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This wasn’t going the way I’d hoped. “Desperate people lash out. When someone is drowning, they grab whoever is closest. And they take them down with them. I’m pretty sure the senator is closest to Cash at this point. He’s lost his bikers and his mayor is on the way out. He’s pretty much down to your boss.”
“I know that,” Franco said.
That was the first crack in the front he was putting on for the senator. He’d said “I”, not “we.”
“Is the senator smart enough to know that too?” I asked.
Franco didn’t react.
“Here’s the thing about Cash,” I said. “He’s got this bullshit charm that a lot of con men have. It seems to really work on women. Hell, even Liz Danger was taken in by him.”In high school, I didn’t add.
“He’s a smooth operator,” Franco agreed and his tone indicated he didn’t respect that.
“And a dangerous one.”
“We’ll see,” Franco said. “Anything else?”
He was back to the plural. I’d pushed as hard as I could about Cash. At the very least, Franco would tell the senator what I’d shown him. Maybe she’d play it safe and pull back her support of Cash.
“Oh, yeah,” I said. “Mayor O’Toole was arrested today for domestic battery. He’s going to be out of the job shortly.”
Franco was still for a moment, then laughed. “Really, Cooper. You’ve whipped up a shitstorm. This fucking town is radioactive with you in it.”
“No, Franco, this town was corrupt and dirty in some places. But now it’s getting clean. We got the Wolves out. We took down a bad mayor. And we’re not stopping.”
“‘We’?” Franco asked.
“The good people of Burney.”
Franco didn’t laugh at that. “Are we done here?”
“You have anything for me?” I asked.
“I already gave you my advice,” Franco said. “Consider it.”
“Ditto.”
Franco got in the big truck and drove away.
CHAPTER 57
The senator came out the front door of the Victorian Airbnb on the river, not far from the O’Tooles’ place, looking left and right for her ride. She wasn’t any happier to see me than Honey had been, but she was a lot smoother.
“Yes, Miss Danger?” she said when I approached her.
“I need to talk to you about Cash Porter,” I said.
“I assure you, Miss Danger, these is nothing between me and your boyfriend.”
She tried to move past me but stopped when I said, “My lover is Vince Cooper. Your lover is Cash Porter. His delusions are not my problem, they are yours.”
She put her sunglasses on and gave me an icy smile. “Really, Miss Danger, do you think—”
“I think whatever Cash told you about me is his delusion. I loathe the man. I am here to give you a heads up: Cash is going down in flames here shortly, and if you don’t get out now, he’ll take you down with him, using you to save himself. He did it to me in the past. The only difference is, you have a hell of a lot further to fall than I did.”
“Really, I—”
“He always plays women off against each other. Lavender, Skye, you . . .” I stopped because she flinched at Skye’s name. Must not have known about her. “So, he told you he’d marry Lavender for her money and he’d have me on the string to take his falls, but you’d be the number one. Of course you’d be the number one. You have all the power.”
