****
“Fuck me.” Derek pushedhimself away from his desk and leaned back in his chair.
“Is that an actual offer, or are you just pissed?” Sitting in one of two chairs facing him, Coop raised a brow. “’Cause I love ya and all, but you’re not really my type.”
In an uncharacteristically sour mood, Derek shook his head.
“I can’t find it.”
“Could you maybe be a tad more specific?”
“Porter,” he snapped. “I can’t find one fuckin’ thing to tie Porter to my car or the fire.”
Less than an hour after Trevor spoke to his New York contact, his guy sent him a picture he’d taken of Caleb leaving his law firm’s building. The fucker was still in New York, and Derek still had no idea who’d burned down his house.
“Maybe it’s not him,” Coop offered.
“Maybe.” Derek had considered the possibility. “My gut says Charlie’s right. This was all Caleb’s doing. I just don’t know how toproveit.”
“I don’t understand why you don’t just go ahead and release all that shit you’ve got on him to the press. They’d have a field day with that. He’d be so busy trying to backtrack and cover his own ass he wouldn’t have time to harass you.”
“I’ve thought about that, believe me.”
“But?”
Too worked up to sit, Derek got up and walked around his desk.
“Charlie’s right. This guy has a long reach, and it’s not a good one. I’ve looked into his professional history. Porter’s represented a lot of people over the years. Some of them real fuckin’ shady.”
“Great.”
“Yeah,” Derek agreed. He stopped pacing and faced Coop again. “Remember a few years back when that old-school mob boss’s son got pinched on that weapons charge?”
Coop thought back. A few seconds later, his eyes lit up. Snapping his finger, he pointed at Derek. “Balducci.”
“That’s the one.”
“Wasn’t he also suspected in a pretty big human trafficking ring?”
“Yep.”
“What ever happened to him?”
“He got off.”
Coop’s brows shot up. “Seriously?”
“Thanks to Porter. Got the charges dropped on a technicality.”
That bit of news made the guy’s jaw drop. “Charlie’s ex was Balducci’s lawyer?”
Derek nodded. “And that was just one of his sleazeball clients.”
In a flash, Coop’s expression switched from surprised to concerned. “Shit, D. If this guy has the mob backing him...”
The former Ranger didn’t finish his thought, but Derek knew where they were headed.
“Exactly. If I release the dirt I have on Porter now and he is the one behind what’s been happening, hard tellin’ what he’ll do next. If I release it and it’snothim, he could still come after Charlie for revenge.” Derek shook his head. “I can’t risk her like that, Sean.”
