Page 100 of Mr. Perfect

“No,” Spencer said adamantly. “What I told you both about the origin of Second Chance was true. Mercy ruined it like he did everything. I realized I would never get out from under him. I’d repaid the loan he’d given me ten times over, but it was never enough. That’s when I decided to exploit the program for my personal gain.”

“What about Felix’s interview?” Jude asked. “Are you saying your office was bugged?”

“Veronica knew about the interview,” Felix said.

Spencer nodded. “She did, but she’s not the one who tipped Mercy off.”

“How do you know?” Jude asked.

The door opened again, and Veronica walked into the garage with Skeet. They both wore FBI badges on chains around their necks.

“Christ,” Felix said. If Todd Dartmouth walked in next, he was going to launch his chair at someone. “No wonder you worked so hard to keep me away from Spencer.”

Veronica smiled wryly. “You nearly wrecked two years of undercover work.”

“You should’ve passed my messages along to The Auto King sooner,” Felix countered. “Had he made things right with my transmission, I would’ve let it go.”

“I realized my mistake too late,” Veronica acknowledged.

“As for tipping Mercy off about your interview,” Cameron said, “it had to be someone with easy access to my office. I suspected it was someone on my janitorial staff, but then Veronica recalled all the weird IT issues we’d had.”

“So, the service records really were gone?” Felix asked.

“The systems upgrade was legitimate, but we continued to have issues which required IT technicians to come in almost weekly over the past few months,” Veronica said.

“Let me guess, one of those technicians was in Spencer’s office before my interview,” Felix said.

“And the following day,” Veronica said. “I swept Spencer’s office daily for bugs, but they were able to circumvent me. We’re taking a closer look at the software company itself, as well as the technicians they sent to the dealership.”

“We’ve had to move up every single part of our takedown mission to keep it from backfiring in our faces,” Skeet said. Felix was impressed the man could speak without spitting tobacco first.

“So, you’re going to testify against Mercy?” Rocky asked. It was the first thing he said since acknowledging he was still married to the sexy marshal.

“I am now,” Spencer said, “but initially, I planned to fake my family’s death and use the new identities I procured.”

“You’re still going to do that, but now on the government’s dime,” Jude remarked.

“Also true,” Spencer acknowledged.

“What happens to all the money you stole from your customers?” Felix asked.

“They will receive a full refund,” Skeet said. “It will look like a class action settlement payout through a law firm the agency has partnered with to help provide cover.”

Still unable to grasp the magnitude of the trouble he’d stumbled into, Felix asked, “So, how did we end up here tonight?”

Asher stepped back into the room. “We’ve been following you as you tailed the Spencers. We knew you weren’t going to let your investigation go. I obviously have a vested interest in one of you, and Mr. Spencer is fond of the other two.”

Rocky flipped him off, and Asher blew him a kiss.

“I wanted the opportunity to apologize to you, Felix,” Spencer said. “You deserve to know the truth.”

“You can’t stop me from writing the truth about what I learned once the news of your deaths break,” Felix said stubbornly.

“True,” Veronica said. “But do you really want your reputation to shift from respected investigative journalist to a conspiracy theorist?”

“I’ll be vindicated once Spencer reappears on the witness stand,” Felix challenged.

“Ifhe testifies,” Skeet countered. “Right now, it looks like we have enough to lock Mercy away for the rest of his life without Spencer ever taking the stand.”