Page 2 of Control

Stop digging, or you’ll be next.

Definitely a threat. Clearly, it had been a valid one, too.

I didn’t want to assume the worst had happened. Until she woke up and told us differently, I refused to believe Yasmine had suffered a random attack.

A brutal attack, from what I’d learned.

Apparently, Yasmine had gone out to dinner two nights ago with her mom. They’d driven there separately, so it was when Yasmine had returned to her car that she’d been attacked. She’d been beaten so badly, the people responsible didn’t intend for her to survive. The only reason she was still alive now was that a couple of good Samaritans had seen what was happening from the distance, shouted, and approached. The people who’d attacked Yasmine took off running before the others could catch up to them.

Evidently, Yasmine’s parents had called the station today to tell them what had happened over the weekend.

It would have been easy to get caught up in fear, dread, or even sadness over all of this, but I owed it to both Yasmine and Annie to see this through and uncover the truth.

I could only hope my plan wasn’t going to be brought to a grinding halt.

Because after I’d found the note and contemplated where or who it had come from for far too long, I continued looking. And as I was in the middle of searching through Yasmine’s files in and on her desk, my producer, Rita, walked in. “Oh, Alana. I didn’t know you were in here. What’s going on?”

Shaking my head with disbelief as I continued to rummage through files, I answered, “I’ve got to figure this out, Rita. I was planning to come and talk to you as soon as I finished here. I want to take over the coverage of this story.”

“Which story, exactly?”

Fair point.

The newsroom had been buzzing ever since we learned about Annie’s death. It hadn’t come close to dying down when the news about Yasmine being hospitalized and unconscious surfaced this morning. And while I might have believed these two cases were linked, it was reasonable to understand not everyone else would, especially those who hadn’t seen the note I’d just found.

Of course, the skeptic inside me thought it was strange for Rita to ask such a question when what happened to Yasmine hadn’t exactly been made an official story that our anchors were going to be presenting. At least, I hadn’t been aware of the decision to do so.

I guess it was possible I was making assumptions, though. Because Yasmine wasn’t only reporting on Annie Sanders. She had other stories she’d been working, and Rita’s question wasn’t entirely unreasonable if she was assuming one of those was in the ranking.

“Well, I was referring to the Annette Sanders story,” I reasoned, my head tilted to the side. Following a brief pause, I added, “But I’m certainly concerned about Yasmine, and I’d like to see what I can learn about what happened to her. I get the feeling they’re linked.”

Rita’s brows shot up. “I’m sorry, I think I misunderstood you. Because it sounds like you believe Annie’s death and Yasmine’s brutal attack are connected.”

“I do.”

My producer stepped cautiously into the room, concern littering her expression. “Forgive me, but what would give you that impression? I mean, other than Yasmine being the woman who had been researching and reporting on this story, I’m not sure I see the connection.”

I stood from behind the desk, rounded it, and moved toward Rita, holding the slip of paper out to her. “Because I found this with her things.”

Rita took the paper from me. I watched as her face blanched, and her jaw fell open in disbelief. For several long seconds, Rita’s eyes shifted between that piece of paper and me. Eventually, she asked, “This was given to Yasmine?”

I shrugged. “That’s my best guess, considering it was with her things.”

“And you know it’s from someone connected to Annie Sanders?”

Shaking my head, I confessed, “I do not. But if I’m going with my gut instinct, there’s a connection, and I just need the time to be able to prove it.”

Rita held my stare, the look in her eyes an indication she had dozens of thoughts running through her mind. “There’s obviously no proof that this note came from someone who knew Yasmine was reporting on Annie’s death, but I think it’s worth looking into. You and Yasmine were close, so I need you to besure about this. And if you’re confident you can handle it and are prepared to take this on, you have my full support and approval.”

Until she’d given me that approval, I hadn’t realized just how worried I was that Rita might tell me I couldn’t work on this story. I let out a deep sigh of relief, my shoulders sagging. “Thank you, Rita.”

“Of course. Keep me in the loop on what you find with this. If there’s anything I can do to help, my door is always open.”

With a nod of appreciation, I took the note I’d found back from my producer. “I’m going to get to work on this immediately. Hopefully, I’ll have some answers soon.”

“Or, at the very least, a couple of leads.”

Moments later, I was alone again and combing through everything I could find in Yasmine’s things that were related to the Annie Sanders case. Though I occasionally got distracted and reviewed a few notes she’d made, my sole focus was on gathering everything she had collected.

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