Page 105 of Just Killing Time


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He nodded. “The father of one of our guys died…thatday.” He glanced at his discreet pin, which Caro had noticed before. “And so did lots of other New York firefighters who still have families—adult children, at least—in the city.”

She instantly knew what he meant, and Digg went up several notches in her estimation. “You’re giving all of it away?”

He finally grinned, bringing out two cute little dimples that had probably had Jacey begging from day one. “Well, notall.”

She laughed with him. From what she’d begun to surmise about Digg, she had a feeling “not all” would mean all but enough for him to do something nice for his family or other people he loved.

In that respect, he was a lot like Mick. That’s one thing they had in common—a generosity toward people they loved.

“Okay,” Caro said, coming to a decision. “Renauld is king here and I can’t force him to change his mind.”

Digg’s fingers clenched in his lap, and Caro quickly hurried on to add, “But I know people who can, and I’ve already got calls in to some of them.” She swung around in her swivel chair and reached for the phone. “Time to start being a pest and call them all again.”

CARO LEARNED TWO important things about Hollywood over the next twenty-four hours. First, producers would do anything to keep a good thing going, including undercutting the authority of the director if the occasion warranted it. And second, they were scared as hell of the word slander.

Both those things worked in her favor when dealing with Renauld Friday morning. He’d breezed into the office, and she’d hit him with newsflash number one: Jacey was back on the job.

“But, I fired her,” he said, looking stunned. “What do you mean she’s back?”

“I rehired her.”

“On whose authority?”

She picked up the phone. “The studio’s. Want to call and double-check?”

He sank to a chair, obviously understanding the implications. He didn’t have the power over the little nobody on-site producer that he thought he did. Caro had always known that. This was just the first time she’d had to prove it.

“I don’t believe it,” he whispered. “They wouldn’t interfere with on-set operations. They know we can’t have a camerawoman involved with a contestant.”

She leveled a steady gaze on him and fudged the truth just a teeny tiny bit. “He threatened to walk.”

Renauld just stared.

“Did you hear me?”

Renauld finally got it. “Digg? Threatened toleave? Because ofher?”

Caro didn’t answer the question directly, because Digg hadn’t threatened directly. But he’d hinted, and that had been good enough for her. She didn’t even address the scorn in Renauld’s voice when he’d mentioned Jacey. That would just make her angrier, which wasn’t going to do her any good in dealing with the director.

“I got on the phone with Mr. Littman.”

Renauld looked ready to lose it. “You went to Littman?”

She nodded. “I told him to look up Digg’s file, see if he thought we could afford to lose him and then call me back.”

“Of course we can’t afford to lose him!”

Exactly the point. Which was just what Littman had said when he’d called late yesterday afternoon. So Jacey was back on the job, with the understanding that she and Digg would have no personal interaction for the remainder of the shoot. Since it would all be over within a matter of days, she figured they were in the clear. At least on that issue.

Before she could move on to issue number two—that of the tabloid trash reporters surrounding them—the door to the trailer opened. Mick walked in, carrying a paper bag which looked suspiciously like it held donuts.

The last thing he’d said to her this morning as she’d left for work was that he’d wanted to have breakfast in bed. Powdered sugar donuts that would sprinkle sugar all over her body—so he could lick it off.

She immediately flushed, going warm and liquid inside.

“I orderedhimoff the set,” Renauld snapped, looking at Mick. But Caro noticed that, at the same time, he stepped back, closer to the desk.

“You can’t order him off this property,” Caro said with a satisfied smile. “His cousin and his wife own it and they’ve given him express permission to access any part of it.”

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