Page 14 of Captive Hearts
‘Just give me a sec, alright? Let me think.’
Gina didn’t know what there was to think about. ‘Look, I think we should just go. We got the bullhorn conversation, and that’s something to take back to the station.’ She checked her watch. ‘If we hurry, we might just about catch the end of the bring-and-buy.’
Ashley gaped. ‘You’re not seriously suggesting I leavethisto report on someone winning a really big teddy bear, are you?’
‘Grand prize is a spa day,’ Gina reminded her.
Ashley gave her a dry look. ‘You said you’d stick around.’
‘Yeah, but that was when there might have been something to actually shoot. But since my camera doesn’t have an x-ray feature, I’m not sure what more I can do. I mean, if you want me to shoot you reporting next to the barricade on what we’ve seen so far, by all means, let’s do it. But other than that, I think we’re done here.’
Gina watched Ashley thinking about it, and she was sure the woman was going to put up a fight. But after a moment, her shoulders dropped. ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. Fine, we’ll shoot a to-camera piece, and then we’ll head off.’
Gina nodded, and they both got out of the van. Ashley got out a compact from her bag and touched up her makeup. Gina, setting up the camera on a tripod, found herself watching Ashley applying fresh lipstick. She really was a good-looking woman, Gina had to admit. Shame she was a bit type A. That wasn’t Gina’s cup of tea at all. She went for the more chill types, like herself. Someone who could relax. Ashley seemed like someone who white-knuckled their way through every moment.
Ashley finished her touch up as Gina peered through her viewfinder, framing up the barrier with attendant officers and the police cars farther up the street in the shot. ‘OK, got a good background for you,’ Gina told Ashley. ‘You got your lines?’
Ashley nodded. She stepped in front of the camera. ‘Here?’
‘Perfect.’
‘You ready?’
Gina checked her mic levels. ‘Yep.’ She hit record. ‘Rolling.’
Ashley cleared her throat, and she was off. ‘I’m reporting here from the scene of a…’ Ashley trailed off. Gina didn’t know why initially, wondering if Ashley had forgotten what she was going to say, but then she heard it. Shouting. Distant, unintelligible, male, angry.
‘Can you hear what he’s saying?’ Ashley said to Gina, still behind the camera.
‘Can’t make it out. Step out of frame, if I blast the levels on my mic, we might catch it.’
Ashley jumped out of frame, standing next to Gina, whacking up the volume on the microphone, listening through her headset to see if she could hear actual words. She was able to catch only one sentence before everything went silent again. Gina slipped her headphones off.
‘Well, anything?’ Ashley asked her.
Gina turned. ‘I heard him. Just a bit.’
‘What did he say?’
Gina hesitated. It was a very nasty thing to have to repeat. ‘All I heard him say was, “You come in here, I’ll kill everyone.”
Ashley was shocked. ‘Jesus.’
‘Yeah,’ Gina agreed.
Ashley nodded. ‘So obviously, we can’t leave now.’
It was Gina’s turned to be shocked. ‘What?!’
