Gone (Deadly Secrets #2)(64)
“I’ll try. I’ve got a buddy with the Portland PD who owes me a favor. Speaking of favors . . . what’s the deal with you and the ol’ ball and chain? And don’t try to tell me nothin’, because I know you so damn well that I know when you’re lying.”
Alec’s stomach tightened as he crossed the street. Hunt was fiercely protective of his friends. It was his greatest strength. He’d been with Alec the day Alec had gotten the final divorce papers, and he’d seen how the news had wrecked Alec. What he didn’t know was that Alec was the one who’d walked away from the marriage, and that he was the one who’d filed those papers, not Raegan.
“That’s a conversation I think we need more time for.”
“Shit, man. There is something going on between the two of you. What the hell are you doing, Alec?”
Alec sighed, not in the mood to get into it with Hunt today, and glanced at a woman on the far sidewalk holding a crying baby. His eyes widened when he spotted the shadowy figure behind her in the al—
He heard the pop a split second before pressure exploded in his shoulder. His body sailed backward. His cell phone flew from his fingertips. The woman on the sidewalk screamed and jerked her baby toward the building. The back of Alec’s skull hit the pavement with a crack, but thanks to his time in Afghanistan and Iraq and the world’s hot spots taking pictures for the AP, he knew exactly what had hit him.
A bullet.
The fucker had shot at him. Right in broad daylight like the coward he’d always been.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Raegan itched to throw her coffee cup across the desk and into the face of the man currently lecturing her. Since he was her boss, who she’d recently ended things with, she figured that wouldn’t be her smartest move.
“Furthermore,” Jeremy said, “contrary to what you think, this station is not here to fund your own personal agenda, whatever that may be. I gave you an assignment, I assumed you were working on that assignment, and now I find you’ve done nothing to get me the story? That’s not the way things work around here, Raegan.”
He was ticked she’d broken things off with him. He’d acted like he hadn’t cared, but obviously he had. She knew that. She knew it was why he was laying into her now, and she knew she needed to be sympathetic. But it was hard. Especially because he knew this wasn’t just any story; it was personal for her.
“You asked me to cover a story, Jeremy, and I’m covering it. I’m researching, which, as you know, is how one builds a story.”
He rolled his brown eyes. “You’re not building a story. You don’t have a single goddamn person interviewed on camera. You haven’t even once called Larry to accompany you to these so-called interviews.”
Larry was the cameraman she often used on assignment, and Jeremy was right; she hadn’t called Larry to join her because she wasn’t ready to interview anyone on camera about these missing kids yet. Wasn’t sure she ever would be, but she couldn’t exactly tell him that.
Drawing in a calming breath, she reminded herself to keep her cool. “I’ll call Larry when I’m ready.”
He pushed to his feet and shuffled file folders together on his desk. “I already called him for you. He’s waiting in the conference room.”
“What?”
“I need something for the five o’clock news. He’ll tape your personal connection to the story. We’ll run it with video of the car the police discovered on Highway 26 where they also found that little boy. I’ll let you add in any details you think are important from your research, but that story airs tonight. When you have more, we’ll run the rest later.”
A sick feeling rolled through Raegan’s stomach as she pushed to her feet and watched Jeremy lift a folder and move around his desk as if he were done with her.
“This was never about the story,” she muttered to herself.
“What did you say?” He glanced up.
Shock that she hadn’t seen the truth before rippled through her. “You came up with the idea for this story the day I got the call about that little girl at the hospital.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You saw how I reacted to that news.” Her skin grew hot, but not in the good way. “You saw and you decided to use it to get your Emmy.” Holy hell, that made total sense. They were getting close to the end of January. The deadline for Emmy nominations was in mid-March. She knew he had no other emotionally moving stories to enter in the stupid news awards. He’d been complaining to her about it for weeks on their dates before that night.
She lifted a hand to her forehead, feeling like a complete fool. “I can’t believe I fell for it.”
He dropped the file folder on his desk and pinned her with a get real look. But his brown eyes lacked the same angry focus they’d held earlier. “You’re imagining things. Go do your taping and we’ll talk when you’re not so emotional.”
No, they wouldn’t. She wasn’t about to let him use her personal tragedy for his professional gain.
She tugged the station ID badge from her jacket. “I quit.”
A perturbed expression crossed his features. “I don’t have time for theatrics today, Raegan. Throw your temper tantrum on your own time. I have work to do. So do you for that matter, so go do it.”