The Cruelest Cut by Rick Reed Read Free Book Online Page B

thing she needed was for the station manager to catch her smoking near the building. Actually, she didn’t want anyone to see. Evansville had passed a nonsmoking ordinance that forbade smoking in or within one hundred feet of an occupied structure. Of course, the two-faced assholes at city hall had made an exception for the Blue Star Casino and for most taverns. When it came to politicians, money always spoke louder than words.
    And the thought of someone being allowed to smoke in the confined spaces of the riverboat, while she had to sneak off to light up, made her angry. You’d think her job as news anchor for Channel Six would give her a few privileges. Like being able to smoke in her office. Like Bob Sampson . I can smell smoke in his office all the time.
    But Bob Sampson was a man, and as such, was immune from the same rules as women at the station. She wondered briefly if Sampson was the one leaving the notes on her desk, but quickly dismissed the idea. Sampson was a dickless little shit. He wouldn’t have the nerve to do something like that.
    Maddy sucked the smoke deep into her lungs and held it. What she wouldn’t give for a joint right now. But smoking cigarettes outside the back door, and smoking dope outside the back door, were two different things. She smiled at the thought of getting caught smoking a doobie, and just then the back door crashed open.
    â€œMaddy?”
    The party crasher was Lois, the television station’s secretary. Lois Hensley was short, paunchy, wrinkled, and an annoying little twit that Maddy knew was trying to get her fired. Lois had been with the station almost twenty years before Maddy had been hired.
    â€œYes, Lois.” There was no hint of annoyance in her voice. She hated Lois, but she respected the power that Lois had with the station manager. Maybe Lois had never been a reporter, but she was not someone you wanted to piss off. She knew more about the operation of the station than God, and she was the mayor’s mother.
    â€œI found this taped to the front door.” Lois handed Maddy an envelope with Maddy’s name scrawled on the outside in red crayon.
    â€œIs this a joke, Lois?” Maddy asked before remembering that Lois was dispossessed of a sense of humor. “Sorry, Lois. Who left it?”
    Lois looked haughtily at Maddy. “I did say I found it taped to the front door, didn’t I?” She turned to leave, and then, as if she had just remembered, Lois said, “Oh yeah, there was another of those silly notes, and I put it in your mail slot.”
    â€œWhen was that, Lois?” Maddy asked. She could barely contain her agitation, and Lois seemed to be enjoying herself.
    â€œWell, it didn’t look important. I really don’t remember. Yesterday, today, I really don’t remember.”
    Maddy tried to control her temper. She’d love to slap silly Lois—well, silly. So, it wasn’t someone playing a joke on me, she thought. Lois would never take any part in an attempt at humor or playing a joke on anyone. And there was no one in the building who would dare involve Lois in something for fear it would come back on them.
    She took the note and said, “Thanks, Lois.” Lois gave her a smug grin and turned to go back inside, then turned back again, long enough to say, “You know there is no smoking near the building, Maddy.”
    Maddy dropped the cigarette on the concrete. “Bitch,” she snarled as the door shut behind the older woman. Then she had a thought and pulled the door open.
    â€œLois, did you leave some other notes on my desk? Notes like this one?” Maddy asked, hoping that Lois had noticed something that might help her learn who was doing this.
    â€œIf you got notes, I’m probably the one that left them,” Lois answered nastily. “That’s my job.”
    Maddy barely heard the response. Her mind was trying to wrap itself around something just out of her reach.