“What committees does MacIntyre head up?” Emory asked her brother.
“Parks and Recreation and Budget Oversight.”
“So he’s just going to shut us all down?” The gallery owner looked around the room. “How can it help him to have no businesses downtown?”
“He doesn’t want the businesses closed, Clement. He wants to be in control of them. He’s a control freak, plain and simple.” Emory’s hands closed tightly around Alex’s forearms, and he knew she was thinking about MacIntyre’s passes at her.
“Hey, Connor! I’m coming in the back.” A familiar voice echoed in the hallway.
Alex met Connor’s gaze. They both knew it was Officer Parelli. Neither knew what had brought him to Phoenix Rising. The bar wasn’t even officially open.
Alex leaned close to Emory’s ear. “Love, did you call the police and ask them to come to this little meeting?”
“No, why?”
“I’m wondering if MacIntyre didn’t take offense to your—um—poking him with the shears.” A lump of lead landed in Alex’s gut.
She froze in his arms.
“Well, now.” Parelli stiffened when he realized the bar was full of people. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. But I’ve got a bullshit warrant to serve.”
“For who?” Emory’s brother uncrossed his arms and put himself between his sister and Parelli.
“Miss Banks, do you have something you need to tell me?” Parelli’s tone told Alex that the cop didn’t believe she’d really done what she’d probably been accused of.
“Actually, Parelli…”
Chris’s hand shot out in the universal gesture for stop. “Don’t say another word, Emory.”
Emory should have been terrified. She was going to go to jail because Donovan MacIntyre was a piece-of-shit liar who preyed on weak women and attacked the ones he couldn’t bully into silence.
But she wasn’t afraid. She was done being afraid. Alex had given her courage. His acceptance had given her a piece of that fire he carried around inside him. She’d beaten back the darkness on her own. She’d held it off and faced down MacIntyre all by herself. If she could do that, she could handle this little bump in the road too.
“Come on, Parelli. What are the charges?” Alex obviously knew the older policeman better than she did.
Parelli sighed. “Donovan MacIntyre is alleging that she attacked him with a knife in her store.”
Fox snickered. “Brava, Emory.”
“Don’t be an ass.” Chris thumped him in the chest with a set of keys. “Go get the car and wait for me on the curb.”
A chair scraped as Connor stood up. “Do you really need to take her?”
“I do, Connor. Sorry.” The cop glanced at the group assembled. “What’s going on here? If you don’t mind telling me.”
Emory had a flash of insight. Chris was going to kill her, but it was worth a shot. “We met to discuss the possibility that Donovan MacIntyre is blackmailing public officials and using the information, and the financial benefits, to push around the downtown business owners.” She was breathless by the time she’d spit it all out.
“Emmy Lou, can’t you ever keep your damn mouth shut?” Chris rolled his eyes.
Parelli looked intrigued. Very intrigued. “Do you have any proof?”
“I think the mayor is gay.”
“Emory!” Chris snapped. “As your legal counsel I’d advise you to be quiet.”
“No, I think I see what she’s getting at.” Alex’s soothing baritone filled the room. “That was MacIntyre’s insinuation, right? And now we’re hazarding a guess, an educated one, but still. Does anyone here really care if Mayor Strand is gay?”
Shaking heads and shrugs rippled around the assembled group.
Morgan looked at the others. “He’s a confirmed bachelor in his early forties. It isn’t like he has a wife and kids he’s lying to. It’s kind of sad that he thinks we wouldn’t vote for him just because he’s gay.”
Alex gave Emory a little squeeze and continued as if he could read her mind. “So maybe if everyone knew and was willing to openly support the idea, he wouldn’t be afraid to come out and admit that MacIntyre has been blackmailing him.”
Parelli almost looked convinced. “And if you’re wrong?”
“Well then, we just started one hell of a rumor,” Alex admitted.
Emory had a burst of inspiration. “Is your jail down at city hall?”
“Why?” Parelli looked taken aback by her sudden eagerness for lockup.