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the extra work of covering for Penny, Dani
knew it was the perfect threat.

"I'll let you tell him,"
she said.

"I can't wait."
    * * *
    LORI WAS STARTLED to find a woman lurking on Gloria's front
porch. In this upscale part of Seattle, the houses were mansion size,
the lawns perfect and no one lurked.

"Can I help you?"
Lori asked as she slipped her key in her pocket and crossed her arms
over her chest. While the woman was perfectly well dressed and seemed
normal, Lori had a bad feeling she couldn't explain.

The woman
smiled at her. "Hi, I'm Cassandra. Cassie to my friends. I'm a
reporter. I recently wrote an article on Reid Buchanan."

No
need to define which article. In recent weeks there had only been one
anyone would remember. "An article, huh? Is that what you're
calling it?"

Cassie smirked. "Oh, so you're one of
his little fans."

Lori might have a stupid crush on Reid,
but she wasn't about to admit it. Besides, this wasn't about her
feelings, it was about using one's position to try to destroy an
almost innocent— well, innocent— person.

"Do
I look like one of his little fans?" she asked bluntly. "I'm
actually just a person who wonders about today's standards of
journalism. There's a difference between reporting and being mean.
You got away with what you wrote because you're a woman. If the
situation had been reversed, the article wouldn't exist."

Cassie
shrugged. "Maybe, but I'm getting great play out of the story.
It's all true. He was lousy in bed, but as I said, that's just my
opinion. Others don't seem to agree. Is he home?"

"I
have no idea what you're talking about," Lori said, staring at
the woman and refusing to even glance at the door.

"I
can't find him anywhere and I don't think he left Seattle. There
aren't that many places he could go to hide."

"What
about with one of his fans?"

Cassie laughed. "Reid
commit to one woman? I don't think so."

Which was kind of
how Lori saw him, but she was going to ignore that for now.

"You're
trespassing on private property," she said. "Please
leave."

"Sure. No problem. Oh, by the way, do you
spend much time on the Internet?"

"What? Not
really."

"Then you probably haven't seen
these."

Cassie passed her several photos. Lori glanced
down automatically, then wished she hadn't.

There were about a
half-dozen glossy images of Reid having sex. Each picture showed him
with the same woman. The pictures were crude, explicit and grainy.
But they made the point— he was a man who loved women.

Doing
her best not to react, Lori passed them back. She felt like she
needed to wash her hands or something. "Thanks, but not before
breakfast."

"These are online. Even a ten-year-old
could download them. Are you sure you want to protect him? We should
stand together against men like Reid Buchanan."

Despite
the sick feeling in her stomach, Lori shook her head. "I'm not
interested in standing with you on anything."

She waited
until the woman left before she headed inside. The sick feeling
didn't go away. What horrible pictures. Did Reid know about them? Had
he posed for them? She wanted to believe the pictures had been taken
without his knowledge, but how could she be sure? She knew almost
nothing about him. Wanting him to be one of the good guys meant
absolutely nothing. Based on how he lived his life, he was most
likely the guilty party.

That should take care of her little
crush. It wouldn't, of course, but it should.
    * * *
    "YOU NEED TO WALK," Lori said, hanging on to her
patience with both hands. "Just across the room and then we can
be done."

"I'm done now," Gloria snapped. "It's
enough that damn physical therapist pushes me. At least he knows what
he's doing."

"You either do your physical therapy
and get better, or crawl back in bed and die."

"You
keep threatening me with death," Gloria snapped, "and I'm
still standing."

Lori stared at the old woman hunched
over a walker. "Barely. Don't you want to get strong enough to
kick my ass?"

"What I want is to be rid of you.