Dead Shot (A Cal Murphy Thriller Book 1)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

When Cal and Kelly returned to The Register, they found Guy had retired his "I'm the Boss" coffee cup with a drink more appropriate for the afternoon. Guy was sipping from one of those giant plastic cups from the Flying J filled to the brim with soda when he noticed the pair return to the office.

"There you two are! Get back to my office right now," Guy yelled.

Cal didn't bother setting down his bag at his desk. He knew Guy was on a rare - but trademark - rampage. Cal had observed that Guy only exhibited this behavior when there was a real news story taking place. The events of the past 24 hours certainly qualified as real news, especially in Statenville.

With two chairs across from Guy's desk, Kelly took the seat closest to the cubicle doorway. Cal squeezed past her and into the seat wedged against the wall. They were both barely in their seats before Guy commenced.

"What have you two been up to?" he demanded. "On your account, I've taken two cautionary phone calls from Sheriff Jones and been called into Joseph's office - and it's not even noon!"

"I can explain -" Cal started.

"You better start talking fast. I don't have time for nuanced excuses."

"We started by going to talk with Sheriff Jones, and he started giving us the run around along with a suggestion to more or less drop it," Cal answered.

"A suggestion? Like, 'Stop digging. No one will like what you find'?"

"Yeah, kind of like that."

"And so you had to go keep digging, of course."

"Boss, isn't that what we're supposed to do? I'm telling you, something strange is going on and people will want to know about it."

"According to Joseph and Hunter Jones, nobody in this town wants to know about anything other than funeral arrangements and where to send flowers for these poor boys' families."

"And you're buying that?"

"I don't know what I'm buying yet, but I don't like anything that gets the publisher and the sheriff crawling all over me. You got it?" The stressed-out editor pointed his index finger at the two as if it were a pistol.

Kelly nodded her head, but Cal knew she had no intention of halting her investigation. Neither did he. Cal continued his protest.

"So how are we supposed to do our jobs?"

"Figure it out, cubbie. But do it without having my boss and the law put the squeeze on me. Now get out of here and let me know when you have something."

Kelly got up and headed for her desk. Cal didn't move.

"What makes you think we don't already have something of interest?"

"You don't. Now get out of here before you ruin the five precious minutes I have left of this morning."

Cal huffed as he returned to his desk and began organizing his notes.

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'Discretion is the better part of valor'?" whispered a voice in Cal's ear.

Cal turned to see a smart-aleck grin spread across Kelly's face.

"I think I know who is behind all this, Cal. Let's go talk about it over lunch."

Cal grabbed his briefcase and ignored the rest of the newsroom employees. For the second time today, he was invited to ride in Kelly's car. Guy's tirade withstanding, it was turning out to be a pretty good day for Cal.

Law enforcement feathers ruffled? Check. Big breaking story with potential for an award-winning article? Check. Business or not, riding with Kelly in her sports car? Check. Lunch with Kelly at Ray-Ray's? Near perfection. And it was only noon.