“He still has a lot of friends there who wouldn’t think twice about helping him out. Even if it meant planting evidence or even just innuendo about me to stir up trouble.”

Hunter jotted down some notes. “I need a name.”

“Bryce Wixom.”

“I’ll check him out.”

She looked down at her coffee and didn’t make eye contact with him.

“There’s more to this story, isn’t there?”

“Isn’t there always?” she asked.

“Best to just put it all on the table.”

“Bryce and I were close friends. He took my reporting him as a stinging betrayal, but I never thought he’d actually do anything to hurt me or mess with my career. Maybe I was wrong.”

This was starting to make more sense. “When you say close, how close exactly?”

“We were friends. Bryce definitely wanted more, but I tried to keep the lines clear. He could be persistent, to say the least.”

Hunter hated this guy already. “So you ratted out this guy who had feelings for you. Sounds like perfect motive to me.”

“I don’t like the ratted out characterization. I was doing what was right. Following protocol. He was the one breaking the rules, and I had a responsibility to report him even if he was my friend.”

It was always like Layla to take the high ground and do the right thing. It was one of the many things he admired about her. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said it like that, but in Bryce’s mind, I’m sure that’s how he saw it, and we’re looking at this from his point of view right now to determine the risks.”

She hung her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t bite your head off when you’re just trying to help. I’m really on edge right now.”

His heart hurt as he watched her try to process everything. “It’s going to be okay. Do you have any idea what Bryce is doing now?”

“No. He cut off all communication with me, and I didn’t take the time to seek him out. He made his position clear, and we couldn’t see eye to eye.”

Hunter started typing on his laptop, and within a few seconds he had a hit on Bryce. “Looks like he’s gone private sector, working at a DC consulting firm.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. Bryce was well connected politically and comes from an influential family inside the Beltway.” She leaned back in her chair. “I’m just wondering why he would spend the time and energy to concoct claims against me to cause an IG investigation.”

“It’s possible he didn’t, but I’d feel a lot better if we could say one way or the other. We should pay him a visit in the morning.”

Layla’s dark eyes widened. “We? Are you serious?”