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The reporter linked her fingers and rested her joined hands atop the desk. Tone formal, she said, “Thank you for coming.”
“Thank you for agreeing to see us.” Jane and Beau settled in the chairs before the desk. She withdrew her notepad, Truth Be Told, and the printed article Ms. Katz had written about the deputy, with dozens of Jane’s notes scribbled in the margins.
LED lights flickered on a compact recording device near the phone, catching her attention. Jane blurted out, “This conversation is off the record!”
“Yes, yes, fine. Why don’t we just dive in?” Ashley nodded, as if answering her own question. She twisted in her seat, pointing to the names on the whiteboard. “From what I’ve been able to piece together, Joshua Gunn suspected six people of wanting him dead. You and I made the cut. I can guess the reason he ascribed to us. Destroying Conrad’s competition and my story.”
Very good. The reporter nailed it. Why so stressed, though? Was she, perhaps, consumed by guilt and trying to hide it? Afraid she was soon to be caught? “Is that why did you agreed to meet with me? To score a quote about finding the body?”
“Forget the body. Look, I know your hotshot husband isn’t my biggest fan but—”
“Boyfriend!” Jane bellowed, almost rocketing from her seat. “He’s my boyfriend. We aren’t even engaged yet. Not that we’ll ever get engaged. I refuse to wed. There’s a family curse, you see, and I—”
Beau coughed, silencing her. “Concentrate, Janie,” he whispered.
Right. Cheeks burning, she waved a hand in Ashley’s direction. “You were saying?”
“Let’s just forget Agent—Mr. Ryan for the moment. I’m going to ask you a question, Jane, and I need you to be honest with me.” The reporter gripped the edge of her desk and leaned forward. “Did Deputy Gunn receive threatening letters?”
Hmm. To answer or not to answer. She would never betray Conrad’s confidence, or put his new consultant gig in jeopardy. Was this something GBH wanted kept quiet? “Why do you suspect this?”
Ashley’s gaze darted to Beau. Did she hope he’d offer a better response?
He crossed his arms, tilted his head, and remained silent. A Beau Harden special.
“Let’s try this another way,” Ashley said. “What do you know about the Gentleman?”
“Only that no one claims to have seen him or spoken to him, yet he’s gained a terrible reputation,” Jane replied honestly. “What do you know?”
Repeatedly thumping an ink pen against the edge of the desk, the reporter finally relented, “Three months ago, Mr. Gunn came to me. Told me he feared for his life, and if I didn’t run a piece about a mobster called the Gentleman, warning the citizens of Aurelian Hills of the snake in their midst, he would arrest me for something. Anything. I didn’t take kindly to his threat, so I ran the article—focused on Gunn. And what I wrote was a hundred percent accurate because I am my own source. And while a journalist never wishes to become the story, I was hoping to preempt Mr. Gunn’s lies, if ever he followed through.”
Jane listened, reeling. Wow, wow, wow. Talk about a boatload of information to digest. Deputy Gunn had been desperate, willing to break the law and ruin someone’s future to spread the crime boss news. Apparently the deputy had suspected the Gentleman’s identity. A snake the residents trusted. Unless Ashley lied?
Gut check. Jane…ugh! Was she on the right track or not? Why, why, why had her gut gone silent? “Did the deputy contact you after your investigation hit the presses?” Would Ashley admit Gunn planned to “sue for millions?”
“He did.” The reporter seemed to brace herself for a blow. “He called and accused me of being on the Gentleman’s payroll. Told me I’d endangered innocent lives. That, when everyone found out how I’d attempted to discredit the only person willing to take on such a hardened criminal, I alone was to blame for their deaths. Now, I think the individual who killed Gunn is after me.”
Ashen, she poked at her cell phone and passed the device to Jane, her grip trembly. A photo of a letter filled the screen. That letter resembled those the deputy received.
“It arrived this morning,” Ashley said. “Found it in my inbox, delivered here at the station.”
The magazine cut-outs read, Forget the Gentleman or DIE
“Is GBH aware?” Jane ached for anyone in the crosshairs of a killer. While she and the other woman had often been at odds, she empathized with her greatly. Once she’d been a target herself. On the other hand, she wasn’t sure she could trust the reporter. What if Deputy Gunn had been right and Ashley killed him to keep him from discrediting her, then mailed herself a letter to use as proof of her innocence? It was possible. Every other murderer Jane had caught had blamed someone else. Why not this one?
