Free The Cost of Commitment - KJ2 by Lynn Ames Page B

“I’ll try not to guzzle it.”
    “Don’t look now, but I think that woman over in the corner is trying to get your attention.”
    “Is that so? What’s she drinking?”
    “Killian’s.”
    “Okay, give me one of those, too.”
    “Huh, I wouldn’t have picked her for your type.”
    Kate rolled her eyes, threw down a few bills, and picked up the beer bottle and her soda. “She’s not,” she said over her shoulder as she walked away.
    “Hello, Ms. Ashton.”
    “Ms. Kyle.” The reporter nodded. “Fancy meeting you here.”
    Kate made a show of looking around. “Nothing fancy about this place.”

    Lynn Ames

    “Let’s just say you class up the joint,” Wendy rejoined. “You do realize that every woman in the bar is staring at you, right?”
    “What, is my fly undone?”
    “Very funny. How do you deal with that?”
    “With what?”
    “With the kind of attention and looks you get everywhere you go.”
    “My fiancée says I’m oblivious and obtuse. She’s probably right.”
    “In that case, maybe I should be asking her how she deals with it.”
    Kate smiled. “I’d venture to say that she’s the one who turns heads, not me.”
    “Well, you must make quite a couple.”
    “I think so.” Kate shifted minutely in her chair, uncomfortable talking about Jay with a reporter, even one as friendly as Wendy. “Any more word from Breathwaite?”
    “No. I’m not supposed to hear from him until Friday afternoon.”
    “Good.” Kate leaned forward to be heard over the music without shouting. “I want you to give him his story.”
    “What?”
    “I want you to write a story that will satisfy Breathwaite.”
    “But that could mean the end of your career.”
    “Not if you write the story I have in mind.” Kate’s eyes burned with intensity.
    “Talk to me.”
    “My parents died when I was eighteen and away at college. They were killed by a drunk driver on the Hutchinson River Parkway in Westchester. The guy was found civilly liable, but never served time.”
    “And this is relevant exactly how?”
    “What if, all these years, I’ve been carrying this chip on my shoulder?
    What if I’ve been plotting all this time to put myself in position to get back at the criminal justice system that denied me justice so long ago?”
    The reporter considered. “Yeah, like you had yourself outed and fired from WCAP just so the governor would feel sorry for you and hire you as PIO at DOCS. As if you could have planned all that.”
    “Perhaps I was just biding my time, getting experience in the media and getting close to the governor in order to ingratiate myself to him until the appropriate opportunity arose.”
    “Nobody’s gonna buy that.”
    “Probably not, but the story has elements of truth, and it gives you something Breathwaite will love.”
    “What’s that?”
    “A personal angle. Imagine how much he’ll enjoy seeing my personal pain splashed across newspapers all around the state.”
    “That would appeal to the asshole.”

    The Cost of Commitment

    Kate ticked off the points on her fingers. “He gets his story, you save yourself, I get to keep my job because the story isn’t sufficient to warrant my dismissal. Everybody wins.”
    “What if it’s not enough to get him off my back?”
    “I’ll give you enough details to make him happy. Wendy, I’m not going to let him take you down, I promise you.”
    The reporter still seemed unconvinced.
    “Look, there’s a much juicier story to be had here. This is not an isolated incident with Breathwaite. There’s something much bigger going on.”
    “I’ve noticed that you’ve been under the gun in a bunch of papers lately. Why?”
    “I’m not sure yet. All I know so far is that Breathwaite wants me out, and he wants to come back to DOCS as PIO. What I don’t know is why or who else is involved. But I intend to find out. And when I do, the story is all yours, exclusively. Just work with me on this piece now. Deal?”
    The reporter bit her