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Ellie was in a silent, quivering rage. “Say that again,” she said in a voice that could cut glass.
“Pauline’s on this story,” Ed, one of the assistant producers, told her.
“But it’s in my hometown. About one of my classmates. A guy I know really well!” A guy I slept with. “No one’s better for this one than I am.”
He shrugged and looked around the studio break room. Ellie had been waiting, loaded for bear, and Ed was the first guy who’d walked through the doors since she’d gotten the phone call from Rob, who was now her producer: “Pauline Kirby’s on the Tanner Stahd story. She’s at Laurelton General now.”
“That’s my story, Rob. I’ve been to the hospital. I called the West Knoll police. I know a guy there, too. An officer who does investigations as well. I know these people.”
“That’s why Pauline’s on it. You’re too close. You can do an in-depth interview later.”
“Later?” she’d practically shrieked.
“Later,” he confirmed, and hung up.
Once upon a time, Rob had been her friend, but now he’d bonded with Coco, Alton’s wife . . . still his wife, though Alton had sworn he was leaving her. But Rob and Alton were cut from the same cloth: both had wives from rich families, and it was sooo much easier to just go along and keep the wealthy ball-and-chains happy.
Still, this was Coco’s doing. She hated Ellie for having an affair with her husband, and although Alton had wriggled his way back to his wife, tail between his legs, leaving Ellie to the stares and whispers around the station, Coco was still determined to ruin her. Coco owned Alton now. He’d sworn he was leaving her, but the man had no spine. The only good thing was that Ellie had worked her ass off over the last few years, and Coco had no authority at the station, apart from her family owning a significant block of shares, that is. The fact was that Alton was getting older and losing viewership, and Pauline Kirby was no spring chicken either. It was Ellie whose star was rising, and Rob knew it. He was just pandering to Coco and his own w
ife. The fact that Pauline was covering Tanner’s stabbing instead of Ellie was just throwing an old dog a bone.
“I’m not giving up,” she’d told anyone who cared to listen. “This is my story.” Most of the other employees ignored her, but they were all on the same slow-moving, loser track. Ellie wasn’t going to let that happen to her.
But then, to add insult to injury, the hospital spokesperson who’d ignored her earlier had actually talked on camera to Pauline, confirming that Tanner was still unconscious but stable. Pauline was probably already at the West Knoll police station, talking to McCrae, the rat fink.
Fuck him, she thought. She was so furious she could spit.
Ed scooted back out of the break room, and Ellie paced the floor.
This was her story.
Fuck Coco, too. And Pauline. And Rob.
Her cell phone rang, and she snatched it out of her purse, only partially surprised by the name that popped up. “Ellie O’Brien,” she snapped out.
“Are you reporting on Tanner’s stabbing case?” Amanda Forsythe asked. She’d gone back to her maiden name after the divorce from Hal Brennan, a divorce she’d managed to come out of much richer, though she’d sworn at the reunion she was the one with the money. Brennan, being a partner, might not have been the lawyer Amanda was, but he’d certainly had money.
She almost lied. She wanted to so badly she could taste it. But it wouldn’t help her. “They put Pauline on it.”
“Why?”
“What are you looking for, Amanda?” she demanded impatiently.
“I want to know who did it.” There was something beneath her carefully enunciated words. Emotion? Amanda? Not likely.
“And sue the hell out of them?” Ellie half-joked.
“Our classmates keep dying, Ellie.”
“Well . . . yes, but over fifteen years that’s kind of what happens. There’s a natural attrition rate in any—”
“Two were killed. Possibly three, if you read Bailey’s journal.”
“Bailey’s journal . . . what are you talking about? Did you read it?” Ellie was surprised into asking.
“We all know what was in it. Suppositions. Theories.”
“Heartbreak over losing her best friend in the world,” Ellie reminded her.
