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“Nine mo—”
“Exactlyhow long?” Caleb said, stopping Bobby before he finished speaking.
Swallowing hard, Bobby tapped his smartphone. “Forty weeks is full term. Boss, why are you asking such odd questions? What’s going on?”
He looked at Bobby. Bobby read the look, turned, closed the office door. When he turned back again, Caleb held up the photo. “Thirty-seven weeks and two days ago, I spent the night with this woman.”
Bobby’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. He strode forward, snatched the photo from Caleb’s hand. “According to the date, this was taken the day before yesterday.”
“I know.”
Flipping it over, Bobby read the back. “This is…this is extortion! Blackmail. They can’t get away with this!”
Frowning, Caleb said, “Who can’t?”
‘‘Jacobson, of course. Your only real opponent for the senatorial race.”
“I haven’t even declared my candidacy yet.”
“He knows the game. He knows that’s just a formality. This is a preemptive strike. Who else would want to get this kind of dirt on you, C.C.?”
Caleb shrugged. Silently, he thought perhaps Bobby was taking his candidacy a bit too much for granted—especially now. But he didn’t say that out loud. No sense sending the ambitious young genius into panic mode. “I don’t think it’s blackmail, because they don’t ask for anything. And if it was Jacobson this envelope would have been delivered to the press, not to me. Don’t you think?”
“Well then…who is it? You think it’s the woman?”
He shrugged. “Could be. I didn’t think she knew who I was, but I suppose she could have found out.” He sighed, lowering his head. It hurt deeply, to think that Maya might have seen through his facade of being an unknown drifter. It had been so special to have someone be attracted to him for him, not for his name or his legacy. He gave himself a shake and went on. “Now she probably figures I owe her. And I suppose she’s right, at that.”
“Oh, for crying out—are you saying you think this bull is true? You think you fathered this woman’s child in one night? For God’s sake, she was probably pregnant before you ever met her. She was probably looking for some rich scapegoat to pin it on.”
He drew a deep breath, sighed. “I don’t think so.”
“Why the hell not?” Bobby was so upset his voice squeaked on the question. He tossed the photo down and awaited an answer.
“First, because she didn’t have a clue who I was—”
“Or so she made you believe,” Bobby interjected.
“And secondly, because she was…not that kind of girl.”
Bobby stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “Not that kind of girl. She was not that kind of girl? C.C., have you gone out of your mind here or what?”
“She was a virgin.”
Bobby just blinked at him. Then he looked at the photo and blinked again. “But…she’s…my age.”
“I’ve got to go out there, Bobby.”
Bobby’s head came up, eyes wide. “Oh, no. No way. That’s the worst thing you can possibly do right now.”
“I’m going. Make something up. Cover for me. Say I’m sick with the flu and taking a few days off. Or better yet, say I needed some private time for the holidays. There’s only a week until Christmas, so that sounds reasonable. Say anything you want, Bobby, but I have to go out there. I have to see her.”
Bobby closed his eyes, shook his head. “If this leaks—”
“It won’t.”
Bobby groaned softly, his hand going to his forehead as if to ward off a headache as he paced the office three times. Then, finally, he sighed and faced Caleb again. “Where will I be able to reach you?”
“On my cell, where there’s a signal. It’s a town called Big Falls,” he said. “I’ll call you when I get there.”
