Angela’s head jutted back. “Because of Julia? She won’t hurt me. She blamed it all on Lance.”
Max thought of Julia’s question about loving someone so much you’d do anything for them. “Is she in love with you?”
Angela tucked her purse down the seat beside her, started the engine, backed out of the space, and cleared three of the levels before answering. “Yes. I guess she is.”
The Jag had that new car smell along with the scent of leather seats. Max ventured another question. “Are you in love with her? More than a little bit, I mean.”
Reaching to a convenience holder in the dash, Angela pulled out her parking card as they neared the entrance. She said nothing more until they exited the garage.
“If you’re asking if I ever considered being with Julia in a significant love relationship, the answer is no.” She turned briefly to Max. “You know I’m not like that.”
Angela couldn’t get enough power out of one relationship. But Julia? “And how do you think she’s going to react when you tell her that you don’t want a relationship?”
Heading out to the freeway, Angela negotiated the city streets with ease and flair, so unlike Max. “I’m not going to.” She reached to pat Max’s knee. “We’re going to try to talk her into turning herself in, aren’t we? If she really did it. Which I’m not sure she did.”
“I’m not convinced this will work. Murphy’s Law, you know.”
“If something can go wrong, it will,” Angela quipped.
Max shook her head. “This is a stupid idea.” She turned in her seat to regard Angela’s profile. “I have a friend. He’s a cop. We can go to him.” Now that Angela was safe, Max’s urgency had dissipated. She could take the time to track down Witt before they went to Julia’s. Plus, it no longer mattered if Angela knew that Witt was the man Max picked up at the Embassy or that he was a cop.
“What do you think’s gonna happen? That she’s going to rush us with two letter openers?”
Max didn’t laugh. “What if she has a gun or something?”
Angela patted her purse. “She doesn’t. I have the family gun. Right here. Lance gave it to me for protection.”
Max stared in horror.
Angela beamed as she stared through the windshield. “So you see, I’ll keep us safe.”
Oh God, this whole thing really was a stupid idea.
Cameron, don’t you dare leave me alone.
He didn’t answer.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Why did you agree to help Bud Traynor to get me to do a trick?”
Angela laughed, lightly, so much lighter than Max had ever felt. “I wasn’t going to let you do a real one. He told me you knew that guy. I wouldn’t have let you otherwise.”
Well, that answered that question. “What did you think it was all about?”
Shrugging, Angela took the 280 extension. “No idea. Bud asks for some strange stuff.”
“Is this how you always go?” Max pointedly asked.
“I know the drive, Max.”
Yes, Angela knew the drive. How many times had she made it?
Angela looked over. “Relax. Everything’s going to be fine. And I didn’t go down to the garage to watch you. I knew you didn’t like that idea.”
What Max had gotten had been worse and all part of Bud’s plan. But Angela hadn’t known. For a working girl, she was a tad naive.
“Did you know about his blackmail schemes?” Max asked. Angela had to have known. There was naive, and then there was plain old dumb.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Angela tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “That I’m a piece of crap who will do anything for money.”
Max didn’t think that, but she didn’t deny it either. Perhaps silence would get Angela to tell her everything she knew about Bud.
“We didn’t do it with everyone. Not the guys I met in the bar. Only special ones that Bud needed an edge with.”
The swish-swish of the windshield wipers was almost hypnotic, but Max concentrated on Angela’s profile. “Do you know how much he made those men pay to get rid of the videos?”
Angela’s lips quirked. “I don’t think it was money. It was a favor he needed or to swing a vote this way or that. Some of them I don’t think he’s even used yet. He keeps them just in case.”
“Like Julia’s?”
Her small half-smile flattened. “I felt the worst about Julia. She never knew I was a working girl, didn’t know that Bud was the one who paid for my time. Some of the guys he brought me”—she smirked—“well, they deserved every bit of trouble they got. But not Julia.”
“So why’d you do it?”
With a sad smile creasing her lips, Angela shook her head. “Sometimes you get to a point where you just have to do things you don’t like.”
“What about Baxter?”
Angela turned, gave Max a funny little look. “My, Bud told you everything, didn’t he?” She bit her lip. “I wonder why.”
Max breezed over Angela’s musing, not sure anymore what she’d learned on her own and what Bud had supplied. “Julia must have hated you when she found out about that video.”