Monroe, Melody Snow - Truth and Seduction [The Callens 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Melody Snow Monroe Read Free Book Online

the reports on the dining room table. The Callen name jumped out at her right away. She was shocked to read that Samantha Callen had been shot by rustlers. My God . Why hadn’t Cody mentioned this? She prayed Sam was okay. The follow-up reports mentioned there had been a fire at her ranch. Jessie scanned the reports for more information. Finally, she saw the men responsible for the fire, the shooting, and cattle thefts were brought to justice. She’d have to give Sam a call to see how she was doing.
    Nothing else in the reports seemed to warrant further investigation. Damn .
    By the time she fell asleep it was past 2:00 a.m. No sooner had she closed her eyes than her alarm clock sounded. After dragging herself out of bed and pouring coffee down her throat, she drove into town. She had just gotten in her car when her phone rang. It was Cody.
    “Hey, what’s up?”
    “Got a story for you.”
    She perked up. “What about?”
    “I have it on good authority there’s a health issue over at Burger Haus. I know you’re having trouble finding good leads.”
    It was a crime not to be enforcing the health laws. “I think I’ll pass.”
    “That’s not the go-getter woman I know.”
    No, it wasn’t. “Here’s the problem. Burger Haus is one of KRPT’s sponsors.”
    “So? When did that ever stop you?”
    “You don’t understand. That’s what got me into trouble in Denver.”
    “Are you saying you value your job over doing what’s right?”
    When he put it that way, it made her sound shallow. “No. I just know a good story when I hear it, and this isn’t it.”
    “That’s such a cop-out. I guess I’ll just have to check it out myself and break the story wide open.”
    He wouldn’t dare. “You’re right. Absolutely right. I’ll go check it out right away.” She’d find nothing. She’d make sure of it. She turned left onto Euclid and spotted Burger Haus on the left. “I’ll absolutely take a look. No need for you to come.” And ruin everything .
    “If you’re sure. Let me know what you find out.” She swore he chuckled.
    An empty spot appeared next to a cop car in the parking lot. She parked next to it and peeled out of her seat. She exhaled, getting ready to do a fake story. If any of her Denver coworkers could see her now, they’d laugh her out of town.
    She heard the shouting before she reached the door. What the hell was going on? Her pulse raced.
    As she pulled open the door, she dragged out her iPhone in case there was a real story here. Inside two women were shouting at each other. One was a customer and the other a worker behind the counter. Before she started recording, she asked someone who looked like they knew the shouting woman, the irate woman’s name and what happened.
    The friend gave her a word-for-word replay of what went down. Holding the phone at arm’s length, Jessie pretended this was live coverage. “This is Jessie McCallister coming to you from the Burger Haus where Bessie Johnson purportedly ordered curly fries and instead was given straight fries. Let’s listen in.” Dear God, did I just say that?
    The policeman was restraining the complaining woman. “I’m telling you, this fat pig gave me the wrong item.” The loud shouting might come out distorted on the recording, but that couldn’t be helped.
    The woman behind the register leaned over the counter. “I did not. She asked for straight fries, and that’s what she got. I can show you right here on the receipt.” As she opened the register, a large roach crawled over her hand.
    Jessie expected the worker to scream. In fact, Jessie wanted to scream herself but didn’t. The worker waited until the roach crawled by before she stuck her hand in the drawer. She handed a copy of the receipt to the cop.
    The poor policeman’s eyes had widened significantly, but he probably figured his job was only to subdue these two women, not report a health violation. The altercation continued, but Jessie couldn’t listen to any