Justifiable Read Free Page A

photographer, but Riley showed any camera staff the same consideration by helping with equipment regardless of his position. Biddy wasn’t social to begin with, but in a show of mutual respect he’d told Riley early on, “If you ever get turned in for union violations, you can bet your ass it wasn’t me who dropped a dime on you.” 
    Riley’s kind of guy, especially Biddy’s “get the job done and screw the rules” mantra. Cutting edge news reporting meant scars on occasion. Just part of the job if a person did it right. You had to put it all on the line to get to the facts.
    At least, that’s what Riley had believed until...
    Shit . Focus on today. The next five minutes. Now .
    Biddy passed through the open doorway and headed for the elevator. He mumbled in a tired voice, “Another suck assignment.”  
    “Trust me. This beats the hell out of missing child assignments.”  Riley snapped his jaws shut. Breathe. He shook his head to clear his mind and stop the backward fall into a black mental hole. Get your shit together.
    If he wanted to prove everyone wrong who had declared his career over, he had to stick to reporting news... and keep a lid on his temper.
    Three major network affiliates in ten years.
    His foster dad had called him passionate.
    Others called him a hot head.
    Riley called it cutting through the crap to find the real story. Especially with murders.
    The chatter in his brain gave way when a cacophony of voices reached him. Press conference. Briefing room up ahead.
    Got it. 
    Riley walked forward, eyes level. He banged Biddy’s tripod on the door jam outside the press briefing room where the commotion picked up volume. Slowing, he pulled up short at the entrance.
    Newsies already packed the pressroom. All four of the camera slots positioned at the front of the room were taken.
    Three slots had cameras set up to roll.
    That fat slob and newspaper muckraker, Henry the Whore, occupied the fourth position.
    Henry weighed about three hundred pounds, smelled like last week’s ashtray, and loved to piss off TV people. He’d probably been sitting there, holding court until the press conference and disappointed he hadn’t had a chance to screw with someone. 
    Henry had splashed a damning print article the first week Riley took the anchor desk for WNUZ, alluding to the dangers of allowing some in the media to go unchecked. 
    And here the newspaper pig sat in the spot reserved for Riley and Biddy, making it clear whose chain Henry wanted to jerk. Biddy might be a surly partner, but he was loyal to people who helped him. When someone at the station had shown Biddy the scathing article Henry had written, he’d looked as though his fist might go through a wall.
    Same way Biddy looked right now.
    Riley ground his jaw. He had to deal with the blowhard or face another slam in the rag Henry wrote for. Normally, he didn’t care what the hack wrote, but with everything riding on renewing his contract with WNUZ in a week, Riley didn’t have time for battling on multiple fronts. 
    Before he could decide what to say or do, a wink of bright color down the hallway snagged his attention.
    The sexy investigator for the District Attorney’s office, Kirsten Willingham Massey, stood in a doorway two offices away speaking to someone. And wearing another snug business suit. Today’s outfit was a nice silk number in Corvette red. She hooked a lock of chin-length black hair behind one ear and tapped an unpolished fingernail against the doorframe.
    Exotic and unapproachable. Riley had heard both terms used to describe her. He’d tried to interview her once, but she’d seen him coming. The look of disgust she’d given him right before she vanished into the closest office made it clear she wasn’t a fan of the media.
    Or maybe just of him.
    As if she’d felt his eyes on her, Kirsten Massey turned her head slowly for a brief glance his way, paused, assessed, then dismissed him with a curt flick of her chin.
    He