Page 69 of Disciplinary Action
“You don’t have any experience doing undercover work. Just take it nice and easy. Don’t do anything to put her in a bad mood.”
“I’ve got this under control. Trust me.”
“I’m serious, Gideon. I’ve been doing this for twenty years. Try not to piss her off.”
Gideon grinned. “Of course.”
Gideon pounded on the door hard enough to rattle it in its frame, not feeling the least bit sorry when an old man across the hall whipped the door open to glare at him. He gave him a jaunty wave, and he gave Gideon the finger. He would have smiled if there wasn’t an anvil in his stomach. Seconds stretched into minutes without any movement on the other side of the door. He raised his hand to knock again when the door was wrenched open.
Rosalind gave a weary sigh, tying the belt of her pale blue velvet robe together as she glowered at him. “I’m assuming you have an excellent reason for pounding on my door at three in the morning.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Rosalind. I thought we were friends who just pop into each other’s homes whenever we please without calling.”
Rosalind rolled her eyes. “Oh, do come in before my neighbors try to have me booted out of the building. I refuse to move at my age.”
“What were you thinking?” Gideon asked, ignoring her droll commentary.
She shook her head, collapsing regally onto a baroque period silk sofa and curling her legs beneath her. “I was thinking that I would give your little tart one last chance to do the right thing. He’s using you, and even if you can’t see that, I owed it to my dearest friend to at least attempt to protect the only man he ever loved.”
Gideon scoffed, settling into the uncomfortable straight backed chair to her left. “Enough games, Rosalind. I know what’s going on at the school. I know everything, and I have the records to prove it. Did you think that your threats would scare me off?”
There was the barest hint of a frown, but then it disappeared. It was enough to give Gideon hope, though. A crack in her veneer. He just needed to keep chipping away.
“You don’t know anything, Gideon. I’m trying to protect you. Just let this go.”
“I know you and the board are part of a scheme where you help children cheat their way into schools they don’t deserve and use scholarships they didn’t earn.”
“Let it go, Gideon. This is much bigger than just Roosevelt.”
“I know. I did a bit of digging on Douglas Shea when he falsified evidence to get Cal’s acceptance rescinded. It seems Mr. Shea makes quite a bit of money for doing very little. It also seems that Roosevelt pays a lot of money to Tri-State college prep. Far more money than we bring in through tuition. Almost like parents might be funneling their money to Tri-State via Roosevelt to hide their bribes. That seems like something the IRS might want to look into.”
She examined her nails. “You’re truly not going to let this go, are you?”
“Why not just ask me to be a part of it?”
“How do you mean?” she asked, frowning.
“With this whole scheme. I’m a tenured professor with a highly sought after private college. Why not invite me into the fold? I could have helped you.”
She shook her head as if dismissing the notion, finally looking at him. “Grant said you couldn’t ever know.”
Gideon felt her words like a physical blow. Grant? This had been going on since Grant was alive? The FBI had said nothing of Grant’s involvement. Maybe they didn’t know. Maybe it didn’t matter now that Grant was gone. “Grant treated me like a child. I’ve always been more than capable of making my own decisions.”
She studied him closely. “Yes, I see that now. Truthfully, we already have somebody on the inside at your school.”
Suddenly, the pieces clicked into place like the tumblers in a lock.
“Foy,” Gideon said. Darren Foy was the head of Gideon’s department. The one who’d asked him to stand in for Leighton during his surgery. That was his school’s connection to Roosevelt.
Rosalind smiled. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for.”
“Surely, there must be some way I can help you? Just loop me in and we can all go back to being friends.”
For fuck’s sake, just tell me how all this works and speak into the fucking mic, so I can go home and get on with my life, you miserable hag.
“I’m afraid it’s a bit late for that. Foy knows all about your little prostitute boyfriend. There’s no getting around the fallout from that. Roger insisted after the last disastrous board meeting. You really should have just stopped fighting for the boy. Who cares if he goes to Harvard? If you’re anything like Grant, I’m sure you prefer him dependent on you. Boys are much easier to control when they have no other options. Believe me, I know. I’ve raised four of them.”
Gideon relaxed a bit. He needed Foy to know about Callum. He needed to be able to catch the man off guard. But nobody could know about that yet.
