Seduced by the Enemy (Blaze, 41) (10 page)

The old man let out a sigh. “I didn't know you were coming, but since I saw the news reports yesterday, I suspected. Or rather, hoped.”

Jared nodded in understanding. Old Harry Shanks had been rescuing Peyton since she'd first arrived at the Biddeford Home for Girls. It made sense that he would expect her to come to him in her time of need.

Harry and Peyton shared a bond, and were closer than many fathers and daughters. The alliance hadn't always been easy, and had taken years to build solid trust on Peyton's part. After what she'd gone through following her mother's death, Jared couldn't blame her. In fact, he gave her a hell of a lot of credit. He didn't think he'd ever be so trusting, and he hadn't suffered one iota of what she had before she'd arrived at Biddeford.

Peyton poured each of them a cup of steamy, fresh coffee. “You shouldn't be here, Harry. We shouldn't have come here at all, but I didn't know of any other place where we could hide for a few days.”

“Bull,” Harry told her, taking the mug she offered.
“This is the perfect place for you. No one will look for you here.”

“She's right,” Jared said. Nowhere was safe, but at least here he didn't think anyone would be looking for them. As far as he was aware, no one other than himself knew of Peyton's close association with Harry. “We won't stay long.”

Peyton took a tentative sip of coffee, closed her eyes and groaned with pleasure. “God, this is so good.”

Harry grinned and slung his arm over her shoulder. “I know what my girl likes.”

She turned and placed a quick kiss on his lined cheek. “Thank you.”

Harry's faded blue eyes misted and he turned away. “You can stay here as long as it's safe for you,” he offered quietly.

He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together suddenly, offering up a grin that failed to chase the worry from his gaze. “Let's have some breakfast, and then you can tell me what the hell you've gotten my girl involved in.”

“It's not Jared's fault.” Peyton set her mug on the counter and gave Harry a stern look. “I'm going to shower and get rid of this road dust. You take it easy on him, Harry.”

Stunned into silence, Jared watched her walk out of the kitchen. Not his fault? When had she come to that startling conclusion?

He should be thrilled. Finally, she'd begun to trust him. But he had a more important question. When had her belief in him started to matter to his heart?

 

P
EYTON REFILLED
their coffee mugs and carried them into the living room. The shower and a hot, home-
cooked meal had done wonders for her disposition. She still could use a solid eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, but that would have to wait until after she learned everything Jared knew about the people who were after them. She'd successfully avoided hearing the rest of the story, but the time had arrived for her to stop hiding from the truth and reclaim her life. Or
their
life?

No, she firmly reminded herself. Her life. Jared's life. The two were separate entities, no longer intertwined. They hadn't been for some time. She'd moved on and was engaged to another man. Obviously Jared had had no trouble moving on, as well, considering his marital status as a widower.

She attempted to shut those thoughts from her mind. Not only did she have no right to feel even a hint of the hurtful emotions that clutched her heart and gave a painful squeeze every time she thought of Jared in the arms of another woman, but jealousy shouldn't even be an issue for her, considering the two-carat diamond on her left hand.

She'd so wanted the phone call she'd placed to Leland to provide her with a sense of comfort. She'd desperately hoped hearing his voice would have grounded her, helped bring her back to reality. Foolishly, she'd believed that's all it would magically take. Instead, she'd been left with a hollow emptiness, which only served to add to the confusion and chaos.

She set the mugs on the rough-hewn pine cocktail table, then took a seat on the far end of the faded plaid sofa. Dressed in black leggings, another of her recently acquired sweaters and a thick pair of socks, she
curled up on the end of the couch and pulled her feet beneath her. As Jared explained the events of the last day and a half for Harry's benefit, she paid attention, looking for any scrap of information she may have missed previously.

For a brief moment, she considered the wisdom of passing so much information on to Harry. If he knew too much, his life would be worth as little as hers and Jared's. Based on what Jared had already told her, and what she had seen the other night, she knew what kind of evil these people were capable of, and she couldn't bear the thought of Harry being in harm's way. On the other hand, if anything happened to her, then perhaps Harry would find a way to reveal the truth, thereby clearing her name. Posthumous, of course.

That thought had her clutching a tattered throw pillow to her chest for comfort.

Jared arranged the papers from the manila envelope in three separate piles on the cocktail table as he spoke. The first stack she recognized as the financial documents surrounding her and the charitable contributions made to the Biddeford Home and the Elaine Chandler Foundation. The second and third piles were new.

A deep frown marred Harry's heavily lined face. “Explain to my why someone is going to so much trouble to involve Peyton?”

“To get to me,” Jared told him. “They wouldn't have resorted to implicating her in my alleged crimes if I'd been easier to get rid of.”

Harry nodded in understanding. “Seeing as they couldn't draw you out, Peyton became a necessary
pawn in their deadly game of chess.” He reached for his mug, then leaned back in the cracked leather recliner. “Bastards.”

Peyton tossed aside the pillow and reached for her own coffee, hiding a grin behind her mug. Harry had been her personal champion for too many years to count. If there was one constant in her life, it was Harry Shanks. In the days following her arrival at Biddeford, it was Harry who'd befriended the scared, scrawny little girl who'd worked too hard to remain in the background. The other girls had never been intentionally cruel, but after her constant evasions of their attempts to include her in their activities, they had given up and left her alone. Harry hadn't given up on her, and with steady patience, he'd slowly befriended her. With clear hindsight, she understood Harry deserved most of the credit for slowly bringing her out from behind the walls she'd erected to protect herself, teaching her in his own way that trusting someone wasn't as dangerous as she believed. Slowly, she'd begun to trust again, albeit with a great deal of caution.

With her mug cradled in her hands, she looked over at Jared. “How far up do these…these
lies
reach?” she asked him. “You already said you suspected someone high up in the bureau. I'm guessing Senator Phipps, or someone in his office, is also involved, simply because you were investigating the senator at the time. What I haven't been able to figure out, though, is what the two have in common.”

Jared gave her a look that said he was impressed. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing im
pressive about simple, basic math. One and one always added up to two.

“Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn't know, either. Thanks to the information I received, the answer is now a whole lot clearer.”

“Do you know for certain this senator is involved?” Harry asked.

Jared nodded. “That's about all I was certain of until recently.” He picked up the second stack of papers. Like a blackjack dealer in Vegas, he spread the documents over the surface of the table. “Take a look at these.”

Peyton moved closer for a better view. The scent of Jared teased her senses, reminding her that concentration was a continual work in progress when she was near him.

She peered down at the documents. The first was a computerized copy of a three-month-old article from the
Post
speculating on the unofficial retirement announcement of two U.S. Supreme Court justices. According to the article, formal announcements from Justices Middleton and Elliot were expected shortly after the Court reconvened in October.

“Justice Elliot has already announced his retirement,” Peyton told Jared. “Last I heard there was no official word from Justice Middleton. However, there are rumors the president is going to appoint conservatives Ted Galloway and possibly David Boswell to the bench.”

Jared gave her a sharp look. “How do you know that?”

“Someone at the DOJ office told me about it last
week. They thought I'd be interested, since I clerked for Galloway when I was a law student.”

“Coincidence?” Harry picked up the article to read further.

“Possibly,” Jared said. “But I have my doubts the connection to Peyton has anything to do with it. It's the connection to Phipps that's interesting.”

“Interesting how?” she asked. So far as she knew, there were no connections between Circuit Court Justice Theodore James Galloway and Senator Martin Phipps.

Jared indicated another article, this one from the
Wall Street Journal,
reporting on a case scheduled to be heard at the federal appeals court level. The case challenged a previous decision by the Supreme Court that allowed HMOs—Health Maintenance Organizations—to continue to pay their physician owners bonuses for keeping down health care costs. The newly filed case would challenge the constitutionality of the high court's previous decision. Provided the Supreme Court even heard the case, in Peyton's opinion, the battle would be an uphill fight under the equal protection clause allegedly violated.

Jared tapped his finger on the article. “If this makes it to the Supreme Court, there could be a reversal of the previous decision.”

“There's no guarantee the Court would even hear the case,” Peyton argued. Not every case made it before the Supreme Court. There were qualifications to be met before a case could be heard, either in oral argument or through briefs.

“True,” Jared said. “And it wouldn't, so long as Middleton and Elliot remained on the bench. Unless
the new appointees carry the same conservative views, there's a chance the case could be heard, and possibly reversed. If that happens, a substantial cash cow would be cut off.”

Peyton looked up at Jared, and her argument died on her lips. Lines of fatigue bracketed his eyes. They both needed to rest, but Jared looked almost haggard. Her heart went out to him before she could stop it.

She shook her head, whether in denial of her concern for Jared or his argument, she wasn't sure. “Galloway and Boswell are both conservatives,” she said, forcing her mind back to the discussion. “We have a conservative president in office. It'd make sense that he'd appoint them.”

“I thought so, too. But this tells another story.”

Jared handed her a memo. Unlike the other papers he'd shown them, which were relatively new and free of creases, this one was battered and faded.

She stared in utter fascination at the official seal of the president's office at the top of the document. Centered on the page was a list of names of several appellate court justices, many of them liberals, or the oxymoron of political labels, conservative liberals.

“This is an unofficial short list.” She glanced at Harry, then Jared. “Where did you get this?”

“I found it the night Dysert and Santiago were murdered. Once I figured out they were after me as their fall guy, I went to Dysert's apartment. He had to know something or he wouldn't have been killed. I found the list and suspected it could be important. I didn't know exactly how much until a few weeks ago.”

Jared stood and paced the small living room, finally coming to a stop in front of the fireplace. He kept his
back to her and Harry as he stared down at the logs crackling in the hearth. “I know it's the reason Jack Dysert was killed,” he said quietly.

Harry reached for the document in Peyton's hands. “Isn't this list at least three years old?” the old man asked. “Why would it even exist then? There weren't any anticipated vacancies on the bench until this year.”

Jared glanced over his shoulder before turning around to face them. “That's true,” he told Harry. He propped his foot on the brick hearth and rested his arm on the mantel. “But when a new president takes office, one of the things he does is create a short list for high court replacements in the event they occur during his term in office. Other than his top advisors, no one knows who makes the list, with the exception of the director of the bureau and a small band of handpicked agents, who are asked to discreetly conduct a background investigation on each individual named on the list. That information is gathered and given to the director, who then provides it to the president. Names are then discarded if there's a chance an appointee wouldn't be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“Once someone on the list is formally announced as an appointee, then the extensive background checks that everyone knows about take place. As many as two or three hundred agents perform various parts of the investigation to create the whole picture. That information is then given to the head of the Senate Judicial Committee for the confirmation hearings. Before the hearings, the head of the committee passes the information on to the other members. During the hearings,
any discrepancies are questioned, witnesses called if necessary, and after all evidence and testimony are presented, the committee then affirms or rejects the president's appointment.”

“Okay, wait a minute,” Peyton interrupted. “Other than this secret investigation of the people on the short list, you're not telling us anything new.”

Jared grinned, but there was nothing comforting about his expression. “I was getting to that. What if someone wanted to guarantee a prior decision by the Supreme Court wasn't reversed if it came before the Court again under the guise of a different lawsuit?”