AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m going to pin them down,” said McCrae. “Find out what really happened that night.”
“It never was a murder/suicide,” he said.
“No.”
“McCrae,” he said suddenly, when they were about to end their call.
“Uh huh?”
“Be careful of Delta Stahd. I don’t agree with Hurston on much, but he makes some good points. She’s a prime suspect and may have very well killed her husband. I know you like her. But don’t forget to keep your eyes and ears open. If anything further should come to light about her, we’re at that tipping point. I’m not saying for sure that she did it. I’m just saying be careful.”
McCrae hung up, his mouth dry. Quin didn’t know about the knife. He didn’t know McCrae was meeting De
lta at his house.
* * *
Ellie thought about it and thought about it and thought some more. The Crassleys were somehow involved in Bailey’s death. Penske had made her his “job.” She didn’t have enough for a full story, but she had some of it.
She was driving to the Channel Four station to track down Andy, a producer who’d always had a thing for her. You could just tell these things. Last year, she’d run into him at a hotel function, and his eyes had been all over her. She’d been with Alton then, but she’d taken note.
She put a call in as she pulled into the lot. She was told he wasn’t in, but she left her name and number, and he called right back. The chickenshit. Screening his calls.
“Hey, Andy, I’m right outside,” Ellie said, putting a smile into her voice. “I want to come work for you, and I’m bringing a couple really good stories with me.”
“I heard heads were rolling at Seven. Sorry.”
He didn’t sound sorry at all.
“I can get an interview with Delta Stahd,” she lied. “One on one. Her side of the marriage.”
“That would be good.”
“And I also have a story to tell about myself. Today, and I mean today, I was held at gunpoint by Gale Crassley, who’s currently in the county jail over the incident. He had me strip naked.”
“You were held at gunpoint.”
“Yes. I was held at gunpoint.”
He whistled, surprised. “Wow. That is a story.”
“But I need a job. And I want to come to Channel Four.”
“Well, Ellie, I’m not in charge of that, you know. You’d have to talk to the big boss, and he hates being talked to, which you probably also know. And you gotta check with HR, of course.”
“I also think I’ve got new information on that cop killing five years ago, the current chief’s daughter,” said Ellie, undaunted.
He chuckled, sounding a bit embarrassed. “That would be something, for sure.”
“You don’t believe me,” she realized, aghast.
“We’ve got some good reporters already, and there’s not a lot of room. You know how it is. Staff gets overblown and you gotta cut. Maybe you could talk to one of ’em, in fact—”
“This is all bullshit about the ‘big boss.’ You’re giving me the runaround and don’t have the balls to admit it.” Andy was supposed to be her friend!
He said, pained, “Ellie . . . I’m going to be straight with you. You have a reputation as hard to work with.”
“Who said that? Alton?”
