Page 46 of Hot to Trot

He'd lose his job. His reputation. Everything he'd worked so hard for over the past year.

He clicked the mouse as guilt crowded his mind. There was a good reason for dumping the footage and it wasn’t just about preventing people from seeing him making a hugeass mistake. Scarlet wasa celebrity. No doubt many people who would love to get their hands on footage of the vampire vixen in lockdown. He could see it now, rolling across his TV screen onStar Access.He could see himself, threading his hands in her hair, covering her fabulous lips with his own. He could imagine the heat that would radiate from them. All the pent-up lust he had for Scarlet would be right there for everyone to see.

That couldn’t happen.

But destroying evidence made him want to vomit.

Was is evidence though? Not really. It was nothing anyone would need. As far as anyone knew it was footage of a prisoner sitting on a bunk. Nothing had happened to Scarlet. No need for any attorney or judge to want the four minutes he’d removed from the footage.

It would be fine.

"Hey." Roz stuck her head in his door, swiveling her gaze left then right as if the ghost of her former employer would rampage upon her and deport her to the bowels of hell. "You got a call on line two and Harvey Primm is out front. He missed Scarlet by a minute. Thank God."

She shut the door before he could respond with a dirty word. He'd gotten his filthy mouth under control before Scarlet hit town. Now every other thought included a colorful obscenity.

Harvey appeared at his door as the light on his phone stopped blinking. "Hello, Hinton. I need to talk to you about thisScarlet Rose gal. She's causing all sorts of problems in this town and, as police chief, it's your job to curtail problems."

Adam closed his eyes and gestured Harvey to take the chair Scarlet had vacated. "What can I do for you, Mr. Primm?" "

This girl is harassing me. I caught her spying on me the day before yesterday. Trying to catch me doing something she can take to all the big papers."

"Scarlet Rose?"

"She's waiting for me to mess up so she can expose me. That's harassment. Think I don't know that?"

"Mr. Primm, I hardly think the woman would bother. She doesn't seem the type to stalk an older man-"

"You've been hoodwinked by a pretty face. Her sinful body has you in its grasp, doesn't it?"

If only you knew.

"Beware falling for the sins of the flesh." Harvey pointed a bony finger at Adam.

"Now, wait a minute, Primm. I don't like what you're accusing me of I have not been taken in by anyone, and you can't make accusations against the woman without backing them up."

"So you want proof?"

Adam knew the old man was a bit of a crackpot, but had no idea he harbored such such delusions. He couldn't imagine Scarlet dashing behind buildings and digging through trash cans in order to get dirt on Primm. But Primm? Definitely. He would wade through raw sewage to get the scoop on someone. "That's usually what we need in order to arrest or issue a citation against someone."

"I want a restraining order. I don't want that woman near me. And I'm thinking of suing her for slander. She can't go telling people things about me that aren't true."

"No, she can't. What exactly has she been saying?"

"That I'm crazy," Harvey shouted. Flecks of spittle flew from of his mouth and christened Adam's desk.

Adam wanted to tell Harvey it wasn't slander if the comments were true. Instead he donned a patient face and waited for Harvey to finish. "And that's all?"

"No," Harvey said, opening his jacket pocket and reaching in. Adam's senses tightened. He set both feet flat on the linoleum and leaned forward. His reaction was instinctual, born of years of police training.

Harvey revealed a newspaper. "See. Right here. Look at this picture. Look at the way the press is slanting their accounts. They're making me look like I'm fanatical, instead of a crusader intent on protecting our community from that abomination of a book."

"Mr. Primm, as a journalist yourself-” though Adam thought that was stretching the truth by a good mile "-you must understand the tone a writer takes is his prerogative. I can't issue a restraint against Ms. Rose based on the opinions of a journalist in Dallas."

"Bull feathers!" Harvey's voice shook with rage. "This girl is trying to ruin me. Make people in my town think I'm insane."

Adam stood. ”Ok, listen, Mr. Primm, you have no proof Ms. Rose is out to destroy you reputation, and you have no business making accusations against her or this journalist. People have the right to think whatever they wish about you. Nothing I can do about what people think. You would need proof that Scarlet’s trying to hurt your reputation. This article doesn’t qualify.”

His office door crashed open. "Adam, there's been an accident on Highway 71. State patrol requests assistance. Looks bad. Seven miles out, mile marker one forty-two."

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