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“The same thing you are—taking down Gutierrez.”
“And now we come to the reason Alvaro has been grooming you.”
“Grooming me?”
Bodie nodded. “All the other stories have been to legitimize this one, to lure you into thinking he was some kind of crusader for justice. I suppose in his own mind, he’s just that—and perhaps he is.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course, you don’t. Did you ever check with any of the other reporters he tried to talk to?”
“I’m kind ofpersona non gratain most news stations and at other papers. They treat me a bit like a leper.”
“I very much doubt Alvaro contacted anyone else. I’ll bet he waited until you were establishing yourself at the Gazette, and then he came to you.”
“Why me? His information has been gold.”
“Because you weren’t here when his father was murdered. You wouldn’t know enough to question his motivation.”
“You make it sound like he’s setting me up.”
“He is, but not in the same way as you were set up in New York.”
“I had no way of knowing about New York. I mean, maybe I should have done more to verify the information, but the documents looked so real.”
“You were a lot younger, a lot greener. It looked like the story was legit and, in all honesty, it might have been, but you got played. I’m sure Alvaro thought he could do the same. The difference is, as you say, Alvaro’s information up until now has been solid.”
“You don’t know that this information isn’t, as well,” she said getting to her feet and beginning to pace.
“True, and it could be. I’m simply suggesting you don’t accept it at face value based on your history. Alvaro has shown he is willing to play the long game. His father was murdered when he was a kid and he does everything in his power—the right education, the right jobs—to put himself exactly where he needs to be to strike at those he holds responsible for his father’s death.”
“Granted, I don’t have all the information yet, but you don’t know that what I have isn’t just as solid.”
“That’s true enough. And it may well be. In fact, it might even be more bulletproof than anything else. What I do know is something I very much doubt Alvaro has told you—the one piece of info that would make you question him.”
“And what information is that?” she asked, beginning to fear that what lurked in the dim recesses of her mind, might well be what Bodie was about to tell her.
“Care to speculate which cartel and who it was who ordered the death of Alvaro’s father?”
Quinn paced the room and Bodie let her do so, keeping watch but not trying to stop her. In the corner of the room by the French doors, she sank down, her eyes never leaving his.
“Riccardo Gutierrez,” she whispered.
Bodie nodded.
CHAPTER17
QUINN
Quinn felt as though she’d been punched in the gut. She’d been used again. This one hadn’t blown up in her face, and she had taken nothing at face value. Bodie crossed the room without her hearing him and squatted down beside her.
She looked up at him, damning the tears that filled her eyes. “He lied to me,” she whispered.
“No, chère.He just didn’t tell you everything.”
“It amounts to the same thing.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he said as he scooped her up in his arms and strode out to the balcony, sitting down and holding her in his lap. “I agree that he should have told you, but I understand why he didn’t. It’s the same reason he didn’t approach the others. He knew his name would taint anything he had to say. Was he using you? Yes, but you have to admit that with his help you have been able to put a stop to more than one dirty deal and hold those responsible accountable. You yourself have said, his information was the jumping off part for each story.”
