Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [83]
“Christine Hamilton.”
“Ms. Hamilton, hello. This is William Ramsey at KLTV Channel Five. I hope I’m not interrupting anything. Your office gave me this number.”
“I am having lunch, Mr. Ramsey. How can I help you?”
The last several nights the television station had depended on her newspaper articles for information on the murders. Other than a few fluff pieces interviewing relatives and neighbors, their newscasts had lacked the hype they counted on for ratings.
“I wonder if we might get together for breakfast or lunch tomorrow?”
“My schedule is very full, Mr. Ramsey.”
“Yes, of course it is. Then I guess I’ll have to get to the point.”
“That would be nice.”
“I’d like you to come work for Channel Five as a reporter and weekend coanchor.”
“Excuse me?” She almost choked on her roll.
“Your gutsy reporting on these murders is just the kind of thing we need here at Channel Five.”
“Mr. Ramsey, I’m a newspaper reporter. I don’t—”
“Your style of writing would lend itself very well to broadcast news. We’d be willing to coach you for the anchor position. And I happen to know you’re quite easy on the eyes.”
She wasn’t above flattery. Fact was, she craved it, having had so little in the past. But Corby and the Omaha Journal had given her a big break. No, she couldn’t even entertain the idea.
“I’m flattered, Mr. Ramsey, but I just can’t—”
“I’m prepared to offer you sixty thousand dollars a year if you start right away.”
Christine dropped her spoon. It catapulted off her bowl, splattering soup onto her lap. She made no motion to wipe it up.
“Excuse me?”
Her surprise must have sounded like another decline, because Ramsey hurriedly said, “Okay, I can go to sixty-five thousand. In fact, I’ll throw in a two-thousand-dollar bonus if you start this weekend.”
Sixty-five thousand dollars was more than twice the amount Christine made even with her meager pay increase. She could pay off her bills and not worry about hunting down Bruce for child support.
“Can I get back to you, Mr. Ramsey, after I’ve had some time to think about it?”
“Sure, of course you should think about it. Why don’t you sleep on it and give me a call in the morning.”
“Thank you. I will.” She slapped the phone shut and was still in a daze when Eddie Gillick slid into the booth next to her, shoving her up against the window. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“It was bad enough when you tricked me into giving you a quote for your newspaper article, but now your little brother is giving me chicken-shit assignments, so I figure you also told him I was your anonymous source.”
“Look, Deputy Gillick…”
“No, hey, it’s Eddie, remember?”
He helped himself to her coffee, adding a heap of sugar and gulping it without scalding himself. The smell of his aftershave lotion was overpowering.
“I didn’t exactly tell Nick. He—”
“No, that’s okay, because the way I figure it, now you owe me one.”
She felt his hand on her knee, and the look of contempt in his eyes immobilized her. His hand moved up her thigh and under her skirt before she wrestled it away. The corner of his mustache twitched into a smile as she felt the color rise into her face.
“Can I get you anything, Eddie?” Angie Clark stood over the table, obviously well aware that she was interrupting and not about to leave until she had succeeded.
“No, Angie dear,” Eddie said, still smiling at Christine. “Unfortunately, I can’t stay. I’ll just have to catch up with you later, Christine.”
He slid out of the booth, ran a hand over his slicked-down black hair and replaced his hat. Then he sauntered back down the aisle and out the door.
“You okay?”
“Of course,” Christine answered. She kept her trembling hands out of sight under the table.
CHAPTER 46
The door flung open just in time for Nick to see Maggie race back across the room.
“Come on in,” she yelled to him as she poked at the keyboard