line was Graham. And Graham was tangled up with Angelica, he had no doubt.

“Tell me honestly,” he said, sinking down onto the side of her bed and resting his hands between his knees. “Let’s say Graham had done something illegal, not phone hacking, some other crime, just to take it out of this context. Hypothetically, if Graham had done something illegal that had hurt someone else, would you turn him in?”

She frowned. “That’s an impossible question. No one could answer that without knowing what the crime was.”

“That’s an answer in itself.” Hedging her answer just showed that there were crimes she would cover up for Boyle.

She crossed her arms under her breasts and tapped a foot on the carpet. “Then you answer a question for me.”

“Sure.”

“Is whatever you’re doing today legal?”

“Of course it is,” he said, taken aback at the question.

She waved away his implication of being affronted without pausing. “Is it ethical?”

“To me, without question.” Everyone had their own ethics and principles, but he was pretty certain his plan would be within Lucy’s framework of ethics, as well.

She sat down on the edge of the bed beside him. “Then tell me what it is and I swear I’ll help you.”

Hayden looked at her, weighing the options, then made his decision. He could use her help, and if she’d given him her word, he could trust her. “I’m getting an order from a judge to put Angelica under surveillance.”

“That’s it?” she asked skeptically.

“If this leaks back to her, say, via Boyle, the surveillance will be pointless, so I have to be extremely careful. But understand, I have the evidence to get the judge’s order for Angelica. If I had evidence on Boyle, I’d get an order for him today, too.”

“Key word there is if. If you had the evidence on him.” She arched an eyebrow. “You don’t have it because it doesn’t exist.”

“The surveillance on Angelica will flush something out on Boyle.” Though he knew nothing would convince her until he uncovered the evidence. “You still willing to help?”

“You betcha,” she said without hesitation. “I want to be there when Angelica incriminates herself and whoever’s been helping her.”

“You and me both.”

Ten

“Hi, Roger,” Lucy said to the ANS night guard as she walked Hayden past the security desk over to the elevators. It was just after midnight, so, aside from the studios where the anchors reported the late-night news broadcast, the place would be relatively deserted. It was the only time Hayden would be able to put the wiretap on Angelica’s phone. As soon as he’d been granted the court order, Hayden had brought some tech guys from his company down to do some more elaborate work on Angelica’s phone lines, but he wanted nothing left to chance with this case, so that meant also planting a good, old-fashioned tap on the phone, as well.

The elevator doors closed and they were alone, except for the cameras she’d told Hayden about during the briefing in his hotel suite. Josh was back there asleep and the nanny was staying the night in Josh’s room. A rush of nerves filled her stomach. This had to work—the surveillance had to find who Angelica was working with and clear Graham’s name. She sent up a little prayer that they’d thought of everything in their preparations and this would all go off without a glitch.

“The weather was lovely today,” she said, making small talk. Silence would look suspicious for the elevator cameras. If they were caught, Lucy would tell Graham that she’d played double agent—luring Hayden to the office so she could show him some of the information she’d uncovered, ostensibly helping him, but really hoping