Page 28 of Exclusive

Chapter Seven

Who in the world is talking?” Grace asked, blinking at me from the passenger seat in my car. She had her dark hair in two french braids and a picture of SpongeBob at a disco on her purple T-shirt. My little cousin was brilliant, kind, and adorable. Because of that combination, she easily pulled off her own quirky fashion and even made it look great. All she was missing was the tuba she’d mastered in the marching band.

I pointed to my new car addition. “A police scanner. The station hooked me up with one when I asked. That way I can make sure that I don’t miss anything I could be covering.”

“This is all very Kristen Welker of you.”

I quirked an eyebrow. She was sixteen. “You know who Kristen Welker is?”

“Skyler, I watch the news. You know I’m in debate, right? Welker is my hero. She’s goals.”

I did know the debate part. The kid had more after-school activities than an actual school bus, which was why I was playing shuttle service. Emory, recovering from her lumpectomy, had her second round of radiation that day, and Sarah was with her. I was glad that they’d finally taken me up on my offer for backup help with Grace. She had her license, but no one exactly trusted her behind the wheel just yet. There was rumor of a lead foot and a fascination with race cars that I could one hundred percent imagine. That was Grace, future valedictorian who would also smoke you in a drag race and laugh about it. Fearless.

As we drove, the scanner kicked on, and I turned it up just to check in. Another robbery. This time the suspect made off with sixty dollars in fives from the register. He’d grabbed the one stack and hadtaken off before grabbing the rest. Huh. You’d think he’d at least grab the twenties if he was going to take one. I looked over at Grace. “How would you feel about a detour to check on a robber who was too terrified to take what he came for?”

She nodded in the direction of the road ahead of us. “I say, take me to this place.”

It wasn’t a convenience store this time, but rather a small grocery store with a large assortment of fruit. Grace snagged an apple and handed over a dollar to the cashier. The police had come and gone, but the owner was incredibly eager to speak with me. I got Ty on the phone and had him video the guy as he ranted about the youth of today and the boy who’d stolen his fives. The description matched. A kid who was nervous as hell.

“Could you see his face?” I asked.

“He’s a rugrat hooligan. A child,” the man practically bellowed as Ty rolled. “He was waving a pistol around and had no idea what to do with it. I saw tufts of blond hair under his hood. Barking at me to hand over the cash. Someone could have been hurt or worse. We need this guy off the street. Now!”

“That’s a great sound bite,” Grace whispered, and I was proud of her for recognizing that. This was the first time someone had mentioned the danger this kid posed. I had Ty bank the footage and thought it was time I talked with Kristin about the story. We might have enough, and it was time to get this guy off the street, which just might happen if I could get the stores to release stills of the guy from surveillance.

“Wait, so there’s a kid named Seth botching robberies all over the city?” Kristin stirred her coffee as she mulled over my pitch.

I was pumped, on a high, and probably talking too fast. “That’s what it’s starting to look like. A young kid who is clearly out of his depth is showing up at small stores, misfiring his gun, and running out of the place with next to nothing. Then does it all again in a week.”

“Seth?”

“Right? It’s not the toughest name, which is why it gives the story a hook.” I was bouncing and could feel it. “Can I formally move forward? Thoughts?”

She waved her spoon at me. “Sure. Can you get it to me for tonight?”

I winced. “Maybe.”

“Make it happen.”

Gah! I dashed off, fled the office like a felon, and got to work. Igrabbed Ty. “We gotta move. Can you start work on the Seth package? I’ll get on the phone to get surveillance. We can shoot my stand-up in front of the first convenience store and then cut to Seth footage, intermixing sound bites. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. You know what you’re doing. I’ll leave the room. Are you good?”

Ty grinned and his eyes crinkled. No sign of pressure or urgency, which helped me relax. “Yeah, buddy, we got this. I’m wearing my lucky cutoffs.” He offered me a high five and then ambled into the editing bay. I turned and barreled to my phone to see about that surveillance video, except I didn’t. I barreled right into Carrie as she came around the corner instead.

“Whoa.” She caught me by the shoulders. “Skyler.”

“Sorry,” I said, meeting crisp blue eyes. “Didn’t mean to go all linebacker on you.” That’s when I saw what she was wearing—a sleeveless blouse with quite a dip in the front. “Now I have awhoaof my own.”

She straightened, released me, and slid her hair behind her ear. “New from the wardrobe people. The higher-ups have requested edgier.”

It was definitely that. Carrie looked amazing, but more like she was on a date than delivering the news. They were definitely moving in a new direction. “Well, you look fantastic.”

She dropped her tone. “It feels wrong, but apparently we’re warring for ratings with Channel Twelve.” I didn’t want to encourage the ideology behind the choice, but I would definitely tune in to see Caroline McNamara looking like that. I realized I was going to hell. I would enjoy every moment of her until my descent. “What’s with the rushing?”

“Oh. I have a potential story airing tonight if we can turn it around in time.”

“Go, go, go. I won’t keep you.” But she could. I’d make up the time later if it meant more time talking to Carrie. We’d not really seen much of each other this week, and after that moment outside her house, I craved more time. Okay, I craved a lot of things, but they all involved her.

“But can we catch up later?”

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