A Case of Defamation Pt. 05

THIRTEEN

Shay drove through the Los Angeles traffic in her rented Toyota RAV4, following the white Lexus LX, keeping at least one car, but never more than two, between their vehicles. The Toyota was a rich red, and though it was an attractive color, she felt a bit like a whore in church driving the thing. She didn't get to choose the color when she rented the car, and she knew, logically, nobody was paying attention to her or the car, but she always chose either a white or silver car for her own because they blended in so well.

She'd agreed to continue working on Dan's problem, but it was going to have to take a back seat to other obligations for a few weeks. It wasn't because she didn't want to work on his case, but because she had other clients. She'd put off working her other cases as she tried to get a handle on Dan's, but she couldn't put off her other commitments any longer.

Now she was back to chasing cheating spouses. She was currently following Mr. Ronald Smithson, forty-two, financial advisor, married with three kids, from west Hollywood. He'd claimed he was going out for a beer with his buddies every couple of weeks, but when Nichole, his wife, had casually mentioned it to one of his friend's wives, the woman didn't know anything about it and claimed her husband hadn't seen Ron in weeks. When Nichole confronted Ron, he'd laughed it off as a misunderstanding. He'd stopped meeting his buddies for beers, but Nichole suspected something was still going on, and had contacted Clearview Investigations last week and asked her to find out what her husband was up to. After Nichole had stopped by Shay's office to discuss what she wanted, Nichole had signed the paperwork and paid the deposit. Now Shay was following some asshole who likely couldn't keep it in his pants, wondering why there couldn't be more people like Dan.

When the Lexus turned into a bar, she drove past and circled the block before parking in a restaurant's parking lot across the street. With a clear view of the door to the bar and Ron's Lexus, she rolled the passenger window down so there would be no reflection from the glass.

"Smithson, Ten May, fourteen eighteen, at the Blue Dragon on Raymound," she said into her phone.

She settled into her seat to watch before picking up the SLR with the big one-eighty to six hundred zoom. Balancing the camera on the center console with a short monopod, she quickly snapped a couple of pictures of Ron's LX sitting in front of the bar, one wide enough to establish where the car was, and one close enough so that the license plate was easily visible. Going to a bar at two in the afternoon made her quarry appear guilty as hell.

Twenty minutes later he emerged with a man. Shay sniffed in surprise as she lifted the camera again. Zooming in on the two men's faces, she snapped a couple shots in case the new guy was one of Ron's friends. Maybe Ron wasn't a slime-ball after all. It'd be nice to give a spouse some good news for a change. Her opinion changed a heartbeat later when they kissed, and not the polite air kiss the Europeans used. Oh hell no. It was a full on, hands in the hair, lip lock. She popped the camera up and it clicked rapidly as she captured it all.

"Well, that's new," she muttered to herself. At least Ron wasn't cheating on his wife with another woman.

She watched as they parted and walked to their separate cars. As they turned onto the road, she pulled in behind the second man's Ford pickup and trailed them to a sleazy motel about twenty minutes away. Like before, she continued past before turning around at her first opportunity. She had no choice but to park in the same parking lot as the motel, but hopefully coming from the opposite direction, and with the delay as she turned around, they wouldn't realize the Toyota was the same one that had been following them. She needn't have worried. By the time she had her camera ready, they were quickly walking across the second floor, oblivious to everything except their need. Once again her camera clicked rapidly as the other man opened the door and shoved Ron roughly into the room.

When the door closed, she lowered the camera and settled in to wait. "Smithson, Ten May, fourteen forty-eight at the Budget Inn on Nevera."

A little more than an hour later, Ron emerged, the other man standing in the door shirtless. She grabbed some shots of that, then continued to shoot as the man grabbed Ron behind the neck and pulled him in for another torrid kiss as Ron pinned him to the door and ground into him with his hips.

"Jesus Christ, take it back in the room," she muttered as the camera clicked rapidly to capture everything.

The kiss dissolved, and Ron caressed the other man's face and lips gently. Another quick kiss and he turned and hurried to the stairs. She grabbed a couple photos as he pounded down the steps so she had the sign for the motel in the shot to prove where he was. He looked very satisfied with himself, the ass.

She waited until Ron left before starting her car. She always tried to get more than one set of pictures of the accused to really drive the nails into their coffins... so they couldn't claim it was a misunderstanding or a one-time thing, and this guy was going to be easy because he didn't take any precautions at all.

As she drove home, she called Dan. Ostensibly it was to talk about his case, but in actuality, she just wanted to talk to him. She'd only known him for ten days, but she was really growing to like him. She made it a point to do something, anything, on his case every day so she'd have an excuse to call. They'd spend five or ten minutes discussing the case, then they'd spend another hour or more just talking. She was sure he was wise to what she was doing, but he seemed to enjoy their conversations as much as she did.

"Hey! What've you got for me today?" he said in way of answering his phone.

"I do have something. I talked with one of Gail's cast-off boy-toys this morning."

"How'd you manage that?"

"Finding him was easy. All I had to do was scan the gossip sheets. I called him and said I was doing a piece on Gail for hollywoodgossip. com, and that I wanted to talk to him about Gail's open marriage. I had to try several of her former lovers before I finally found one who, like so many people in this town, is an attention whore. He was more than willing to spill his guts to see his name in print."

"What did you find out?"

"I think Gail is the one doing this. According to Rafael, that's my source, if she doesn't get her way, she becomes vindictive as hell. He said one time her husband wouldn't do something she wanted him to do, attend some movie opening or something with her, because he was off somewhere banging his latest bedmate. She had a screaming fit, throwing and breaking stuff, and stormed out. He wasn't sure what happened after that, but the next day her body was all scratched up and bruised, like she'd been in a fight. The next time he saw Christian, her husband, a couple of days later, he was banged up too."

"Jesus!"

She smiled. "Yeah. That was the second time he'd seen them that way. Apparently, Gail and Christian have some kind of weird, twisted, love hate relationship. Rafael said Christian was there one day and he, Rafael I mean, heard them screaming at each other in the backyard over something. Rafael hadn't been her lover very long at that point. Anyway, he was going to break it up, but the staff warned him to stay out of it or there'd be trouble. As he watched, Gail took a swing at Christian. He hit her back, and then they really went at it. This is where it gets weird. According to Rafael, they never hit or scratched each other in the face, and they seemed to intentionally try to rip each other's clothes off as they beat the shit out of each other."

"Christ," Daniel muttered.

"Yeah. I don't know how much I believe this guy. It's just too weird. According to Rafael, they were slapping, scratching, pinching, and throwing each other around while screaming insults at each other. They ended up wrestling naked in the grass, then they started fucking right there in the yard, and according to him, it wasn't makeup sex either. He called it hate fucking. He said they were choking and hitting each other, spitting in each other's faces, pulling their hair, all that shit, while they were fucking. He said it was definitely rape, but he wasn't sure who was raping who, and he said both of them seemed to get off on it. After they were done, they split up and acted like it hadn't happened."

"That's just messed up."

"No kidding. He said he asked her about it afterwards, and she said she hated Christian's fucking guts, but other times she'd say she loved him. I don't know what to believe. The only thing I know for sure, if Rafael is telling the truth, is that chick is a few clowns short of a circus, and is capable of anything." She paused while he snickered. "Anyway, when she was done with Rafael, she gave him ten grand to go away and not cause any trouble, but she warned him if he tried anything, she'd ruin him. After what he'd seen, he took the money and ran."

"He may be an attention whore, but he's not stupid."

"No kidding."

"That's really good news."

"Not really. All we have is more hearsay, and that doesn't get us anywhere. We need something a lot more solid than what we've got."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm working on it. Tomorrow I have to track down some turkey and serve a summons for a law firm that has me on retainer, but after that, I can spend a few hours working your case."

"How are we doing money wise?" he asked.

"I've only put in about ten hours. You want to call it off?"

"Not at all! I just want to stay current on my bill."

"I'll bill you at the end of the month. How's that?"

"That's fine. What else are you working on when you're not delving into the weird sex life of Gail Dunnally?"

She told him in general terms what she'd been doing for the last three hours, leaving out names because of client confidentiality. She didn't even mention the guy was seeing another man because that was a little too case specific.

"Don't you get tired of following cheating spouses?" he asked.

"You have no idea, but it pays the bills. If I only took interesting cases, like yours, I'd starve."

"Man, doing what you do would depress me."

"You get used to it after a while. It does tend to make a person cynical, though."

"I imagine."

They talked for another forty minutes until she arrived home, when they said their goodbyes. She hadn't eaten yet, so she threw together a chicken stir-fry using frozen chicken, quickly thawed in the microwave, frozen mixed vegetables, and a boil-in-the-package rice. Dan might be willing to spend an hour preparing a fresh, healthy meal, but she wasn't.

As she ate, she couldn't decide if she were in Nichole's shoes if she'd be more upset if her husband was having an affair with a man or a woman. Any affair sucked for the party being cheated on, but she wondered if it would sting as much losing your spouse to a member of the same sex. It wasn't like Ron had chosen a younger, better looking, more sexually adventuresome woman. If his tastes ran towards men, how could any woman compete with that? She shook her head. She guessed it took all kinds, and in her profession, she couldn't afford to be judgmental.

For example, she didn't like Gail Dunnally. She didn't even know the woman, but she'd done enough digging on her to know she probably wouldn't care much for Gail. She didn't approve of her open marriage, didn't approve of her threatening or suing people to get her way, and Gail's sexual peculiarities were too off the charts weird. Gail seemed to have all the personality traits to cause her to do something to Dan because he'd brushed her off, but her personal feelings toward Gail weren't proof. She needed something incontrovertible to show Gail was guilty of what she suspected.

She needed Gail to threaten Dan in some way, something she could take to the police that would carry enough weight to get a warrant. But what? And how?

She pushed her meal around on the plate as she thought. A sting was going to be necessary, that much was certain. Gail needed to get mad about something, something that would get under her skin in a big way, so hopefully she'd say something without thinking. Half of Shay's job was pretending to be someone she wasn't, to get someone to say or do something they otherwise wouldn't. She was no Meryl Streep, but for a quick con, making it up as she went along, she was pretty good.

She finished eating as a plan began to come together, but she was going to need Dan's help. He'd help sell it, plus he'd be the bait. She spent the next two hours refining the plan, working out responses and counter responses to Gail's possible actions. Her story had to be tight, and she had to act natural if she had any hope of goading Gail into a mistake.

Finally satisfied she had a workable plan, she showered. Standing under the water, she rolled her eyes as she heard the faint sounds of the couple next door screwing their brains out in the shower again. They were running late tonight. She loved her little duplex, but it was times like these, when she was missing the caress of a man, that she wished there was a little more soundproofing between the units. She shouldn't complain. The only time she heard them was when she and the neighbors were in the shower at the same time and were less than a foot from each other.

As Shay toweled off, still in the shower, she heard a muffled, 'Ah, fuck, I'm coming!' followed a moment later by the soft sounds of a woman caught in the teeth of a massive orgasm.

"Lucky little bitch," Shay muttered as she finished drying, stepped out of the enclosure, and hung her towel.

The woman's significant other, Demetri, was an average looking guy, but hearing his girlfriend getting the hard one reminded her of how long it had been since she'd had a man between her legs.

She pulled on her sleep shirt and flipped out the light as she returned to her bedroom. She wanted to sleep on her plan, to give it a little time to percolate, before she checked with Dan to see if he was game to try it. She tumbled into bed and pulled her extra pillow into her chest with a sigh. She loved her life, she really did, but sometimes it'd be nice to have someone around. She'd had a few relationships, but none had ever progressed much beyond the friends with benefits stage. She'd never had a live-in lover and wondered what it'd be like to have someone hold her as she fell asleep, even if they didn't make love. It sounded wonderful, but she'd never found the right guy.

That's what she couldn't understand about Gail's relationship. Being married but fucking around. It made no sense to her. What made even less sense was being married to a guy you claimed to hate. Life was too short for that. If Gail was willing to be married to a guy she said she despised, screw around on the side, and physically attack her husband, but still fuck him, that sounded like a woman that'd be willing to do nearly anything.

As she began the slow slide into sleep, she ran her plan over in her mind one more time. She thought she knew which of Gail's buttons to push, and with Dan as the prize, she might just be willing to go for it. The worst that would happen was nothing, but even that might not be a total loss. If Gail was willing to walk away without a fight, maybe she didn't care enough to put the screws to Dan. She smiled in the darkness as she pulled the pillow in a little more snuggly. She sighed heavily as sleep pulled at her. No matter what Gail did, it'd be another piece to the puzzle.

Sleep began to take her. If, in the morning, her plan still seemed viable, she'd call Dan and put him in the loop. She was looking forward to meeting Ms. Gail Dunnally to see if her expectations of the woman matched the reality.

.

.

.

FOURTEEN

Daniel ended the call with Gail. It had been a little over five weeks since Shay had approached him with her idea. Given what she'd dug up on Gail, the plan sounded good to him, but they had to be cagey. He had to wait for Gail to make the first move, so he didn't tip their hand. Good to her word, Gail had called him again to see if he'd changed his mind about giving her some private training. Not only was her sex life fucked up, but she was also tenacious.

The month-long wait had been brutal. The rumors were starting to go viral. He'd put a statement up on the Daniel Beckette Fitness Center website and DanielBecketteFitness. com, categorically denying the rumors, which had only seemed to fuel the controversy. He had a few people defending him, but the tide of public opinion seemed to be turning against him... so much so the publisher of his book had called and placed the book on hold. They hadn't canceled it, but they said they wanted to wait and see how the controversy played out, and then address it in the book. They didn't say the book would be cancelled if the rumors proved to be true, but what they didn't say spoke far louder than what they did.

Two days ago, he'd appeared on Lunch with Lois, a local puff news show, to address the rumors. Once again, he firmly denied any and all claims of harassment and had pointed out that all the rumors were from nameless, faceless individuals, and challenged whoever was making the claims to come forward and make their accusations public... but until they did, he'd argued they were nothing more than a smear campaign designed to tarnish his good name.

What bothered him the most was Mairead. She meant nothing to him, but having her dodge the kiss for the first time stung. After that, he'd stopped offering it, but he'd been offering her the kiss, and she'd gladly accepted it, for more than two years. Her rejection told him everything he needed to know. It didn't concern him that she didn't want his friendly little kiss anymore, what concerned him was that she didn't want his friendly little kiss anymore because her opinion of him was beginning to change.

He spoke with Shay almost nightly. She sympathized with his plight, but there was little she could do because she'd run completely out of leads. He knew she felt bad about her failure, but he reminded her she'd warned him at the beginning that finding who was behind all this was iffy at best.

She was the sole bright spot in all the turmoil. He wouldn't say they were dating. Technically she was still working for him, but they'd grabbed a few lunches and dinners together while pretending they were business meetings. They even talked a little business during them to maintain the illusion, but in reality, they were having meals together because they wanted to. Their meetings were completely above reproach, with only a quick kiss in greeting and departure, much like those he once gave Mairead, was all he allowed himself. He wanted more, much more, and he could sense she did as well, but by unspoken agreement, they remained professional.

He wanted this case over. Not only was it ruining his reputation, but because it was also preventing him from pursuing a relationship with Shay. He wasn't in love with her, but he'd never felt such a strong attraction to a woman before. He didn't know if she felt the same about him, but he wanted to find out. Now that Gail had finally called, maybe Shay could make some progress.

Not putting his phone down from the call with Gail, he dialed Shay.

"Dan," she said, sounding busy.

"Is this a good time?"

"Waiting for this ass hat to leave so I can follow him."

"Want me to call back later?"

"No. Go ahead."

"I just hung up with Gail. It's a go. I know it's short notice, but six o'clock at the fitness center on Merryweather."

"She went for it?" she asked.

He smiled at the sudden excitement in her voice. "Yeah."

"Great! I'll run home and change into something to workout in, then I'll meet you there at five to get you wired up."

"Okay, I'll see you there."

-oOo-

Dan slipped the tiny camera through the bottom buttonhole of his dark blue Daniel Beckette Fitness Center polo. He couldn't believe how tiny the thing was. The entire kit, something Shay occasionally used in her job, was barely larger than a package of gum. The lens of the camera was the size of a pencil point, and it had interchangeable buttons that screwed on the front. She'd selected one nearest to what was on his shirt, and after attaching the button, handed him the camera. The button wasn't a perfect match, but no one would notice the difference with a casual glance. Once he had it in place, she placed a bit of something sticky on the camera and pressed it against his shirt. She adjusted his shirt, took a step back as she evaluated her handy work, and nodded in satisfaction. He looked down. Except for feeling a lump, he couldn't even tell the camera was there.

"You're set. Can you turn it on?"

He felt for the switch through the fabric of his shirt and found it. "Got it."

"As soon as she walks in, start recording. I'll be about two minutes behind her." She patted him on the arm. "Break a leg," she said before turning and leading him out of the instructor changing room.

"Are you sure this is legal?"

She made a noncommittal sound as she shrugged. "It's a grey area. California is a two-party state, but we're not going to try to use the footage in court unless she gives up something really juicy. If she does, we'll argue that in a public place like this, she has no right or expectation of privacy, and that makes it legal. If that won't fly, I'll say it's part of the discovery process for your case. They still won't be able to use it in court, but they can use it to prevent her from committing perjury."

"You can do that?"

"Yes. There was a case in 1988 that established precedence."

He stared at her a moment. "How do you know all this stuff?"

She smiled at him. "You know exercise, I know my way around the law when it comes to collecting evidence. It's going to be fine. Trust me."

After Shay left to lurk somewhere nearby, he had almost an hour to kill, so he wandered through the workout area and chatted up the guests. He always enjoyed listening to people's success stories. He found an attractive woman, slim and well built, that claimed to have lost nearly a hundred pounds after joining his website, his fitness center, and following his advice. He gave her a one-man standing ovation before asking her if she'd be willing to shoot a testimonial and tell her story. She agreed, and he got her name and phone number so he could contact her later. She was the kind of person that made everything he did worthwhile.

Keeping an eye on the time, he spoke with guests until nearly six. After six came and went, he was starting to get fidgety when Gail walked in. She was dressed in a skirt and tight-fitting blouse with a plunging neckline that showed off her ample cleavage to terrific effect. Her breasts couldn't possibly be natural, but she was proud of them and showed them off whenever the opportunity arose. He turned on the camera before moving to greet her.

"Daniel, so good to see you again!" Gail cried, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I hope this means you're considering my offer."

"Considering it. I suppose you've been keeping up with my troubles?" he asked as he took her arm and pulled her to the side, away from the door, where they'd have a bit of privacy.

She smiled with some private joke. "Yeah. I know it's not funny, but you, of all people." She lowered her voice. "I almost wish they were true, then maybe I'd have a chance."

"You don't believe them?"

"Are you kidding? You're so uptight, if I shoved a lump a coal up your ass, you'd shit a diamond. I respect you for it, but you know you don't have to worry about that with me, right? It's only sexual harassment if I object... and I won't."

"Yeah, as you've made perfectly clear. That's what I want to talk to you about."

She sighed in exasperation. "That again? For fuck's sake, Daniel, would it be so bad? I can make it well worth your time." She smiled at him mischievously. "And I can pay you well too."

"I told you, I don't sleep with clients and I don't sleep with married women."

"And I told you, it's an open marriage. I'm free to fuck anyone I want, and so is he. What's the big deal? Most guys jump at the chance. Easy sex, no complications." She lowered her voice to a purr. "Don't you have enough complications in your life right now? I promise, you'll enjoy it, and I'll take good care of you. When I'm done with you, you'll be so relaxed you won't give a shit about the rumors." She started to drag her finger down the front of his shirt, but he grabbed her hand so she wouldn't feel the camera. "Ooh," she cooed, "I like a forceful man, a man who knows what he wants and isn't afraid to take it. I think you're man enough to take whatever you want from me, don't you?" She offered him another bedroom smile. "You might not even have to take it... unless that's what you like."

He released her hand. "That's not how I operate, and you know it."

"Unfortunately."

"If I agree to train you, you agree to keep it strictly professional?"

"If that's really what you want." She lowered her voice to a seductive whisper. "You know I'll do anything you want. Anything."

"Being professional is enough."

"There's one muscle I bet you can work like a professional."

He sighed dramatically, looking away and wondering where Shay was, before he brought his attention back to her. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

She grinned. "I always get what I want, Daniel. Eventually. I always have."

"Not this time. I thought maybe you'd changed, but you haven't."

All the seductive teasing left her face. Her expression hardened, and she glared at him a moment. "What is it with you? Is this some kind of game? You invite me here on the pretext of considering my offer, then you pretend to be offended? You know what I want. I like sex games, but not this kind. I know you're not gay, so what is it? You just like fucking with me? I'm too old? You seeing someone? What?"

She was exhausting. "None of your business. What does it matter, if we're keeping it professional?"

Before she could answer, Shay pranced in. "Hey, babe! I'm ready for my lessons!" she said before she kissed him briefly.

The plan was to pretend Shay and Dan were lovers, but deny it, and let Gail form her own opinion. Shay said the best lies were those that had elements of truth in them. He knew she was wearing something for working out under her suit... but damn! Her pink crop top, stretchy black shorts, lime green sneakers, and black ball cap, made her sexy as hell.

"Give me minute, okay? As soon as I'm done with Ms. Dunnally, I'll come help you get set up."

Shay winked at him before flouncing across the floor toward the weight machines. Gail glared after her.

"One of yours?" she demanded.

"Just a client. I'm giving her some pointers on her workout."

"Uh-huh. Is she the reason?"

"None of your business. This was a mistake. We're done here. I don't need your money that badly."

Gail glared at him as she sucked on her teeth. "You'll sleep with her, and she's a client, but not me?"

"I'm not sleeping with her, but even if I were, it's still none of your business. I need to go. She's paid for this time."

"I'll buy her time out."

"Gail, no, wait!" Dan called as Gail turned and stomped after Shay. He wasn't pretending anymore. She really did get on his nerves, and this only served to remind him of why he'd stopped training her.

"There you are," Shay smiled as they approached. She was already on the machine. "I'm ready for you," she purred, her tone giving some extra meaning to the four words.

"I want to buy your time with Daniel," Gail said, pulling out her wallet.

"What? No. I paid for the time, and I'm going to use it."

He stepped around Gail to stand beside Shay so the camera was on Gail. "You need to go."

"What's it going to take? How much time did you buy?"

"An hour, but I don't want your money." Shay looked at him. "Who is this woman?"

"Here's a grand," Gail said pulling out hundreds and holding them out. "Now beat it."

"A former client," Dan replied before turning his attention to Gail. "Gail, you need to go. Now."

"Just like that? You preach at me about your moral standard, but you're fucking her?"

He heard a couple of people gasp in surprise. "She has nothing to do with it. The problem isn't her, it's your attitude," he snapped. Some of the staff was coming in aide, but he waved them away.

"How dare you! He's doing no such thing!" Shay snarled, talking over him as she stood.

Gail glared at Shay. "I have business with Daniel, so take the money and get lost."

Gail was four inches taller and a lot heavier than Shay, but Shay stepped in close. "I paid for this time, and I'm not giving it up."

"Listen, you bitch---"

"Who're you calling a bitch?" Shay sneered, cutting her off.

This was getting out of hand. He couldn't tell if Shay was still playing her part or not. "Gail, you need to go, now, or I'll have you removed for trespassing!"

"Not until you tell me why you'll fuck her but not me," Gail hissed, her voice low enough so only the three of them could hear her. "I can outfuck this scrawny ass bitch any day of the week."

"Fuck you, you plastic-titted whore," Shay murmured, her voice low and tight.

"You'd better shut your mouth before I shut if for you."

"You think you can take me? If you want to rumble, take your shot."

Dan stepped between the two women. "Gail, get out!" he snarled while pointing at the door.

"Fine! Fuck you very much! You can take your fucking morality and shove it up your ass."

"Good riddance!" Shay sneered. "He doesn't need you. You're probably the one spreading all those rumors about him."

Gail smiled, but it didn't touch her eyes. "Honey, if I come at someone, I do it straight on. I don't sneak around." She glanced around at the guests staring at the three of us. "If there weren't so many eyes around, you'd find that out for yourself."

"You want a piece of me? We can take this outside."

"Nobody's going anywhere. Sit down," he growled, glaring at Shay. "Gail, get out of here and don't come back. And don't call me anymore. That bridge is burned."

She smiled unpleasantly. "Fine. Have it your way." She dragged a finger along his jawline before he jerked his head away. "You don't know what you're missing." She turned and sneered at Shay. "I'm twice the woman she'll ever be."

"Twice as fat, you mean," Shay murmured with a nasty smile of her own.

Gail gave her the finger before she turned and stomped out. He let out a slow breath.

"Now, throw me out," Shay murmured. "For the audience."

"And you... out. Your membership is revoked," he growled while pointed at the door.

"What! I didn't do anything! I was just sitting here minding my own business!"

He had this covered. "You violated our no profanity policy. Now pack your stuff and get out!"

"Fine! I'm just minding my own business, and this bitch comes in and starts fucking with me, and you throw me out! I'm never setting foot in one of these places again!" She grabbed her bag and stormed out.

He followed her to the door, as if he was escorting her, but it was really to make sure the two women didn't tie up in the parking lot. She banged through the door as he saw Gail's Jag howl away. The support staff joined him at the door.

"Holy crap, what was that all about?" Doug asked.

"Were they fighting over you?" Mandy added before he could answer.

"I don't know, and no. Gail, the older of the two, used to be a private client of mine."

"What happened?" Mandy asked.

He snorted and looked at her. "Do I really need to answer that?"

They looked at each other and then grinned. "No, guess not," Doug said quietly. "Why was she here?"

"She wanted to hire me again. I said no. She didn't like it."

"She thought you were sleeping with a guest?"

"I guess."

Mandy and Doug looked at each other. "Have you seen that other woman before?" Mandy asked.

Doug shook his head. "No. Have you?"

"No," Mandy replied, and they both looked at me.

He glanced around and sighed in relief as people began to resume their activities. "I invited her to try the place out, but don't worry, I don't think you'll be seeing her again."

-oOo-

He'd left the fitness center soon after Shay. As previously agreed, they met for a quick dinner at Mr. Greenbeans before going to his apartment to see what the camera had captured. Almost as soon as the door closed behind them, she was taking her laptop out of its case and downloading the file to her computer, and now they were watching the video and snickering. They were watching it for the third time, trying to tease out the truth. Fine! I'm just minding my own business, and this bitch comes in and starts fucking with me, and you throw me out! I'm never setting foot in one of these places again! Shay's voice said from the computer before her image on the screen grabbed her bag and stormed away, with Dan following along at her elbow.

Shay stopped the video and set the computer on the side table. "What do you think? She guilty or not?"

He shook his head. "I don't think so."

She nodded slowly. "I don't think so either. I think she was telling the truth when she said she'd come at you straight on."

"Yeah. I was afraid she might have been waiting outside for you. I think if you two were alone, she'd have taken a swing at you."

"That would have been a mistake. I was ready for her, and I'd have put her on her ass."

"I could tell. That was some performance. I couldn't tell if you were acting."

She grinned. "I'd like to thank the Academy..."

I chuckled. "Were you mad?"

"Not really. Oh, sure, I didn't like being called a bitch, and I especially didn't like being called a scrawny ass bitch. I've worked hard for this ass."

"And a lovely ass it is, too."

"Why thank you," she teased.

"I noticed that the first day in your office. Trust me, every guy who sees you walk past notices, even in your suits. But when you wear jeans... or those shorts today... wowser!"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should. What's next?"

"Honestly, I don't know. That was my last gasp. Maybe if we see a flurry of activity, or if something hits in the next day or so that sounds like what went down today, maybe we can use that as leverage, but if she's not the one seeding the rumors, and I don't think she is anymore, then I'm afraid I've struck out. I'm sorry."

He nodded in understanding. "Send me a bill and we'll settle up, but can you be available to pick it up again if something else breaks?"

"Of course."

He nodded again. "I can't decide if I'm relieved or disappointed."

"Oh, please don't be disappointed. I'm not sure I can stand that, and I did warn you... but what do you mean, 'relieved'?"

"If you're not working for me anymore, does that mean we can go out on a proper date?"

She smiled. "I don't know. Why don't you ask me and find out?"

"Ms. Caddel, would you do me the honor of accompanying me to dinner tomorrow night?"

"Why, Mr. Beckette, I'd be delighted."

He smiled at her, took her face in his hands, and pulled her gently into a kiss. A real kiss. After a moment, she opened her mouth in invitation, and he took her tongue. It wasn't even eight yet, but he didn't care. Taking her to bed this early would give them more time to enjoy each other before they fell asleep. As the kiss deepened, he gently stroked a nipple with his finger, her soft intake of breath fueling the fire raging inside him. Then her fucking phone rang.

She pulled back from the kiss. "No!" she groaned, her face scrunching in irritation and disappointment as she rose to retrieve her phone. "Clearview Investigations."

He watched her as she listened to the phone, and he could see the disappointment cross her face as she tipped her head back and closed her eyes with her phone still at her ear.

"No, that's okay. I'm on it," she said as she looked at Dan. He was trying to hide his disappointment, the same disappointment she was feeling. She wanted him, and was ready for him to take her, but fucking work. "Thanks for calling me, but I need at least thirty minutes to get there. Stall him if you can." Another pause. "Yes, I'm leaving now. Thirty minutes."

She looked at him, and he wondered if she was as disappointed as he was. From the look on her face, he'd say the answer was yes.

"I have to go. Work."

"Want to come back when you're done?" he asked as she gathered her stuff.

"God, yes, but I don't know how late I'll be."

"It doesn't matter."

She gave him a quick kiss. "You're sweet, but I can't. We're on for dinner tomorrow, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Save it until then." She smiled, and it went straight to his manhood. "Then, the next time you talk to Gail Dunnally, you can tell her how this scrawny ass bitch rocked your world." She gave him another kiss and then was gone.

He watched her leave, aching for what they almost had, and her promise for tomorrow. After she was gone, he was so out of sorts he didn't know what to do. He finally went into his extra bedroom and worked out, hard, until he was bathed in sweat and panting in exhaustion.

After his workout he showered. Standing under the blast of water, he thought about taking the edge off, but decided not to. He'd known Shay for less than two months, but he felt like their first time together would be special, and he wanted to save the sexual energy for her. If she was going to try to rock his world, it only seemed fair that he'd try to rock hers in return.

Once he finished showering, he prepared a banana and yogurt smoothie before flopping onto the couch. He flipped through channels but found nothing of interest. Without conscious thought, he paused on the local twenty-four-hour news channel as he went to wash his glass. He almost missed the segment because of the running water.

"No..." he whispered as a woman he'd never seen before spouted off in front of a microphone about how he'd groped her.

.

.

.

FIFTEEN

Shay was on the phone with Dan as she watched the morning news. He'd called her last night as she sat outside the motel while Ron and the same swinging dick as last time did whatever they did. They'd once again met at the Blue Dragon, driven straight to the same no-tell motel, and she'd captured it all in glorious, high-resolution color. Now she felt she had everything Nichole needed to stick Ron's dick in a wringer, but that had to wait.

"You've never seen this bitch before?" she asked.

"Never."

Shay slowly shook her head as her lips tightened. Lindsey Rohmer was at the center of a media circus. Her story was that she'd been at one of his fitness centers when Dan had invited her into an empty room for a private cardio workout with him. She claimed she'd gladly accepted because who wouldn't want to have a private workout session with Daniel Beckette, but once they were alone, he completely changed. Gone was the likable guy everyone seemed to admire, and he became just another rich and greedy asshole who thought the rules didn't apply to him because he was rich and famous.

Lindsey claimed their private session started innocent enough, but soon he became very forward as he began fondling her breasts, grabbing her ass, and generally being sexually aggressive. According to the woman, he wouldn't stop even though she'd asked him too several times, and after a few minutes of him groping her and not stopping, she fled because she was afraid he was going to rape her.

She claimed she hadn't come forward after it happened because she was concerned she wouldn't be believed, but now, because of the rumors, she said she'd decided to go public with her accusation, while inviting all women who had suffered the same fate, to also make their voices heard and to condemn such behavior.

Then Lindsey delivered, as Shay knew she would, the piece de resistance, that she'd retained a lawyer, and she was going to sue Dan, so rich people like him would know they couldn't do anything they wanted to poor, helpless women.

"Okay, here's what I want you to do. Find out if she has a membership at any of your fitness centers or on your website. I've got some work to do." She hated to do it, but she had to know. "Daniel, I need you to be dead honest with me about this. Is there anything about this girl I need to know? Have you slept with her, hit on her, anything?"

"No!"

"You're sure?"

"Yes! Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I don't want to be surprised if I go digging. If I find something, and I get subpoenaed, I won't have any choice but to turn over what I find, even if it's harmful. Better to not go looking if I'm not going to like what I find."

"I swear to God, Shay, I don't know this girl. I swear!"

She smiled. She'd believed him the first time, but she had to ask. "Okay. I'm on it. Now that I have a face and a name, I've got something to work with."

"What are you going to do?"

"Don't ask me that. Trust me, you absolutely do not want to know."

"I trust you, but don't do anything stupid," he said softly after a long pause.

She smiled at his sweetness. "Don't worry. I've got this. Call me as soon as you have that information."

"I will."

She hung up. Time to get busy. She showered, dressed, and hurried to her office because she maintained her home as a work free zone. At the office, she spent the next two hours tracking down information. Lindsey's life was an open book on Facebook. Shay found out Lindsey was an aspiring actor, like nearly everyone else in Los Angeles, she worked a dead-end job as a desk clerk at a motel, she was unmarried, and she lived alone except for her cat, Snowflake. Lindsey might be a lying, money grabbing bitch, but Shay had to admit, she did have a cute cat. Using the DMV database, Shay located Ms. Rohmer's home address and the make and model of her car. Finished with that, Shay logged into the National Telephone Database to get Lindsey's phone number, and a quick search of the news sites turned up the law firm representing her. As Shay copied all the information onto her phone, she wondered, not for the first time, how her dad had done this job before computers.

Shay snapped her laptop shut and hustled to her car. She needed to get ahead of this, and quickly. She drove to Lindsey's home, which was half of a multi-family unit in not the best part of town. Lindsey's car wasn't in the drive, so Shay sat for a moment and considered her options. After a moment's thought, she stepped out of the car and opened the hatch before digging in her PI bag, the duffle where she kept the tools of her trade, and pulled out a clip-on badge and a matching business card that identified her as Mary Rydell, a member of the Greater Los Angeles Fair Housing Administration, Ward 6. Shay had a dozen other badges and business cards in the bag, among other things, whose identities ranged from a delivery person, to a member of the various utility companies, to a partner in a law office. She also took her pick gun and a pair of thin, blue, nitrile gloves from the duffle, dropped them into her coat pockets, and closed the hatch.

She walked to the door as if she had every right to be there and rang the bell. She heard no movement inside, so she knocked. When nobody answered, she knocked again, harder this time, but there was still no answer. After a quick glance around, she removed the gloves from her left jacket pocket and put them on, before taking the pick gun from her right. After another quick glance around, she inserted the tension wrench and gun. Two quick squeezes of the gun's handle, and the lock turned.

What she was doing was totally illegal and would probably cost her her license if she got caught. She rarely went so far out on a limb, but she was going to bust this bitch's story and put an end to these rumors by showing them to be the smear campaign they were. The gloves were probably unnecessary, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Dropping the pick gun back into her pocket, she opened the door, stepped inside, and knew instantly something was off. The place was an absolute dump. It needed paint, the carpet was dirty, worn, and had a couple of burn holes in it, and the furniture was hand-me-down or thrift store quality, but more than that, Lindsey wasn't much of a housekeeper. There were empty water bottles and pop cans, glasses, dirty dishes, and magazines lying around, and there was a thin layer of dust covering everything. Shay was glad she'd worn the gloves, but not because she was concerned about fingerprints.

It didn't appear Lindsey had two nickels to rub together, so how could she afford a membership to a Daniel Beckette Fitness Center? Shay moved slowly through Lindsey's house, Snowflake purring and meowing after her. The magazines were rumpled and out of date with the address of a motel on the label, and all were of the gossip variety. It appeared Lindsey was bringing them home from the motel where she worked. Without disturbing them, Shay found one where the mailing label was clearly visible and complete, and snapped a picture of it using her phone.

There was an empty pizza box on the counter in the kitchen, the remains of its contents in the refrigerator, along with more water, soda, beer, a half-empty bottle of cheap wine, and a leftover box of Chinese food. Her pantry and freezer were full of quick to prepare microwave meals.

Shay moved to her bedroom and opened Lindsey's closet. Lindsey's clothes consisted mostly of inexpensive blouses and jeans, but they were clean and in good repair. She favored boots for footwear, and there were several pairs piled on the floor around the bed. Snowflake hopped on the bed, and Shay gave him a good scratch on the ears before she prowled through Lindsey's drawers.

She found a small selection of sex toys, along with a Blu Ray disc titled CockTails. A quick look at the back cover confirmed this was no mainstream video. There were a dozen thumbnails of various naked men and women, doing what naked men and women did in videos like these. Shay wasn't sure, but one of the women in the thumbnails looked suspiciously like a younger Lindsey. The movie was unrated, but the irony of a woman shooting a porn video and then complaining of sexual harassment wasn't lost on her. After putting the disc back as she found it, Shay also uncovered a small plastic baggy half-full of a leafy green material, but didn't touch it. What Lindsey did to relax was of no concern of hers, but between the video and the weed, Shay had something on Lindsey if she needed leverage.

Moving on, she found a card from the law office representing her on her bedside table. George C. Wezler was not only her council's name, but also part of the firm's name. She took a picture of the card as that piece of information might be useful.

Lindsey's bathroom turned up nothing of interest. Ten minutes after Shay entered, she made sure the cat was safe before closing the door behind her as she left. There was no way for her to relock the deadbolt, but there was nothing she could do about that, and hopefully, Lindsey wouldn't notice the lack of resistance as when turned her key.

As she walked to her car, Shay had a strong suspicion this was all part of the scam. Lindsey's place didn't strike her as the home of a person big into physical fitness. The pop, beer, pizza, and prepared meals didn't fit the stereotype.

She returned her pick gun to the duffle before sitting in her car, removing her gloves as she thought. Lindsey stepping forward cleared Gail, unless Gail already had this in motion, because there was no way she could have set this up so quickly out of spite for yesterday.

She was rolling to a stop at an intersection when her phone rang. She glanced at the screen. It was Dan. "What've you got?" she asked in greeting.

"Not good. She did have a membership, but it's expired," Dan replied.

"When did she join?"

"May of this year, and it ended in July."

"She wasn't a member very long."

"No. We offer a ninety-day gift membership. That's what it looks like she had."

"It was a gift?"

There was a pause as he softly discussed her question with someone. "It appears so."

"Can you find out who bought it?"

There was another pause, longer this time. "No. It looks like it was purchased online on May eighth. All we can see is the last four digits of the credit card number."

It wasn't much, but it was something. She glanced at the rearview mirror. Nobody was behind her. "Can you give me that?"

"1812."

She typed it into her phone. "Got it."

"Anything else?"

She thought for a moment. "No, I can't think of anything."

"Any luck?" he asked, his voice sounding different. He must have taken her off speaker.

"Some. Still working on it. Hang in there. I have some ideas."

"Ideas I don't want to know about?"

"No, I can tell you. With this new information, I'm going to do a little more digging, then I'm going to pay Ms. Rohmer a visit and call her a damned liar to her face to see what she says."

"You think that'll work?"

She grinned. "Depends on what I tell her when I call her a damned liar."

"I wish I could be there to see it," he said, and she could hear his smile in his voice.

"No, no you don't. You want to stay as far away from this as possible."

"Let me know."

"Count on it. You go do your thing and let me worry about this."

"I'm free today. Mairead called and canceled. Well, more than cancelled. Like Greer, she's taking a break because of this shit storm. At least she was honest with me and said she had to keep her distance until this was settled."

"Nice. Guilty until proven innocent."

"Yeah." She could tell from the tone of his voice his smile was gone and that this was starting to get to him.

"Hang in there, Dan. I'm going to take this chick down, hard, and clear your name. I promise."

"But will it be soon enough?"

"I just need a day, maybe two. Don't give up on me."

"I won't."

"Good. I have to go. I have some balls to bust," she said before she hung up.

After stopping at the first business she found with plenty of available parking, she took a space and then set her phone up as a local hotspot before using her computer to log into the internet. As a duly licensed private investigator in the state of California, she had access to most of the same databases the cops did, and one of those allowed her to find out who a credit card belonged to.

Keying in the number, her search returned over fifteen thousand names. It was more than she'd hoped, but not as many as she feared. She downloaded the list and then imported the data into a spreadsheet. She was making a leap of faith, but since Daniel Beckette Fitness was only in Los Angeles, she eliminated everyone who's address wasn't in the Los Angeles area. That reduced the amount to a more manageable nine hundred, but that was still far too many.

She stared at the screen for a long moment, wondering how she could narrow the list still farther when she had an epiphany. She logged back into the credit card database and entered her new search criteria. She got nothing the first five or six times she tried, but she finally hit on the right combination of the last four of the credit card number, date, and the way Dan's website was registered with the credit card companies. There was only one entry on the screen.

"Squarepeg, LLC?" she muttered.

She quickly did some digging on Squarepeg, LLC, but didn't come up with much other than it owned the website selectcasting. com. She closed the computer. She'd come back to that later. She didn't have a smoking gun that Lindsey was lying, but Lindsey didn't have to know that. She looked up Lindsey's number in her notes and dialed. It rang so many times she expected it to go to voice mail, but then a female answered.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Rohmer, this is Michelle Seleece with Duncan, Roberts, Beeler, and Wezler," Shay said, name dropping the law firm representing Lindsey. "Mr. Wezler asked that I speak to you. There seems to be some discrepancies with your story. Have you got a few minutes?"

"Discrepancies?" Lindsey asked, and Shay could hear the anxiety in her voice.

"Yes. It's very important that I speak to you right away. Can we meet?"

"I'm at work---"

"The Lancer Inn, at 10171 Commanche Drive?" Shay asked, cutting her off.

"Yes, but---"

"I'll be there in twenty minutes. This won't take long. We just need to get a few items cleared up. Thank you for your time, Ms. Rohmer."

Shay hung up, punched the address into the GPS on her phone, started the car, and pulled out of the parking space. The drive to the Lancer Inn took more time than she expected, but that might work to her advantage. Still sitting in her car, she quickly fastened the button camera to her jacket and turned it on, checked her look in the mirror, and then stepped out of the car. She walked into the lobby with purpose.

Lindsey Rohmer was a pretty woman, probably between thirty and thirty-five, with raven black hair, large dark eyes, and a lush body. She was seated behind a counter, and she smiled as Shay entered. Shay smiled back. Lindsey had no idea who Shay was or what she was about to do to her.

"Welcome to the Lancer Inn. May I help you?"

"I certainly hope so, Ms. Rohmer. Michelle Seleece. We spoke on the phone."

Lindsey's smiled disappeared in an instant. "Oh. You said there was a problem?"

Shay smiled like she was there to help Lindsey. "No problem. It's probably just a transcription error. I'm Mr. Wezler's paralegal. Mr. Wezler is in court today, so he asked me to follow up."

"He told me not to talk to anyone except him."

Shay nodded in agreement. "Exactly. That's why he sent me instead of one of our researchers."

"I don't know..."

Shay smiled again. Time to go with the big lie. If Lindsey called Shay's bluff she'd be dead in the water, but sometimes a person had to roll the hard six. "Give Mr. Wezler a call if you like. He won't answer, so you'll have to leave a message, and I can come back later after he confirms." Shay shook her head sadly. "The thing is, that's going to put us behind. Mr. Beckette is lawyering up and is threatening to sue you for slander. We're trying to get ahead of that." She hesitated. "Please, Ms. Rohmer, I need an answer. If you're not going to talk to me, I need to get back to the office and report to the partners."

"Mr. Wezler sent you?"

"Yes." Shay smiled with good humor. "My job is to do the legwork, so he doesn't have to."

"What do you want to know?"

Shay waved her phone in the air for a little misdirection. "I'm going to record this, so I don't forget anything, okay?"

"Sure, whatever."

Now that Lindsey agreed to being recorded, Shay could burn her with anything she said. "When was the date of the incident? In one place we have it in May, another March," Shay said, fishing for information.

"May eighteenth."

"Of this year, correct?"

"That's right."

"Hang on while I check..." Shay muttered as she quickly flipped though the calendar on her phone. "That was on a Thursday?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Shay smiled again, but not for the reason Lindsey probably thought. She'd have check to make sure, but if she remembered correctly, Thursday was the day Daniel had shot the shorts for his website. If he always shot them on Thursdays, he might have an airtight alibi for not being at the gym.

"And it was in the early evening?"

"Afternoon. Around three, when the place wasn't very busy."

"At which fitness center did the assault occur?"

"The one closest to my house... on Lawndale."

Shay nodded. "That's what I have. Afternoon then. This is where there's a problem. Mr. Beckette claims he was somewhere else at the time the incident occurred, and he claims to have a half-dozen witnesses."

Lindsey paled slightly. "I don't know what to say. He was there. It might have been a little later than three, but---"

"Your membership was given to you as a gift, correct? Have you heard of Squarepeg, LLC? They own the website selectcasting. com." Lindsey paled further. She was hiding something. "Ms. Rohmer?" Shay prompted.

"I don't know what to say, Ms...? I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name."

"Call me Michelle. We were under the impression you had a membership at Daniel Beckette Fitness, but now it appears you don't, and never did. I was hoping you could clear these questions up. We can't help you if you don't tell us the truth."

"The membership, it was, uh, it was paid for by a friend of mine. Like you said, it was a gift. Does it matter?"

"No, but you'd said you had a membership, and now we find out you didn't. It's only important in that little discrepancies like this undermine your credibility. So you were given a trial membership as a gift?"

"Yes, that's correct.

"What's his or her name?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, not at this time, but it could come up in the future, so we'd like to have the information for our files."

Lindsey hesitated again. "Glenn. Glenn Arkly."

She was lying out her ass. "His phone number and address?" Shay pressed.

"I, uh... I'll have to get my phone and look it up. Can I send it to you?"

"I'll wait."

Lindsey slowly pulled her purse from a cabinet and retrieved her phone. She flipped through it a moment. "I don't seem to have it in here."

"Ms. Rohmer," Shay said forcefully, "what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing!"

"Nothing? If you're lying to us, and Mr. Wezler finds out, he's going to charge you for his time instead of taking a percentage. That's five hundred dollars an hour, Ms. Rohmer. I'll have to look to see how many hours he's already put in, but it's considerable."

"Look, all I know is Daniel Beckette groped me in his gym on May 18th at around three in the afternoon because the place wasn't very busy. He took me into a back room and started touching me. I told him to stop and he didn't. Why are you treating me like some kind of criminal?"

"Because, Ms. Rohmer," Shay said slowly, "I think you're lying to me. I don't think Mr. Beckette touched you. I don't think Mr. Beckette even knows you. I think you're lying about this Glenn Arkly guy too. He's a good enough friend to buy you a gift membership to a Daniel Beckette Fitness Center, but you don't know his phone number or address, and it's not in your phone?"

"I don't know what to say," Lindsey said softly, unable to meet Shay's eyes.

"Gift cards are not an uncommon form of payment for... shall we say... services rendered. Did you receive the card for rendering... services?"

"No!" Lindsey said, her voice loud as she drew the word out, either insulted or pretending to be.

"Then who gave you the card?" Lindsey said nothing, and after a long moment, Shay continued. "You're being paid to lie, aren't you? Who's paying you?"

"I'm not!"

"Very well. I'll tell Mr. Wezler you were unable to clear up the discrepancies in your story and about this phantom friend of yours. A piece of advice. If he sends you a bill, pay it. If you keep jerking us around, you're going to end up paying a lot more than just his bill." Shay turned to go.

"Wait!" Lindsey called. Shay paused and turned back. "I lied about Glenn," Lindsey said softly.

"I know. You're lying about the whole thing, aren't you?"

"No!"

Shay rolled her eyes dramatically. "Have it your way. If you come clean with me now, I can probably get the bill reduced, maybe even eliminated. I think it's clear there's going to be no payday on this, but if the firm keeps spending money on your behalf, and Beckette's team has proof you're lying..." She shook her head in sympathy. "We don't like to lose, Ms. Rohmer, and if you insist on this course of action, it's going to be costly." She let the threat dangle. "Fine." She turned her back to Lindsey and started for the door.

"Wait!" Lindsey called, her voice panicked. Shay turned to face her one more time. "You can get the fees reduced?" she asked, her face a mix of fear and hope.

"I can't promise, but I'll try. Our firm's reputation is worth more than a few thousand dollars. If you come clean, since we haven't filed suit yet, we can just drop it, and you can crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of."

Lindsey swallowed hard. "I lied, okay! Some guy paid me five grand to say Daniel Beckette groped me. That's all I know!"

"What man?"

"I don't know his name. I answered an open call on selectcasting. I thought I was applying for a part in a television show. This guy contacted me and said he had a part, if I wanted it. He met with me and told me what he really wanted."

"So you decided to ruin a good man's life?"

"I don't even know this Beckette guy! The guy who hired me said he was rich and would probably settle. I just had to tell the story. He said there were a lot of rumors going around about how he was sexually harassing all these women, so I figured maybe he was getting what he deserved."

"And he gave you five grand to say Daniel Beckette groped you?" Shay asked, driving the point home for the camera.

"Yes, and he said I could keep whatever I won."

"Did he say why?"

"No. I didn't want to do it, but I was desperate for the money. My car broke down, and it cost a lot to fix, so I was behind on my rent. I figured the worst that could happen was I made the five grand, and if I was lucky, maybe a little more. This Beckette guy, he sounds like a sleaze anyway with all the rumors flying around."

"So you thought, 'What would it hurt?' right? After all, he has plenty of money, and he has to be guilty of something, or there wouldn't be any rumors, right?"

"Yeah, that's it exactly. Maybe I shouldn't have done it, but I was desperate. Am I in trouble?"

Shay smiled. "Not with me, but I'm sure Mr. Wezler will be in touch. Anything else you can tell me about this mystery man?"

She shook her head. "No. I only met him that one time."

"Did you even go to the Daniel Beckette Fitness Center?"

"Sure. He told me to, so they'd remember my face, plus, I can't afford a gym membership myself, so I figured why not use it?"

"But you never met Daniel Beckette?"

Lindsey shook her head. "No. I didn't even know what he looked like until I saw his picture on the news."

Shay nodded. She wanted to put a spinning back fist on this bitch, but if she did, she'd ruin everything, so she settled for a nod and a smile. "Thank you for helping me."

"I'm really sorry. I was desperate."

"So you said."

"Is the interview still going to run?"

"What interview?"

"The one on Lunch with Lois today?"

"Yeah. Too late to pull it now. Here's what I want you to do. I don't want you talking to anyone about this until you hear from Mr. Wezler, got it? This is a real mess you've created, so don't make it worse."

"I'm sorry. I won't. But you'll talk to Mr. Wezler about billing me?"

Shay nodded. "Let me worry about that."

She turned and stomped out like she was annoyed, but it was hard to not run, leaping and screaming her elation to the world. She couldn't run to her car, though she wanted to, because if Lindsey was watching, that would raise suspicions. She walked to her car as fast as she could, switching off the camera with one hand and dialing Dan with the other.

"Shit," she murmured when her call went to his voice mail.

As soon as she slid behind the wheel, she dialed Dan again, and again the call went to voice mail.

"Dammit!" she snarled as she started the car.

She pulled onto the road, driving normally until she was out of sight of the motel before she buried her right foot and dialed Dan again.