Read Caught for Free Online

Wendy said. "You still want Bamboo House tonight?"
    "Didn't we already have this discussion?"
    They hung up. Wendy sat back and threw her feet up on the desk. She craned her neck and checked out the butt-ugly view from her window. Her phone rang again.
    "Hello?"
    "Wendy Tynes?"
    Her feet fell back to the floor when she heard the voice. "Yes?"
    "This is Dan Mercer. I need to see you."

CHAPTER 3

    FOR A MOMENT, Wendy said nothing.
    "I need to see you," Dan Mercer said again.
    "Aren'tIalittle mature for you, Dan? I mean, I'm old enough to have a menstrual cycle and breasts."
    She thought that she could hear a sigh.
    "You're very cynical, Wendy."
    "What do you want?"
    "There are things you need to know," he said.
    "Like?"
    "Like nothing here is as it seems."
    "You're a sick, twisted, depraved perv who has a genius for a lawyer. That's how it seems."
    But even as she said it, there was just the slightest hesitation in her voice. Was it enough to warrant reasonable doubt? She didn't think so. Evidence doesn't lie. She had learned that often enough both personally and professionally. The truth was, her so-called woman's intuition was usually crap.
    "Wendy?"
    She said nothing.
    "I was set up."
    "Uh-huh. That's a new one, Dan. Let me jot that down and grab my producer, have him put one of those news scrolls on the bottom of the screen. 'Newsflash: Sicko Says He Was Set Up.' "
    Silence. For a moment she feared that she'd lost him, that he had hung up. Stupid to get all emotional. Stay calm. Talk to him. Make friends. Be nice. Get information. Trap him maybe.
    "Dan?"
    "This was a mistake."
    "I'm listening. You said something about being set up?"
    "I better go."
    She wanted to protest, scold herself for going too far with the sarcasm, but something about this felt like classic manipulation. She had danced his tangos before, several times, in fact, starting with the first time she tried to interview him last year for a piece about his work at the shelter, almost a year before he'd been caught on camera. She didn't want to cave, but she didn't want to let him go either.
    "You were the one who called me," she said.
    "I know."
    "So I'm willing to listen."
    "Meet me. Alone."
    "I'm not crazy about that idea."
    "Then forget it."
    "Fine, Dan, have it your way. See you in court."
    Silence.
    "Dan?"
    His voice was a whisper that chilled her. "You don't have a clue, do you, Wendy?"
    "A clue about what?"
    She heard a noise that might have been a sob, might have been a laugh. Hard to say over the phone. She gripped the receiver tighter and waited.
    "If you want to meet me," he said, "I'll e-mail you the directions. Two PM tomorrow. Come alone. If you choose not to show, well, it was nice knowing you."
    And then he hung up.

    VIC'S OFFICE DOOR WAS OPEN. She took a quick peek and saw him on the phone. He held up a finger to give him a second, said a gruff good-bye to whomever was on the phone, and hung up.
    "I just heard from Dan Mercer," she said.
    "He called you?"
    "Yes."
    "When?"
    "Just now."
    Vic leaned back, put his hands on his paunch. "So he told you?"
    "He said he was set up and wanted to meet." She saw the look on his face. "Why? What else is there?"
    Vic sighed. "Sit down."
    "Uh-oh," Wendy said.
    "Yeah, uh-oh."
    She sat.
    "The judge handed down her ruling. All evidence found in the home is thrown out, and because of the prejudicial nature of the press and our TV airing, she threw out all charges."
    Wendy felt her heart sink. "Please tell me you're joking."
    Vic said nothing. Wendy closed her eyes, felt the world closing in around her. She got it now, how Dan had known that she'd definitely show up at the meet.
    "So now what?" she asked.
    Vic just looked at her.
    "I'm fired?"
    "Yep."
    "Just like that?"
    "Pretty much, yeah. Bad economy. The suits upstairs are laying people off anyway." He shrugged. "Who better to ax?"
    "I can think of many."
    "Me too, but they're not damaged goods. Sorry, sweetie, that's just the way it is. HR will handle