Page 44 of Royal
Shit! The case!
My fingers moved at lightning speed as I messaged him.
Me:Info from the case was leaked, Gray. One of your guys ran his mouth to my new co-anchor, and the story is being broadcast tonight.
Instead of a text, my phone rang.
“Hello?”
“What do you mean?” Gray growled into the phone.
Holy fucking shit.
My skin tingled at the sound. Even when raging pissed—especiallywhen he was pissed—Grayson had such a sexy rasp to his already deep tone. But now wasn’t the time to get carried away with fantasies of having him in my bed again.
“Michelle flirted with an officer, and he told her about the flowers,” I said, keeping my voice down so no one else in the station would hear me. “On tonight’s segment, she’s going to give an inside scoop on the FBI investigation and mention the flowers and how they relate to the deaths. They’ve even been throwing around ideas for what to call him. Fuck, Gray, is this bad?”
“Very.” Only one word, but it held several emotions, namely anger and worry. “From what the agents have deduced, the killer is driven by his need to punish those in the public eye who are appealing to him. The more information that’s revealed to the public, the more unstable I feel he’ll become. Some serial killers thrive off the media attention. But not this guy.”
“What do you think will happen?”
“I’m not a profiler, but just from what Agent Stone has shared with me, I think the attention will piss the killer off.”
“What’s going on?” a deeper voice said in the background.
Grayson answered the guy, followed by a slight static, and then another voice was speaking in my ear. “This is Agent Phoenix Stone. You can’t let them air the story.”
“I-I don’t think I have a choice in the matter.”
“The flowers, placement of the body, and even the way he grooms them after death are all part of his ritual,” Agent Stone explained. “Having the media describe his ritual in detail will only anger him, do you understand? He feels it’s a private affair between him and the victim, and he’ll take the news coverage as a mocking of his work. Remember, he attacks those in the public eye because he begrudges their fame.”
No longer having an appetite, I shoved my salad aside and stood from the table.
“Can’t you issue a gag order or something?” I asked.
“No. If we were at trial, yes, we’d be able to issue one to ensure it stayed fair. But this is different.”
Not sure what else to do, I left the room and tracked down Rick, still on the phone with the agent.
“What?” Rick asked.
I explained the situation, but when he rolled his eyes, I handed him the phone.
“Rick Franklin speaking.” He nodded as the agent talked on the other end of the line. “No, Agent Stone, I will not pull the story. Because freedom of the press, that’s why.” He paused. “A threat to public safety? How? It’s information the public deserves to know.” He scowled as he listened to the response. I could only hear a deep mumbling from my place beside him. “Fine. We’ll pull the story. This time.”
Rick disconnected the call and shoved the phone back in my hand.
“Next time you feel the need to go and tattle to the police like we’re in grade school, maybe think of finding another job instead,” Rick snapped before walking off to find Michelle, probably to let her know there was a change in the segment.
Well, shit. I was probably going to be fired soon. It would be worth it. I could always find another job. People the killer would’ve targeted in his rage wouldn’t have been able to say the same, though.
At a quarter ‘til five, I went into the studio and put on my mic and earpiece. Michelle and I did sound checks to make sure everything was running smoothly and that we could hear the producers and director in the earpiece. I then went over my script and which cameras I needed to look at for each story.
If there was time, I liked to run through the stories on the prompter, but most of the time, going over the script was enough.
“I’m sorry for getting your story pulled,” I said to Michelle as we took our seats at the table. The crew adjusted the lighting, and the cameramen got into position. “I hope you understand why I did it.”
Michelle tucked her long black hair behind one ear before situating her blouse. “Quite frankly, I’m angry at you, Royal. I worked my ass off to get that story. Did things I’m not proud of. It’s a huge stab in the back.”
