Chapter 2
TWO
Since the other day when Detective Walker Ashley had driven her to work, she was sailing on a cloud.
Yes, it was silly, but it was exactly how she felt.
Walker Ashley was the first man who’d given her chills in… sighing, she had to admit that she’d never felt this way before.
Looking around her apartment her gaze fell on her cell phone and her smile dropped.
She wanted to call… someone and tell them about the butterflies in her belly and the sweet little shivers that went through her when she thought about him.
But she didn’t really have friends.
She had John Baxter, her cameraman. He was her friend.
Oh, and his wife, Donna.
She was sweet, but Kennedy knew how little time Donna actually had with John at home. Working as a ‘roving reporter’ was a long, long day.
That was why she really didn’t have much of a life outside of her work.
It was part of what she’d liked about the job she’d chosen. She could spend hours and hours of the day shining a light on other people instead of herself. She didn’t have to think about what she was lacking in her own world when she was focused on others.
And now, with just one odd little interaction at a coffee shop, she was face-to-face with how little she had outside of her work.
Her phone rang and Kennedy pounced on it, desperate for something to take her mind off of the solitary life she’d chosen.
“Hello? Kennedy Heart speaking.”
“Hey, Ken. Surprised you didn’t recognize my number.”
Her heart warmed in her chest. “Hey, John. What’s going on?” Before he had a chance to speak, she rushed on. “Is everything okay with Donna?”
She could see John’s face in her head.
Donna, John’s wife, had been sick recently.
“Yeah! Yeah…”
Listening between the lines she knew he was trying to be more positive than he felt.
“John?”
“She’s feeling a little under the weather this morning. She says it’s the flu lingering.”
She could almost see him looking over at his wife while he said the words.
John worshipped the ground that she walked on, and he was likely giving her a look that said he didn’t buy her story, but neither of them could usually cow the other into doing what they didn’t want to do.
“So I’m going to get her some meds and then I’ll be into work. Are you going to be okay until I get there?”
“Yes, dad,” she chuckled softly. “I’ll be fine until you get in. I can have one of the techs set me up to record a couple of intros and outros for the video channels and we’ll have more to work with when we edit down clips for YouTube.”
“That’s my girl,” he joked back. “Just don’t get caught up in any drama at the office.”
“Drama? Me?” She let her southern accent slip out into full-blown sugary sweetness. “I’ll be good. I promise.”
John groaned. “Great. Now I’m really worried.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Take care of Donna and give her a hug and a kiss from me.”
“Bye, Ken.”
The phone call ended and she switched over to an app for food delivery. She quickly selected a bakery that was a favorite of Donna’s and ordered up one of their super gooey and delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and paired it with some piping hot tomato basil soup and scheduled it to be sent over just before lunchtime.
Smiling, she went back into her bedroom to put her hair up into a few pin curls so when she got to work her waves would have a little more bounce for the videos she was planning to film.
As she looked in the mirror, she decided that if she had the time, she’d pull out the smaller camera from their equipment room and go out to practice some of the filming techniques that John had been showing her.
She wanted to get more proficient, not that she didn’t want John to work with her, but even without looking at her calendar, she knew that Donna’s bad mornings had been happening more and more.
Kennedy was sure that something was up and if it came to a point when John needed to be home more, she didn’t want to stop doing what she was doing.
No one would ever replace John. He’d practically taught her everything she knew about working out in the field, but she wanted to make sure that he had the time to take care of Donna.
The couple was practically the bedrock of her life in Center City.
If something happened to one of them…
She shook herself and turned away from the mirror in the bathroom.
“No use borrowing trouble, Kennedy Lane.”
She smiled at her grandmother’s words that came as easily to her as breathing.
Grandma Sophie was the one beacon of goodness in her life before she moved to Center City and she was trying to keep her alive in her memories and her daily life as much as she could.
As Kennedy picked up her purse, she saw the sunlight from the window catch on her watch.
Smiling, Kennedy turned her wrist to watch the diamonds in the band sparkle in the light.
She had no idea how her grandmother had afforded such a beautiful piece. She’d only tell Kennedy that the love of her life had given her the piece, but that was all.
It wasn’t Grandpa Joe that she’d mention, no, just ‘the love of my life.’
Shrugging, she moved to the door and left for work.
And if she happened to bump into Detective Walker Ashley… she’d look her fill and moon over him later when she was back in her lonely old apartment.
That would have to be enough.
Right?
The WCCN building was hopping when she got in. There was a major ongoing news story happening.
A story she hadn’t been called in for.
Pasting a sweet smile on her face, she moved over to the receptionist’s office.
“Good morning, Patty.”
Patricia Carol didn’t much like her given name and Kennedy had earned a few points over the years by calling her by the name Patty.
“Morning, Kennedy. Have you seen the madhouse in there?”
By the madhouse, Patty meant the newsroom where a half a dozen drones in people bodies wrote up the pithy little bites of information that were read out on the news shows broadcast throughout the day.
“I walked through there. I doubt anyone noticed I was there, not that it matters. They’re all so busy. They’re either on the phones or typing like their lives depended on it.”
“I know,” Patty leaned her elbows on her desk, “I doubt a single one of them would move if they were on fire.”
Kennedy nodded. “What’s going on?”
Patty looked over at the big wooden door to Mister Rhames’ office before she turned back to Kennedy. “I can’t believe that Mister Rhames’ didn’t want me to call you in.
“It started before breakfast and since he came in, he’s been running around. By the time he got into his office, his eggs Benedict was cold.”
Kennedy didn’t really know what that meant in the long run but she certainly wasn’t going to stop Patty to ask.
“From what I’ve gathered as I watched the clips they’ve been airing in between the morning talk shows from Chicago, there was a rash of thefts in one of the high-end shopping areas downtown.”
“Oh, wow.”
“I know,” Patty leaned further over her desk, “it’s shocking! I’m glad that Mister Rhames doesn’t pay me enough to shop at those places. Still, it’s horrible to watch the footage coming in. So far, it’s mostly cell phone footage and some of the quality is okay, but it’s not like the stories you and John capture and put on the TV.”
Kennedy nodded slowly as her mind started to process the information that Patty had just given her.
“Thanks for the information.”
Patty grinned and shrugged her shoulders. “Like I said. I didn’t understand why he didn’t call you in. You’d have this whole thing on the air right now!”
“That’s why I like you, Patty.”
Patty shushed her away with her hands. “Go out there and get the story, Kennedy.”
Kennedy walked out of Mister Rhames’ outer office and headed straight for the equipment room.
She passed by Connor, one of the techs who worked in the newsroom. “Kennedy? I set up a camera for you in Recording Room One. If you want me to show you how to use it again, I can come and-”
She stopped short and turned around.
Connor came to a sudden stop, almost stomping on her toes.
“I need you to help me get a camera that I can take out into the field.”
Connor turned his head to the side and gave her a sideways look. “Uh, I didn’t think you were assigned to work outside the station today, Kennedy. I-”
“Connor.”
He nodded, his eyes widened. “Yeah?”
“I need that camera. Do you think you could get me one, please?”
Was she using her sweeter than sweet tea voice on the man?
Yes.
Was she going to regret it later?
Nope.
Her gut feeling was that she had to get out into the field as soon as she could.
There was a story out there.
And she was going to find it.
“Connor?”
“Yes, Miss Heart. I’ll get a camera packed up for you.”
She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, Connor. You’re a real lifesaver today.”
He walked down the hall toward the equipment room with a little hop in his step and Kennedy went to the ladies’ room to freshen up her makeup and brush out her pin curls into picture perfect waves.
She was going to take that camera and get some footage because she was Kennedy Heart, the WCCN Roving Reporter.
It took her awhile to convince Connor to let her go out on her own. He took a dim view of her heading out by herself once he realized that John wasn’t going out on the street with her, but she just had to remind him that he was needed there at the station with all of the footage coming in through their submission line.
Kennedy made him a promise to call in if anything happened.
Now, she was beginning to regret some of her bravado.
She took a Lyft ride toward the happenings in downtown, but the Lyft rider canceled when they hit the police barricade and took one look at the CCPD in riot gear.
The young man, who must have been about her age, turned around in the driver’s seat of his Tesla and shook his head. “I’m really sorry, Miss Heart, but I’m still making payments on this car.”
She gave him a smile. “No worries. I’ll be fine from here.”
She reached for the handle on the door and she heard it click closed.
Confused, she turned back to the driver. “What’s going on?”
“I really wish you wouldn’t go out there. My mom loves watching your reports on YouTube and she’d be really mad at me if I let you get hurt.”
Kennedy remembered the name of the driver from the App.
“Charlie?”
He smiled at her. “Yes, Miss Heart?”
“Charlie, I’ve got my press pass and I know pretty much every officer behind those shields. I’ll be perfectly fine.”
Charlie’s look told her that he thought she was a little delusional, but he unlocked the door and let her out.
Kennedy managed to wrangle the camera out of the trunk of his car and waved goodbye as Charlie turned his bright blue Tesla around behind the concrete barricade and drove away.
She was prepared for one of the officers in riot gear to give her a little grief.
Sure enough, as she stepped up to cross through the barricade, an officer moved to block her path.
“I’m sorry, Miss-”
She held up her WCCN ID that always seemed to be hanging around her neck. “I’m a reporter with WCCN-”
“We can’t allow you to pass into this area.”
“I know you have your orders, but I do need to get into the area to report on what’s going on.”
“No, Miss. I’m not-”
“Why don’t you call Detective Jerzek?” She lifted her chin in a defiant stance and prayed that the man behind the riot shield wouldn’t want to incur the wrath of the Detective known for chewing people out and just let her go.
“Miss? Why would we call the detective?”
“Because he’s the one who said I could come down and film the events for the news station.”
The officer looked over at the man a few feet down from him.
The two men shared a look that said they didn’t know what to think.
“I’m sorry, officer.” She put every ounce of sweetness she could into her voice because she did understand that she was putting him into a bit of a position. “I understand that today’s been a day. Right?”
He nodded and crossed his arm over the rifle he had slung across his chest. “It’s certainly been a day, Miss, and that’s why-”
“And that’s why you know how important it is for the public to know what’s going on. I’m sure you’d want your family and friends to know what’s going on down here before they drive down to get dinner or pick someone up. Do you want them to become stuck in a traffic jam caused by the crowds?”
Kennedy knew she was laying it on a bit thick, but she wasn’t lying to him.
She believed in what she was saying.
News was what kept people in the know and should make their lives a little easier, or in this case safer.
Shaking his head, the officer stepped back and allowed her to cross over to the other side of the barricade. “Please, Miss Heart. Please be careful.”
She gave him a smile that said she was more confident than he felt. “Thank you, Officer…”
He shook his head. “If you don’t mind. I’d rather you not know who I am so if the Detective wants the head of the person who let you in here, you won’t know to say my name.”
Kennedy smiled. “That’s perfectly fine.”
She took a few steps into a part of downtown Center City and realized how quiet and still it seemed when it was normally bustling with everyday activities.
She turned back and looked at the line of officers in their head-to-toe riot gear and realized that she had quite literally put herself on the other side of safe.
With a quick wave at the officers, she began to walk, looking for a story to tell.
Coming to the crosswalk of Edgewater and 7th, Kennedy had to jog a little to get across the street to avoid the heavy spray of water from a fire truck.
She frowned when she saw that it came from Station Eleven instead of Twenty-Nine.
Fishing out her cell phone from her bag, she dropped the lanyard around her neck to make sure she didn’t drop the phone on the ground.
Kennedy looked at the screen of the phone for any updates on social media. She’d been trying to follow what she hoped were real-time updates on things going on inside, what the News desk was calling, ‘The Zone.’
There had been several fires reported and the one she was approaching appeared to be a purposefully set fire.
Lifting up her phone, she took a picture of the building fire and the crew struggling to put it out. Then she tapped out a message under it and sent it out via her social media platforms, tagging the firehouse, and adding hashtags to identify the action.
#TheZone
#CCFD_Stationhouse_11
#UnrestInCenterCity
And so on, ending it with. “Watch for a video in the thick of it with Kennedy Heart WCCN.”
Then she set down the tripod that she’d brought along and set it up quickly on the opposite sidewalk from the fire.
John had done his best to instruct her on quality shots. Where to set up. How to frame it. And how to pause before and after to make sure you have good space and extra footage to edit a kick ass intro and outro.
She set up quickly and bent around behind the back of the camera to make sure that she had the shot.
It looked good so she started the recording and walked around to the front of the camera and composed herself for a moment before she began to speak.
“This is Kennedy Heart from Station WCCN, reporting to you from outside the Grayson Office building in downtown Center City. While the crews from Fire Station Twenty-Nine are off battling other blazes around this normally bustling street, Station Eleven has valiantly stepped in to try and save the interior of this building.
“There’s no word on how this fire started, but by the looks of it, the flames have engulfed much of the interior and is hungrily eating away at any vestige of the businesses leasing office in this more than fifty-year-old building. I hope that by the time the firefighters of Station Eleven are able to bring this fire under control, the rest of the city will be under control as well.
“Again, this is Kennedy Heart from channel WCCN. We bring you the news around Center City and the world.”
She held still for a few moments to make sure there was more than adequate footage at the end of the video to cut it down.
A frown touched her lips as soon as she moved.
Shaking her head, Kennedy moved away to check the video feed when an explosion behind her rocked her forward and nearly drove her to her knees.
“Goodness!”
She turned around to see what had happened and was in time to see a large chunk of concrete fall from the front wall of the building.
Kennedy leaned back around the camera and saw that the camera was in position to film the explosion.
Lifting the camera carefully, she gave the tripod a second to fold up before she moved a few feet into the street and focused on the reactions of the firefighters on the ground.
The Chief, with his distinctive coat, was ordering his crew around the front of the building to assess the fire while the driver of the truck rushed into the cab of the truck to move it back.
She couldn’t see it from where she was standing, but she had a feeling that the concrete had fallen to the ground too close to the truck and the firemen for their safety.
Walking carefully across the asphalt, she moved around the back of the truck, trying not to trip over the hose that Station Eleven had connected to a hydrant across the street on Edgewater.
She made it just in time for the truck to pull away from its original position, revealing the large chunk of concrete that had taken off half the branches of a cottonwood tree planted along the sidewalk.
The rock had then fallen to the ground and made a fairly decent dent in the concrete beneath it.
Kennedy barely resisted the urge to whistle under her breath.
She needed to keep things professional and untainted by her own noise if she could help it.
“Kennedy! Hey!”
Grimacing, she heard the distinctive sound of Detective Ashley’s voice.
Walker.
She ignored it as long as she could, but when he was just a few feet behind her, she shifted the camera and opened up the tripod setting it down to keep the camera on the scene.
And that’s when she realized she probably should have kept her eyes on the fire.
The look on Walker’s face was close to fury.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing out here?”
“I’m doing my job.” She swung her arms out and hit the camera, shaking her hand from the pain. “Dang it.”
Walker reached out and wrapped his hand around her forearm, holding it still until he could get a look at her hand. “You didn’t draw blood.”
“Of course, I didn’t. I’m a klutz, but I haven’t drawn blood yet.”
“If you stick around this area that’s going to change, Kennedy. This place is a mad house. People are rioting!”
“I’m a reporter, Walker! This is exactly what I do.”
“You’re not fucking Wolf Blitzer, Kennedy. Don’t make me drag you out of here in cuffs!”
She narrowed her eyes at him and leaned in. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“The fuck I won’t.”He pulled her closer and shook his head. “I need you to get some sense, Kennedy! This isn’t playtime, you know. This is real out here! People are getting hurt!”
“Stop!”
She ground her heel into his booted foot, trying to get him to let go.
“Damnit, that hurts!”
“Let me go, Walker!”
And he did, letting go of her and swearing under his breath.
Kennedy cradled her wrist in her other hand.
He hadn’t really hurt her, exactly.
He’d scared her.
She’d never seen Walker Ashley that emotional.
When he was at a crime scene, he seemed almost detached.
He didn’t get upset at suspects. He treated them as well as he could. He didn’t overstep bounds with suspects, unless they pushed him across the line. He’d been investigated before for excessive force, goodness knows people liked to throw out those words as if they were a valid deflection.
Every time, Walker Ashley’s actions had held up to scrutiny.
But not this time.
This time he wasn’t even dealing with a suspect.
She was a member of the press.
“Do you regularly manhandle reporters, Detective? I don’t think I’ve heard anyone accuse you of intimidating the press.”
“That’s because the press doesn’t usually act as stupid as you just did! Don’t you have a camera guy with you to take the videos?” He shook his head at her, nearly spitting mad. “Damnit, Kennedy!”
She pushed him back, almost spitting mad herself. “You don’t get to be mad at me for doing my job, Detective! I’m a seasoned field reporter. And whether or not I have a cameraman with me or a camera woman, it’s still my job to report on things like this.”
“I can’t keep an eye on you if you’re walking around with a camera in this mess.”
She shook off the strange feeling inside of her that said she’d like him to be by her side, but that was personal and this… this was her job.
“I don’t need you to keep an eye on me! I need access to do my job. If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll go with you. I can better access-”
“You mean you can get robbed or worse! I can’t believe they sent a-”
“Don’t you dare, Walker Ashley! Don’t you dare say ‘woman’ as if we don’t do the exact same things that men do. Remember that you have a sister in the CCPD.”
“Yeah, she’s my sister, Kennedy. But she’s an officer and she’s been through the training to deal with violent people and that’s what you’re going to find in that mess. We’ve already sent three officers to the hospital and we’re likely going to add to that total before this is over. So don’t tell me about your job, Miss Heart.”
She drew back at the way he said her name. There wasn’t any venom in his voice but the sharpness he put in it cut into her chest.
Her phone rang and before she could lift it off of her chest, Walker reached over and turned it around, looking at the screen.
“John is calling.”
He lowered it back down and shook his head.
“Take the call from your boyfriend on the other side of the barriers and go back to the station. Have them send someone in the news van if they’re willing to risk their necks to get some footage.
He walked away, but not before pointing at one of the men in riot gear that she’d just blustered her way past.
“Put her on the other side of the barrier and keep her there or I’ll put you on detail with the VICE unit as a prostitute.”
Kennedy turned and walked past the officers, her head almost held high.
She didn’t dare turn her head to see what kind of looks they were giving her.
Her confidence couldn’t take the hit.
Not at that moment.
She stopped about ten feet away from the barrier and called John back.
When he picked up, she didn’t wait for him to talk.
“I know you’re probably calling me because someone blabbed that I went downtown to cover what’s happening. And you’re right, I’m stupid, okay? I just can’t hear a lecture from you right now because I just had my butt handed to me by Detective Ashley and I feel… I feel… I feel like shit!”
She felt that four letter work creeping up and she’d tried to stop it, but when she couldn’t she just had to cry.
Words meant something to her, and she’d tried to keep those kinds of words out of her mouth for so long.
“I’m such a mess…”
It took her a minute to hear John talking to her… trying to get her attention.
“Ken. Ken? Kennedy? Are you listening to me?”
She nodded and then laughed at herself. “Yes, John. I can hear you now.”
Kennedy heard him sigh, but it wasn’t in frustration or anger. It sounded like he was sad.
“I’m already on my way in. Tell me where you are and I’ll come to you. Together-”
“You can go in,” she whispered into the phone, blinking her eyes to hold back tears, “Walker gave the officers orders not to let me back in.”
John growled into her ear. “Well fuck that, Ken. We’ll get back in there from another entry point and if you want footage, we’ll get it and a damn good story.”
She gave him the cross streets where the Lyft had dropped her off and then she put the camera down so she could fix her face.
That’s when she noticed that the camera had still been rolling.
“Dang it.”
“Fuck.”
He grabbed the front of Tyler’s shirt and the back of Hazzard’s and dragged them around the corner of the building.
Hazzard shoved at his arm, hissing under his breath. "Take your fucking hand off of me, cop!"
Tyler yanked his shirt free and gave his friend a stare. "Lower your damn voice."
Henry Jerzek gave the other kid a nod. "You could both use lessons in keeping your shit quiet."
The two criminals gave him a look that bordered on insubordination which pissed Henry off, but hell, these guys were a means to an end. That's all.
"I only agreed to meet the two of you down here because you said you needed help."
Tyler tried to tug his clothes back in place as if he gave a shit about what he wore on a normal day. He always looked like he'd just rolled out of bed.
The little shit lifted his chin, but his gaze shifted to his friend. "You're supposed to be our in with the Popo of Center City, detective."
Henry lashed out before he could think better of it.
Hell, before he could think at all, he really did need to retire.
Tyler held his hand to his cheek like a little bitch. "Why'd you do that?"
"You want my help. I'm not going to guarantee a damn thing. I'm also not like your dime-store whores, boy. I'm not at your beck and call."
The two idiots looked at each other, but it was Hazzard who spoke up. "Don't know what kind of whores are dime-store, but they sound cheap enough for Tyler."
"Look, I don't know if either of you two idiots noticed, but that was Kennedy Heart out there."
"Kennedy... who?"
Hazzard really was a pile of stupid shit.
Tyler seemed to understand what he was talking about. "That hottie on WCCN? I'd like to fuck her."
Henry shook his head. He bet the boy would like to fuck all kinds of women, but he doubted any of them would give the little idiot a chance. "She had her camera pointed this way."
Hazzard smiled but Tyler again managed to put two and two together. "You think she saw us?"
"Well, I hope not, but I'll have to figure it out before it comes to bite me in the ass." Henry knew he'd have to call in some help from a source, he wasn't all that excited to use. "Shit."
Tyler leaned in, his eyes narrowed. "You mean before it bites us in the ass."
Turning his head to face the younger man, he sighed. "Shit rolls downhill, idiot."
Hazzard shrugged.
"What it means is that if it's bad for me, Harold . It's going to be very bad for you."
Hazzard glared at him. "Don't fucking use my name, old man."
"Don't think you can order me around." Henry looked at the two. "I'm going to find out what she's got on that camera. You two keep out of sight."
Tyler shook his head. "Chance said he wanted us to keep making trouble at Carson Parks."
Henry folded his arms across his chest. "Then do it. Just keep your faces off cameras, security," he tilted his head toward the corner of the building, "and TV cameras, too."
Tyler at least tried to make it seem like he'd understood that before Henry said it. Hazzard? He just nodded, with his chin dropped open. The kid couldn't help but look stupid as fuck.
"And don't call me unless you actually need me. I've got shit of my own to do. And make sure you use those trash phones, yeah? I don't need your shit rubbing off on me."
Tyler lifted his hand in a mocking salute which Hazzard copied using the wrong hand.
Henry really wanted to put a bullet in both of their heads, but that could be a waste of money. They'd likely get their asses handed to them in Carson Parks if they didn't keep their wits about them.
And Hazzard likely didn't have any to start with.
"Now, get going."
Henry turned to walk away and had to point the two in the opposite direction so they wouldn't walk away from their meeting in the same direction.
Fuck.
I'm getting too old for this.