“Looks like our boy, Porter, has some pretty powerful women under his thumb,” Grant commented.
As Derek flipped through them one by one, he knew his friend was right. Each picture was of a woman. Most of whom, Derek recognized immediately.
He’d seen their faces on the news and social media. Amongst the women were several highly-respected judges and a couple of famous attorneys.
“Holy, shit,” Derek exclaimed as he came to the next picture. The woman spread out on the bed was a governor’s wife.
“I don’t think they knew they were being photographed.”
The angle and position of the women made Derek agree with his teammate’s assessment.
“Flip it over,” Grant directed him.
He did as instructed. What he found there was even more troubling.
Attached to the back was a copy of a letter addressed to the woman in the picture. After a quick check, he realized there was a similar letter for each one.
“Holy fuck. Porter was blackmailing them.”
“Seems so.”
Derek’s mind whirled, his hatred toward the man growing exponentially with each new bit of information. “That slimy sonofabitch. Not only did he make Charlie’s life a living hell, he’s been cheating on her for the last several years.”
“And building himself a sweet little security blanket in the process.”
“No kidding,” he agreed. “Most of these women are married. And the ones who aren’t still wouldn’t want this shit going public.”
He skimmed through the letters. “From the way these sound, he’s pretty much ensured their cooperation with whatever he needs from them.”
Derek set the pictures down and pulled a legal pad from the back of the file. “Check it out.” He held the paper up for Grant to see.
“What are those?” The big guy looked more closely. “Dates?”
“Dates, times. The rest of it’s in code. My guess is, once I break it, they’ll either be meeting places or names of those involved. Or both.”
“Want to take it with us?”
“No.” Derek set it down and pulled out his phone. “I don’t want the bastard to know we were here. Not yet, anyway. I’ll take pictures of it all, and then we’ll put everything back exactly as you found it. Once we’re home, I’ll figure out what all those numbers and letters mean.”
He began photographing the damning evidence.
“Then, what?” Grant asked while he waited.
“Then.” Derek looked up at him with a feral smile. “I’m going to make Porter an offer he can’t refuse.”
Less than seven hours later, the plane was in Jake’s private hangar and Derek had made his way back down the coast to his parents’ vacation home.
Once there, he filled Mac in on what he and Grant had found and thanked her for watching over Charlie. After a brief conversation, they said their goodbyes, and Mac headed out.
Slowly, so he wouldn’t wake her, Derek opened the door to her bedroom. He just stood there a moment, leaning on the doorframe as he watched her sleep.
The moonlight shone through the window just enough he could see her face...and her hair.
Well, what do ya know?
She’d gone back to being a brunette. His heart did somersaults inside his chest. It was the same color she’d always had growing up.
Little by little, she was coming back to her old self. Just a few days away from the fucker and he was already recognizing the signs.
