Page 77 of Kiss Me Now
“What do I do? Go after her?”
“No. She told you not to. Respect that. And maybe I have the silver lining here.” She handed me the folder she’d carried into my office. “I found someone willing to come forward. Heather Giles, an intern from seven years ago, and she thinks she has a friend who will speak up too. Apparently, they bonded over their time in Rink’s office, and they’ve both gotten out of politics, so they’re willing to speak out.”
I took the folder. “Why these two? Why now?”
“Heather got married a couple of years ago and just had a daughter. Said it got her thinking about the world she’s going to grow up in, and Heather wanted to do her part to make it better. Her friend, Madison, isn’t a sure thing yet, but Heather thinks she may be able to talk her into coming forward too.”
I tapped the folder against my palm. “It’s unraveling.”
She nodded. “Yeah, boss. I think it is. Finally.”
Iworked eighteen-hourdays for the next week, first sitting in on the depositions of Heather Giles, then her friend, Madison, who decided to come forward too. Once I had their depositions, I went back to each of the previous victims who hadn’t wanted to come forward. It meant back-to-back trips to New York and Philadelphia, but by the end of the week, we had five women ready to speak out against Rink.
The snake would not survive the scandal, not in the current political climate. And his governor would get a chance to appoint someone to serve out the rest of Rink’s term, someone with the same political values but a true moral core. Someone who hadn’t been corrupted by power.
I’d met Brooke too late to protect her from Rink. But at least I could make sure he never had a chance to prey on another bright-eyed idealist again.
I only wished I could tell Brooke, but she hadn’t returned any of my texts over the last week, not even acknowledging my apologies.
I didn’t know any other way to show her how sorry I was, but at least I could do this for her: Rink was done.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Brooke
Idrove home barelyable to see the road through the red mist of my anger.
At Ian for sure.
But mostly at myself.
Of course Ian’s interest hadn’t been in me. Why would it be? He’d told me that he usually dated ambitious career women, not high school biology teachers who were content to live in the country with sawdust in their hair half the time.
All those leading questions he’d asked to try to get to know me better...those weren’t genuine interest on his part. That was detective work. He was investigating Rink.
Rink deserved it. He deserved every bad thing coming to him if Ian was able to turn up any dirt.
