Under Suspicion. Hannah Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ them to cut, and Geoff’s coanchor had made a snide comment about the governor. That coanchor no longer had a job with this station. Competition was fierce in the broadcasting business; deadly mistakes were not tolerated.

      Because of the competition, Geoff considered himself fortunate to be an anchor after working full-time at Channel 6 for only a year. He tried to convince himself that his split with Kemper MacDonald had not been the reason he’d landed the job, but sometimes he wondered. Most television stations preferred younger talent. Though thirty-eight wasn’t exactly over the hill, television cameras did tend to emphasize age.

      He knew he had established himself here; he now carried his own weight. Nonetheless, he had always suspected that his initial employment with this station had come about because the director, Wendy Phillips, had long held animosity toward Kemper MacDonald.

      His coworkers had implied she might have had other reasons, as well. Tall and statuesque, with a strong will and the ability to lead a diverse news team, Wendy usually got what she wanted. She had never made a secret of the fact that she found him attractive.

      Geoff loosened his tie and shrugged out of his sport coat before opening the door to his dressing room. The lights on the set were hot, and one of the challenges during the show was to keep perspiration to a minimum.

      Before he could step through the door, a familiar contralto called to him from the hallway.

      “Heads up, Tremaine. We need you on a scene.”

      He turned to see Wendy quick-stepping toward him, her face slightly flushed with that familiar, excited look she got when a good story landed in her lap. Wendy was considered beautiful by most standards, with her slightly tilted dark eyes and fiery highlights in her golden brown hair. Geoff had always kept her at arm’s length, even more so in the past few weeks.

      “Sally just called from the scanner room,” she said, as always stepping slightly too close, invading his personal space. “There’s an ambulance on its way to Kemper MacDonald’s address.”

      Geoff stiffened. “Kemper? What happened?”

      “They say his daughter called 911.” Wendy’s perfume, with a hint of sweet spice, wafted around her even at the end of a long day. “The senator’s been injured. His daughter reported something about a shooting, so I’m sure the police are already swarming the place.”

      Geoff reached back to the rack for his coat and pulled it on again. “Someone shot Kemper? What about Shona? Is she okay?”

      “Nothing was said about her, it’s the senator everyone will be concerned about.”

      He tossed her a glance over his shoulder. “You do realize we’re talking about my wife.” He heard the chill in his voice, but was unable to warm it, even as Wendy’s eyes narrowed at him. She always demanded respect for her authority, brooking no argument from anyone—except, occasionally, from him. He didn’t exploit his advantage, but he did disagree with her when he felt it was appropriate.

      “I thought you were divorced,” she said.

      “Separated.” Big difference. At least, to him. “I care very much about what happens to my wife.”

      Wendy’s dark gaze slid away from him. “Obviously if she’s the one who called for help, she’s okay. They’re taking Senator MacDonald to Bradley-Cline Hospital. Why don’t you go intercept them?”

      “Why Bradley-Cline? St. Mary’s is closer.”

      “That isn’t our concern. We have a camera crew out right now, so I’ll send them to meet you there. You know other stations will already be scrambling to get their crews to the hospital, to try to get a statement from the doctor or the daughter or any other family members who might be there.”

      “What about the mansion?”

      “We’ll be covering that, too. I want you at the hospital.”

      “I’m on my way, but I warn you, this is still my family, and I may not be the most unbiased—”

      “Just get there.” Her impatience surfaced with her words. “You’ll have an insider’s view that no other station can provide, and the whole region knows about your relationship with Shona. We’ve got the advantage.”

      Geoff winced at the eagerness in her voice as he turned to leave.

      “Let me know as soon as you find out anything,” Wendy called as he rushed down the hallway. “And take a recorder with you. The hospital won’t allow a camera crew into the ER.”

      He grimaced. She was hallucinating if she thought he would stick a tape recorder under his father-in-law’s nose at the hospital and ask him how he felt.

      They called that kind of interviewing technique “a Sally” at the station because once, in the field, Channel 6’s reporter, Sally Newton, had held a microphone in the face of a man who was watching his home burn with his wife in it. In the excitement of the moment, Sally had not only betrayed her eagerness for a story, but had neglected to school her face to show proper respect for the man’s agony. She’d smiled pertly for the camera, and the man’s mother had promptly socked her in her pretty mouth.

      Sally Newton’s public exposure had been greatly reduced since then.

      As soon as Geoff climbed into his truck, he set his cell phone on its cradle and hit Shona’s speed dial.

      Shona’s hands shook so badly she could barely hold on to the steering wheel. She was guided only by the flashing lights on the big, boxy ambulance in front of her as it led the way to Bradley-Cline Hospital.

      Would Dad even make it there? The blood had been so horrifying…so much of it.

      What would cause a person to bleed out like that?

      Her cell phone beeped. It was the VIP chime for a high-priority number. Only two people had numbers programmed to that particular tune. One was a passenger in the ambulance ahead of her. This caller could only be Geoff.

      With shaking hands, Shona pulled the phone from her pocket, ignoring the hands-free law, and brought the phone to her face. “Geoff?”

      “Are you okay?”

      The deep timbre of his voice, filled with concern, forged past her controls. Tears sprang to her eyes. The road blurred before her. “I can’t talk right now. Dad’s…something’s wrong with him.”

      “A report said he’d been shot. How bad is it?”

      “There was no sign of an entry wound.” The paramedics hadn’t wasted a lot of time looking, but if there were a wound, it would have been bleeding. Every orifice in his body seemed to be hemorrhaging, but no bullet wound was evident. “The police are inspecting the mansion.”

      “Is there someone with you?”

      “No, I was told a detective will join me at the hospital.”

      “I’m on my way there now.”

      She frowned. Of course, Geoff would have already been informed about it. Breaking news was his business, and there were scanners at the station to get a jump on anything newsworthy. She hadn’t thought СКАЧАТЬ