Read Online Fire Brand by Diana Palmer - Free Book Online

grinned. “Thanks, boss.”
    â€œDon’t thank me.” He held up a hand and smiled modestly. “I am but a poor, humble editor, doing his best to save democracy for future generations. Four score and seven...”
    â€œYou might write down that speech on the back of an envelope,” she suggested as she went out the door of his office. “Who knows? You could go down in history.”
    He sighed. “Only if I changed my last name to Lincoln. Go to work!”
    â€œYou bet!”
    The political interview was one she’d been angling toward for weeks. An older state representative—one of sixty representatives in the State House—had been accused of taking kickbacks on a highway project he’d supported. The charge didn’t quite ring true to Gaby, who knew the politician. He had a reputation for honesty that was nothing short of fanaticism.
    What made the interview so special was that Gaby was the only member of the press that Representative Guerano would talk to.
    â€œWhere’s Wilson?” the white-haired legislator asked, darting quick glances around as they sat in the comparative security of his office in the state capitol building. “Is he disguised as a lamp?”
    Gaby laughed. Her wild journalistic colleague had that kind of reputation, and it was really a pity that he worked for a rival paper. “Despite Wilson’s knack for turning up in odd places, he could only know about this meeting from me, and I don’t consort with the opposition.”
    Representative Guerano chuckled deeply. “Good for you. Okay. What do you want to know, young lady?”
    â€œWho’s after you and why, of course,” she replied with a twinkle in her olive eyes. “I don’t believe for a minute that you’ve taken money from anybody.”
    He smiled gently. “God bless you for that blind trust. As it happens, you’re right. But I only have suspicions, no hard evidence. And I’m hardly in a position to start throwing stones.”
    â€œTell you what,” she said, leaning forward. “You tell me who, when, and why, and I’ll tell Johnny Blake. We’ve got an investigative reporter on our staff who can dig blood out of turnips.”
    His tired blue eyes brightened. “Think so?”
    â€œI do, indeed. Meanwhile, you give me a nice interview and I’ll print both sides of the controversy, just the way a good journalist should.”
    â€œIsn’t this sticking your neck out?” he asked curiously.
    She shook her head. “It’s good journalism. We like to print the whole truth. Sometimes we can only print half. But we never give up until we get to the bottom of scandals. That’s the only way to do it, to be fair to everyone involved.”
    He nodded. “I can understand that. But meanwhile, a lot of damage has been done to my reputation.” He leaned back, looking every day of his sixty years. “You don’t know what a living hell it is to be at the center of a scandal, young lady. My family’s suffered much more than I have, but even if I’m cleared, the implication is still there. My career is finished, either way.”
    Gaby was getting cold chills, because she had a pretty good idea of what a scandal could do to even ordinary people, much less people in the public eye. Her background, if it were ever revealed, could do untold damage to the McCaydes.
    She snapped herself back to the present. “All I can promise you is that I’ll do a good story and that Johnny will put it in a prominent place. If you deny the charges and we can print your side of it, some people may listen.”
    â€œIf you mean that, about an investigation, I’ll give you all the help I can, and so will my staff.”
    She nodded. “I can promise you that we’ll give it our best shot.”
    â€œThen, let’s get to it. Ask whatever you like.”
    It was a good piece—one of