Page 95 of Courting Gossip (Courting)
Brody leaned his shoulders against the sturdy white post. He wasn’t used to working with partners. ‘OK, but I still have Gunderson to be concerned about. If Murphy tried this, he won’t be above making another underhand move.’
Behind him on the ocean, lightning flashed. It lit up the sky, and he saw Genieve flinch. She was thinking about that hotel room and the bright camera. He could see it all over her face, and his blood pounded in his ears. ‘He’s mine.’
He pushed away from the post, but she stopped him by springing from her chair. She wrapped her hand around the phone he’d already whipped out, and he looked into her face. He wasn’t going to turn a cheek and walk away. He didn’t forgive, and he never forgot. His shoulders tightened, but then he saw the need for vengeance in her eyes. He’d denied her that with Maggie Harris, and he’d made a promise.
‘Want to help me take him down?’ he asked.
‘He’s ours,’ she hissed.
They moved into the house. The rain was still far out at sea, but dusk was closing in. Voices carried further than people expected, and Brody didn’t want anyone picking up on this. They’d attracted enough attention in town, although most of it had been because of his striking redhead. Some may have recognised her, but that wasn’t a concern any more.
Kevin Murphy had just risen to the top of the list.
Brody closed the sliding glass door and locked it as Genieve went around shutting windows. They ended up in the living area, with him on a chair with a bright coral print and her sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the coffee table. Seashells were embedded in the glass top, but what they needed to talk about wasn’t so delicate and pretty. The relaxing beach house had just turned into a war room.
‘It’s making sense to me now,’ he said. ‘Murphy used to be an investigative reporter. He knows how to get a scoop, especially in DC. If he was using Maggie Harris, he could have gotten lots of information about you and Gunderson, including that you’d be together at the party dinner that night. As for the connection with Luxxor, Nina’s going to have to figure out how that leaked out.’
‘Was he associated with TMI News?’
‘I doubt it.’
Brody watched Genieve trace the pattern of the area rug in front of her. He’d been watching those bastards at TMI too, but she didn’t need to know that. Both were getting ready for their day in court, and their website had closed down. Whatever the future had in store for them, he doubted either would stay in the news game. If they tried, they’d have to get around him first.
‘They’re way below his level, but he knew their type. He knew they’d jump all over a scandalous story and they wouldn’t spend much time trying to figure out who their informant was. His mistake was in underestimating how far they’d go over the line.’
Lightning flashed again, close enough to brighten the room. Jenny jumped, although the thunder didn’t follow until long afterwards.
‘You said Murphy wasn’t clean before we found out about this. What do you have on him?’
Brody clasped his hands together. He was leaning forward in the chair with his elbows on his knees. Anger burned inside him, but he’d pushed it down to a hard, fiery ball deep in his gut. He usually worked alone on these things. He didn’t want her to see his dark side too closely, but he couldn’t push her away. Not this time.
‘We can’t use the Emissary break-in.’ It was off the table, and all the people important to him had gotten away with only minor scrapes. ‘But I’ve heard rumours.’
‘What rumours?’
He didn’t run campaigns. He stayed away from the actual politics and concentrated on his clients, but many times that meant collecting information on their enemies and even friends. ‘When Murphy was in the news game, he liked to push the envelope.’
‘Isn’t that good? Aren’t reporters supposed to be aggressive?’
‘Not like this.’
‘What did he do? Did he make things up? Did he steal others’ work?’
‘I haven’t been able to find anything like that, but he was known to be dangerous. Cameramen and producers didn’t like to work with him. He was all about promoting his name and rising up the ranks.’
‘Did he step on somebody?’ She nibbled at her lower lip. ‘I don’t understand how we can use that.’
Brody’s forearms loosened, and he unclenched his fingers. She wasn’t shying away from the dirty task. ‘Do you remember his big story? The one that brought him fame and notoriety?’
She let out a laugh. ‘You mean when he filmed the Marines rescuing an intelligence agent during the war? How could I forget? It’s what he’s basing most of his campaign upon – his knowledge of foreign affairs.’
Brody nodded. Gunderson might have thought he’d had a pretty bauble on his arm, but she’d been paying attention.
‘Murphy was an embedded reporter with those troops, but, from what I’ve heard, he wasn’t supposed to go out with them on that mission. When they found him with them, it was too late to take him back. If they had, they would have lost the opportunity to rescue our man.’
Genieve frowned. ‘What did he do? Stow away?’
Brody touched the tip of his nose and pointed at her. ‘Those missions are planned down to the very detail, and he was an unaccounted-for complication.’
