about this coming out. Anything on the Internet can be hacked. It can also end up in the wrong hands. They don’t want details of the coverup to blow back on them.”
“I appreciate that, Senator, and this will be handled in the right way.” Peyton smiled at him. “Those SEALs will finally get justice. Anyway,” she assured him, “I know just the person I can reach out to with this. None of this will come anywhere near you. Senator, thank you so much for this.”
He chuffed a laugh. “My thanks will come when I see the media coverage. Be sure to let me know when it’s going to pop.”
“I will. Thank you again.”
“Keep the faith, Peyton. I know your sister will come out of this.”
She shivered. “I hope you’re right. I pray you’re right.”
They were halfway through their flight back to Tampa when Blaze’s cell phone rang. “It’s Rocket,” he told her, checking the readout. “I’ll put it on speaker.” He punched the button. “Hey, Rocket. Peyton’s with me. What have you got?”
“A promise from the police commissioner that he’ll reopen the case of the hit and run. And do it right away. I mean like yesterday.”
“Damn! You are good.”
Rocket laughed. “You know it.”
Peyton leaned a little closer to the phone. “Are you sure he’ll keep his word?”
“More than sure. For one thing, after my phone call to him, he had his assistant search the cloud for the CCTV photos. Apparently, the idiot who said they were wiped didn’t know it took two steps to wipe them from this particular cloud. He nearly had a stroke when I showed him the cleaned-up photos. That was enough to have him pull all the reports that were filed. Reports that are skimpy at best.”
Peyton glanced at Blaze. “I’m sure he wasn’t happy with the situation.”
“He was damn pissed,” Rocket told them. “He wants to do his best to prevent this from happening again. I’ll bet there’ll be some changes in procedure, not to mention a few people getting canned. He also made some phone calls while I was with him, to the precinct commander where the traffic detectives came from. Said he didn’t care where they were on assignment, he wanted them in his office the next day.”
Blaze slapped the table. “Damn good work. Thanks, Rocket.”
“Did he say when he might have something?” Peyton asked.
“I’d say based on what he told me and the evidence he’ll have, Diane Kendrick will probably be arrested within forty-eight hours. He just has to clean up the shit reports at the precinct so some scummy lawyer can’t muddy the case.”
Blaze was glad to see the frown smooth from her brow. “Rocket, thank you so much. Keep us up to date,” Blaze told him.
“Will do.”
He disconnected the call and reached for Peyton’s hand.
“We’re gonna get it done.”
For the first time since the moment he’d seen her, the strain on her face eased a little.
“Oh, god, I hope so. At least the person who did this won’t get away with it.”
“I’m going to call the hospital just to give the guys another heads up that sometime in the next forty-eight hours, things could ratchet up. I already told them Sulzberger or Kendrick might just be insane enough to take this out on your sister. Now I want them to be doubly on the alert.”
“Yes. Please. Good idea.”
They made a quick stop at the hospital on the way to the townhouse. Blaze reassured both himself and Peyton that everything was in good hands, although he insisted on regular updates. It was early afternoon by the time they entered his townhouse. He was feeling a combination of jazzed and exhausted. They hadn’t slept much the night before, too wound up about what was coming to relax. The sex had been frenetic but hardly satisfying. Now, the high-octane desire simmered just beneath the surface like an underwater bomb ready to explode. The news from Rocket had only added to the high.
“How soon do you think you can get this to one of your reporter friends?” he asked Peyton.
“I’ll go through my contacts right now and see who would be the best one.” She already had her phone out and was scrolling her list. “I have a good relationship with all the ones I’ve used as sources and resources, but there’s one who will really make the big deal out of this if he’ll help us.”
“Good. That’s what we want.”
“I just have to figure the best way to get this to him.