by Sheila Kell
“I had hoped to continue following Keyshawn until he met up with his boss but something happened last night that halted my plans. I do have a couple of photos of suspicious people I’d like you to look at, Victoria.”
The two of them shared photos and notes daily hoping for a link. They were hoping for something that could break their story.
“Actually, all of you should take a look in case you’ve run across them in your investigations. If you don’t know, I’ll take the photos to my sources. I think two of the men I captured are police officers potentially taking a bribe.”
The police would want to talk with her. They wouldn’t be happy about her article. It had been worth it though.
Victoria nodded. “Good. I haven’t seen anyone interesting. I followed the pimps but they’ve led me nowhere except the brothel. I haven’t been able to sneak in. Their security is tight.”
Megan nodded. “It’s okay. I think I’ve a good lead for us.”
“Just be careful. As you’re well aware, the Magician has a reputation for being ruthless.” Kyle moved closer and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m just worried about you. We wouldn’t want you to disappear also. We’ve gotten used to our Southern belle.”
Megan had been raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Her friends swore she had a southern accent but she knew better. They had northern accents.
“What am I, chopped liver?” Victoria asked, her hands on her hips, a silly grin on her face.
He looked up. “We’ve seen you kick ass so we know you can take care of yourself.”
“Wait a second…”
The team broke out in laughter before Megan could finish.
Kelly smiled. “Megan, you really should have joined us last night. I think I found Mr. Right.”
Kelly’s beauty stopped men in their tracks. They also enjoyed the tight, short dresses she wore. Today’s dress was tangerine, complimenting her figure and complexion. Megan couldn’t understand how her friend could walk on high heels in the snow and ice. And, her legs had to be freezing. Megan wore thick stockings under her slacks and still felt the chill.
She swiveled her chair to face Kelly. “Sorry. I didn’t feel like getting out. You know how I am in this weather. I don’t like to drive after dark unless it’s for a story.” Snow and darkness were a bad combination in Megan’s mind. She stressed enough driving during the day in winter weather. Driving at night had her muscles so tight it would take a masseur several days to unravel them.
“Since you refuse to come out with us, we’ll talk here,” Janet said.
Four serious looks focused on her. Uh oh. They were ganging up on her. She silently groaned. Not again.
“Megan, we’re worried about you. You haven’t dated in months. We don’t like seeing you alone. And don’t say you aren’t lonely because we won’t believe you. It’s worse in winter since you hibernate in your brownstone. It’s time you moved past Marcus and find a man.” Janet was always the spokesman, spokeswoman in her case, for the group. And dang it, she was usually right. Okay, always right.
Marcus Bryant had been Megan’s fiancé until she’d found him in bed with her best friend, Merissa. He’d had the audacity to tell Megan he still loved her and wanted to work things out. How could he think she’d stay with him after she’d found him in bed with another woman? No matter what he’d said, he hadn’t truly loved her. If he had, he’d have remained faithful.
“There’s nothing wrong with my not dating. I haven’t met the right man. And I’m not lonely.” She wouldn’t admit it, but she was lonely. Bob, the long-haired cat she’d adopted from the shelter was great, but sometimes she wanted the conversation and closeness her cat couldn’t provide.
Her belief in men had shattered with her heart. She didn’t trust herself not to choose another cheating useless excuse for a man, or a criminal. When she desired sex, one-night stands were now the way to go. No strings. No heartbreak.
Victoria cast a withering look. “You don’t even try. When we go out, men throw themselves at your feet, and you send every one of them packing.”
“It’s time you moved on. We miss the twinkle in your eye you had when you dated,” Kyle added, fidgeting with the yellow smiley face-covered tie his sons bought him for his birthday. He wore it, and the many others his children picked out, proudly.
Megan fought to keep from groaning out loud. They wouldn’t relent. “First of all, men don’t fall at my feet, they fall at Kelly’s. The leftovers come to me. I don’t want a man who speaks to me by default. Being second choice isn’t fun,” she insisted. “What do you expect me to do, drag each man to bed until one sticks?” She’d never let that happen. Not any longer.
“Being a smartass isn’t attractive on you, Megan. It’s time you at least tried. There are plenty of men who come to you and not Kelly. If you’d try, you might find you have something in common with one of them. You can do things with men without having sex,” Janet told her.
Megan couldn’t share with her friends that she didn’t want to do things outside the bed with men. They weren’t worth it. She’d tried exposing her heart only to have it crushed, destroyed, left empty. It would not happen again.
They meant well, but she didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to have this conversation, particularly not after the elation for exposing Councilman Thomas. “Can we do this another time? I’m not in the mood to talk about my love life.”
“You never are.” Her pregnant friend stood.
Before they could depart, Kristen Michaels, their boss and editor, approached her desk. “Megan. In my office. Now.” She turned and walked away.
This can’t be good.
Her friends leveled her sympathetic looks before they scattered.
She rubbed her lips with her pomegranate lip balm before leaving her desk. She walked in slow, small, measured steps attempting to overcome the sudden shakiness in her limbs and her racing heartbeat. Kristen wasn’t happy. What had she done wrong? Had the councilman threatened to sue like he’d said? Surely they wouldn’t hold her responsible.
Like her journalists, Kristen’s desk stood in disarray, covered in paper and newspaper. She leaned back in her black executive chair. “I’m assuming you saw the police detectives leave my office earlier.”
Not sure if it was a question or a statement, Megan dropped in a burgundy arm chair and nodded, looking into a pair of sharp, brown eyes. Her boss had a reputation for being tough, but Megan liked her anyway. Kristen played fair and supported her staff even when they came to her with far-fetched ideas for investigations.
“I kept them from dragging you out of here. They expect you at the station in the next two hours. They aren’t happy that you captured a drug dealer in action, and we published it without informing them. Especially since it happened to be a high profile citizen making the buy. Excuse me, allegedly.” She stressed the last word with a tight grin on her face. “They threatened to charge you with obstruction of justice. I don’t see how they can.” She cleared her throat. “You did an excellent job on the article. You didn’t do anything wrong, or I wouldn’t have accepted it. If you’d reported it to the police before you wrote the article, we wouldn’t have had the exclusive on Councilman Thomas. They would’ve tried to keep it out of the news all together.”
Megan swallowed the lump in her throat. She’d expected some fallout from the police for not contacting them first, but not a charge of obstruction of justice. She didn’t care to go to jail.
“Until Kevin convinced me he had a good lead into Magic Shop and pestered me to let him dig further, I only allowed my journalists to report, not investigate them. I consider it too dangerous and that’s saying something. Now I’ve got you and Victoria, who pestered me also about digging into them. Don’t get me wrong. I want to unmask the Magician but not at the expense of another journalist’s life. I’m still not sure I’m doing the right thing, but I know you’d go behind my back. So would Victoria, since she was sweet on Kevin. If it gets too ris
ky, I’m pulling the two of back.”
“Kristen, I won’t pull back,” Megan responded firmly, her muscles tensing, on alert. She would do it on her own if necessary.
“I know you have a personal connection to this, Megan. I shouldn’t have allowed you to take it.” Her boss looked pointedly at her. “You can’t cross that line. Keep it professional.”
“No matter what happened to Kevin, our drug and prostitution problems are out of control. If one of us can find out who the crime boss is; our streets will be cleaner, safer.” At least until someone else stepped into his shoes. Baltimore would never be drug free.
“If either of you receive even one death threat, you’re both off this project.”
She would find either her brother’s killer or the Magician, preferably both, death threats or not. She owed it to her family. Nodding, she said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t like you walking around the west side of Pigtown at night, alone. I know Victoria is covered with her judo or whatever the hell kind of belt she has, but are you taking precautions for your safety? I do want you to be safe.”
Megan almost snorted aloud. Kristen wanted her journalists to get the story no matter what. The roughest part of Baltimore, a bit too close to the Orioles’ stadium, had been dubbed Pigtown, but it didn’t frighten Megan. Well, not all of the time. Then she realized again that no one worried about Victoria. Did they really believe she wasn’t capable of taking care of herself?
Clearing her throat, she responded, “I have a carry permit and a thirty-eight in my purse and pepper spray in my pocket.”
She’d been on several dangerous streets and had yet to have a problem. She dressed to fit in and never identified herself as a journalist, but she’d convinced a few, here and there, to provide her with helpful information, but most people avoided her. Keyshawn had been the exception. He had to have known she followed him. That raised the question of why did he let her continue to do it? She’d ponder that later. The police came first.
“That’s good. Hopefully, you won’t have to use either.”
She hoped so also. Shooting a human being was not on her bucket list.
“What else do you have?” Kristen asked.
Megan showed her boss a photo, holding the one with her sexy, criminal man back until she decided what to do with it. “I’m almost positive that’s two Baltimore police officers. I’ll find out their identities and see if there’s a story there. Victoria is looking the photo over to see if she’s seen any of them in the Dog Pound.” She grimaced. Street walkers congregated in the area known as the Dog Pound, and she preferred to avoid it. Victoria could have that portion of the Magician’s business.
“It’d be great if you could prove bribery.” Kristen pushed the photo back across the desk to Megan. “We know many in the police department are corrupt.”
True. It angered her just to think about it. “If we don’t flush out the officers on the Magician’s payroll before I expose him, it will be my next project.”
“Why aren’t you playing the gang angle?”
“I don’t care about the gang-bangers who pick fights and create their small bits of havoc. They aren’t important in the scheme of things. I need the dealers who will eventually lead me to a boss. From what I’ve learned, it’s only problems that affect the drug or prostitution trade when the bosses steps in.”
“What about other crime?”
“There are definitely problems in the area. Crime rates are high, but with corrupt police officers and the problem solvers making people disappear, the murder rate is only slightly higher than average in Baltimore. That’s mostly from gang fights. I’m keeping my eye on the police reports in case something happens that is noteworthy.”
Like disappearances.
People disappeared all of the time and weren’t reported missing. A few evenings ago two dealers disappeared because they’d broken one of the organization’s Cause of Death (COD) rules. Apparently there were some rules that were never meant to be broken, even with criminals. Of course no one would share them with her. They had yet to realize she didn’t give up.
“Did Kevin’s notes ever turn up to give you his leads? What had he found?”
She shook her head, immediately tears formed, blurring her vision. If only he’d shared with her, they could’ve worked it together. She closed her eyes to clear them to remain on the here and now.
“Well then, keep your investigation on the drug trade and let Victoria concentrate on the prostitution, and between the two of you you’ll find something worthwhile.”
Megan nodded. “Any suggestions for dealing with the police?”
“Just be yourself. Yes, there are officers who are still pissed at you, but you can’t let that stop you from standing strong. I trust these two detectives so listen to them. While you’re there, see if you can find the officers in the photo. Discreetly.”
“I planned to scope out those on duty. I also intend to show the photo to my sources to see if they have names for me. I know I’ve seen these two men before. My bet is this is a boss with them.” She tapped her finger on the largest man in the photo.
Kristen leaned forward, her arms on her desk, her hands clasped. “What makes you think that?”
“It’s a feeling.”
The intensity in her boss’s stare startled her. “Hmm.” She leaned back in her chair. “Trust your gut, but be careful.”
Megan gave her a slight smile and nodded.
“Megan,” Kristen paused. “I’ve hired someone to replace Kevin.”
She jumped from her chair, her heart pounding. “No, Kristen! What about when I find him?”
The concern and pity in the other woman’s eyes floored her.
“Megan, I have to fill that position,” Kristen said softly.
Megan sniffed and looked down, losing the battle of preventing tears from sliding down her cheeks. “I know, but I have to keep up hope. He’s my brother. I need closure.” She accepted the tissue handed across the desk to her, wiped her face and blew her nose.
“I can’t wait, Megan. I have a newspaper to run,” Kristen said more firmly, but her voice was filled with sympathy.
Megan walked back to her desk, accepting her boss’s position. It was hard, but she understood. When she found Kevin they could revisit hiring him again. She had to keep her mind on what needed to be done now. Kristen trusted these detectives who might or might not be happy that Megan had brutal police officers fired two years ago. She was proud of what she’d done. She raised her chin and smiled.
The police were the ones in the wrong. They let drug dealers stay on the streets. If they wouldn’t uncover them then she would. With that thought the weight on her chest lifted and her confidence returned, at least in relation to the police.
As for the other part of their conversation, the arrow piercing her heart started the flow of blood, emptying it.
Her friends swarmed her desk as she returned. The five of them had no secrets. They were a formidable group, part of a larger investigative team at Baltimore News First.
“Well?” Victoria pushed aside some newspapers and sat on the edge of Megan’s desk.
“The police are threatening to charge me with obstruction. I have to go to the station today.”
Kelly gasped. “They can’t do that. You were just doing your job.”
Kyle chimed in, “What did they expect you to do? Turn the other way because it was a councilman? No good journalist would’ve passed up the opportunity you had.”
That was the truth, at least not any journalist worth a grain of salt. Her mother used that phrase, and she still didn’t understand it. Yet she had often repeated it. “I guess I was supposed to avoid it all in the first place.” She frowned. “I believe they are unhappy, because I exposed crime they’re allowing on the streets. Maybe by exposing Keyshawn in the press, they’ll finally do something.”
“Oh.” Janet rubbed her belly. “Selena is active today.”
>
Kelly automatically put her hand on Janet’s belly and laughed. “I can’t wait until I have children.”
Megan felt sorry for Kelly, knowing how badly she wanted a family. Her friend was one of seven children and didn’t like being alone. She regularly found someone she thought might be Mr. Right. Once he found out she wouldn’t jump in his bed, until they formed a solid relationship she got dumped.
The team had expressed their joy that even with so many failed attempts at a serious relationship she hadn’t stopped searching.
Megan’s smile fell. “There’s something else. Kristen has replaced Kevin.”
Kyle wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “We know this is hard for you, but know we love you and are here for you.”
“Thank you.”
“Let’s get out of here and get some food. I’m hungry.”
He always seemed to be hungry. Since working with him, she’d watched his waistline steadily increase. His wife had placed him on a diet, but he broke it almost daily.
She had two hours before she had to report to the police station and refused to arrive earlier than that.
“That sounds good as long as we don’t return to the earlier conversation.” She looked each one of her friends in the eyes.
They nodded.
“Okay, let’s get out of here.”
Megan rose and put on her blue scarf, white beanie hat and heavy, white down jacket. She’d lived in Baltimore four years and hadn’t acclimated to the weather as people said she would. Her friends teased her about how heavily she bundled up to go outside on what they called “nice days”. She couldn’t believe the light coats they wore. When it came to the weather, she was still the girl from the South where it was rarely this cold.
* * * * *
After returning from lunch, they met the new journalist. It was none other than her ex-friend, Merissa Attenborough. Kristen wouldn’t have known this was the woman who had helped break Megan’s heart. The heart that now pounded out of control. How was she to work with a woman she despised?