“This is not ‘information,’ Jeff.” She crooked her fingers in air quotes. “This is evidence of a criminal act.”

“What? How?”

“He drugged her, Jeff. He drugged her, then recorded her . . .” She pinched her lips. “He tried to rape her.”

Oh God. “I didn’t know that, Mom. I didn’t watch it all. I couldn’t. How . . .” He shook his head, trying to think, for God’s sake. And then he knew. “Oh. The payment.”

“What payment?”

“The guy said he had good dirt, but it was going to cost, you know? I told Nolan and he approved the payment.”

“Nolan is your boss?”

“My editor, yes.” Jeff rubbed his aching forehead. “When I talked to him last night, I told him that I was deleting something I wasn’t comfortable with and he said to leave it in, that he’d delete it. I knew better than that, but I wasn’t expecting him to contact the guy who gave me the video.” The guy who’d drugged and sexually assaulted a college girl. “He had Prescott’s name for the payment and he must have called him. Oh my God, this is awful.” He looked up to find his mother still crying. “What am I going to do about this, Mom?”

“You’re going to do the right thing. You’re going to quit that awful job. You’re going to get that video taken down. And then you’re going to contact this woman and make it right, no matter what you have to do.”

“Okay, Mom. I just don’t know where to start.”

“Start by getting that video taken down. Now.”

“But I can’t do that. I don’t have access to the server. Only Nolan does.”

She bit her lower lip. “Then call him and tell him that you’ll sue his ass for publishing that video under your name if he doesn’t take it down. I know a judge. I’ll call him for some advice.”

“You’re going to call a judge at one in the morning?”

She took her phone from her pocket. “He’ll still be awake. He’s a night owl.”

Jeff didn’t want to know how his mother knew this. He remembered her dating a judge when he was a senior in high school. She’d met the man when he’d brought his bulldog into the veterinary clinic where she was the receptionist. Dinners with the guy had been awkward as fuck.

“Okay,” was all he could think to say. “I’ll figure out where she’s staying.”

“In Granite Bay,” his mother said as she searched her contact list. “Oh, here he is.”

“How do you know she’s in Granite Bay?”

“Google her and you’ll see what your article has done to her,” his mother snapped. “The media has surrounded the house where she’s staying.” Then she turned on the charm. The judge had answered his phone. “Bellsie, this is Geri Bunker. I hope I didn’t wake you.” She tittered. “Oh, I remember. Listen, I need some advice. Are you alone?” Her smile was a little too satisfied for the situation. “Oh good. So it’s like this . . .”