Quinn summed it up concisely, and Gavin turned to look at what was spread out on the table. “Some interesting names here.”

Adam nodded. “Some weren’t surprising. These days you half expect the clandestine meetings with interest groups buying influence.”

Quinn nodded at that. “The proverbial pay to play.”

“It’s the others,” Mandy said. Adam had told her he’d known some of those names, of even more unsavory characters, from other investigations and wanted bulletins.

“These two,” Adam said, pointing to two dates a couple of months apart. “From Greg’s file, he saw those meetings himself.”

“Right before...” Mandy began, but couldn’t make herself finish.

“Exactly,” Adam said grimly. “And I know both of them have felony records, with more that couldn’t be proved. Including murder.”

“So,” an unruffled Gavin said with a glance at Mandy, “she knew your father had been onto her, and the job offer was to keep an eye on you, make sure you didn’t know what your father had found out?”

He’d gotten there so quickly Mandy felt a little burst of relief. If someone the likes of Gavin de Marco immediately saw it, they had to be right. She’d known in her gut they were, but validation on that level made it seem more solid.

“And when Amanda called a couple of her father’s friends still at the department for help translating his secret file, it got back to her,” Quinn said.

“So she has someone on the force,” Gavin mused aloud. Adam let out a compressed, disgusted breath. The attorney looked at him. “Feels like a betrayal, doesn’t it.”

It wasn’t a question, but Adam nodded.

“So then she decides I need to be dealt with,” Mandy said slowly. Slowly, because even as she knew it was true, it seemed impossible.

“On a permanent basis,” Quinn said grimly.

“But...why would she risk it? I mean, I get that it’s a big deal, being on the council of a big city, and she wouldn’t want to lose that, but all this—” Mandy waved at the spread of documentation “—seems a bit extreme.”

“Not if the city council is just the first step of your plan,” Gavin said. “She may well have much bigger things in her sights.”

“And will do whatever it takes to get there?” Adam asked.

Quinn nodded, his expression severe.

“But...committing murder seems a bit extreme,” Mandy said.

“That’s because,” Gavin said, looking up and giving her a slight smile, “you don’t have the kind of need for power that drives people to things like this. To the kind of person she clearly is, nothing’s too extreme.”