Bye Bye Bones (A CASSIDY CLARK NOVEL Book 1) by Lala Corriere Read Free Book Online

WRAPPED up the news, the station’s general manager walked over and asked her to follow him. They walked into the smaller conference room.
    “What is it?” Jessica asked.
    The GM slid a large packet over toward Jessica.
    Jessica fondled the clasp of the envelope. “Do I want to see what’s in here?” she asked.
    “No. But you need to.”
    Jessica sat across from the man. Holding her shoulders tight, she accepted the envelope and opened it.
    Her face grew ashen and her hands clammy. She bowed her head into her lap and let the photographs of her and Jaxon Giles, almost nude with not much more to imagine, drop to the floor.
    “They were delivered by courier this morning. We’re trying to track down who sent them but we have to deal with the threat.”
    “What threat?” Jessica muttered.
    The GM handed a letter to Jessica. “It was inside with the photos,” he explained.
    Quickly reading the letter, Jessica exclaimed, “Blackmail? You fire me or the photos go on the internet?”
    “It’s pretty clear on both counts.”
    “What are you going to do?” she asked.
    The man rubbed his eyes. “For now, it’s over at legal. Do you have any idea who took these photos?”
    Immediately, she responded as she stiffened her back. “I do. It’s my boyfriend’s ex-wife.”
    “That would be Michael Scores’ brother?”
    Jessica regained full composure. “Half-brother. They had different fathers.”
    The GM lifted his retro-round gold-rimmed glasses from his eyes. “Good. No one will recognize Scores as your friend’s brother. That way I only have one anchor in the limelight.”
    “Sir?”
    “Tell legal about this ex-wife. And remember a tried and true fact in our business. Bad news is still good news.”
    “But I’ll be—”
    “I’m not firing you, Jessica. You can resign but that would be a damn shame. These folks over in legal don’t take well to what is clearly an invasion of privacy. If you can handle it, I sure as hell can.”
    “Then let it play out,” Jessica said.
    “It already has.”
     
    JAXON GILES DROVE to Jessica’s house, revving up all the power his Jag could give him on the highway and he made it to her home in less than thirty minutes.
    “That bitch!” he yelled, after using his key to enter the home to find Jessica in her backyard, her sturdy yet willowy frame folded in the lounge chair. A glass of red wine, untouched, sat on the table next to her.
    “I have your glass,” she said, and began filling it with the smooth scarlet liquid of Merlot.
    “You look like hell,” Jaxon said. “And I’m sorry for ranting.”
    “I look better than I feel. And apology accepted.”
    “I can’t believe that woman. When is she going to move on with her life?”
    “I don’t think she will as long as she thinks she can destroy ours,” Jessica replied to the rhetorical question. “That’s what you insinuated.”
    Turning on the gas kiva fireplace for ambience more than heat, Jaxon sat next to her and reached for her hand.
    After an awkward silence, unusual for them, Jaxon spoke.
    “You told me you won’t be fired. How are you going to feel about those photos splashed all over the Internet?”
    “Maybe Playboy will take notice,” Jessica played for the joke.
    Jaxon shrugged “I’m in your court, babe. Maybe Playgirl will come knocking at my door.”
    Jaxon noticed Jessica’s shoulders drooping. She usually kept perfect posture. Her fidgety fingers rolled around the rim of the crystal glass, to make it sing. She pulled her knees tight toward her chest.
    “There’s something more. What is it?” Jaxon had taken the lounge chair next to her.
    “It may not be Sandra.”
    “What are you talking about? Of course it’s her.”
    “Promise to listen to what I have to say. Hear me before you react?”
    Jaxon’s eyes grew pensive as he sat his glass down. He leaned forward toward Jessica and loosely folded his arms.
    “I’ve been noticing some odd behavior at the station.”
    “Damn. Why