Sit...Stay...Beg(81)
And she had not written one word of that.
Her vision blurred as the words actually made her dizzy. “It was like he was in the room.”
Mercedes rolled her eyes, not buying it.
“He would have had to have been in that room or…” Was it possible? Could he have listened in on the conversation? “He bugged my room?”
“You can sing that song all you like, Jessie. It doesn’t matter. You won. You got the job. Your story is the feature lead on Wednesday night. Hardly a fair win, but that’s the name of the game in this business.”
“No, it’s not,” she said. “I don’t care what it takes, I don’t care what I have to do, I don’t care about anything except that story is going to be killed. They can’t use a word on Garrett Kilcannon. Not one mention of his name.”
“What about your story? Mac said the raw footage is amazing.”
“They can’t use it. I won’t allow it. I won’t let them have anything that was shot. They can’t use it without my implied and express permission.”
Mercedes leaned forward. “Only if you’re not an employee, hon. You’d have to quit. Don’t you want the job?”
Not like this. “But how could he have done that? How could he know where I was staying? How…”
She closed her eyes, visualizing the room that night. The fire. The wine on the night stand. The laptop Garrett had set on the dresser. The laptop…the laptop. Open on the dresser.
She slammed both hands over her mouth, sucking in a breath.
“What?” Mercedes asked.
“He watched. Through the camera. On my laptop!” She whirled around to grab the case, her hands shaking so hard she could barely unzip it.
“That is so creepy.”
“Beyond creepy. It can’t be legal.” She pulled the computer out and whipped up the slim screen, willing the thing to give up its secrets.#p#分页标题#e#
“I think you have to tape over the camera,” Mercedes said. “Did you?”
“No.” Because who would do that? She ran her finger over the tiny camera lens. “Do you have tape over yours?”
“No, but I will now.” Mercedes bent over and squinted at the lens. “Is it on now?”
But Jessie was replaying another conversation and Mac’s words came floating back to her. I’ll help you. I can watch out for you and help move things along on this end.
By spying on her?
“Mac is going to get what he deserves for his unethical, disgusting, manipulative behavior.”
“You think so?” The words came from behind her, accompanied by the not-so-subtle stench of Aqua Velva. “Jessie, get in my office, and we’ll go over the production schedule for Wednesday night’s show.”
Fury bubbled up as she whipped around, eye to eye with him. “We’ll go into your office and bring the lawyers in, Mac, because I am going to see you go so down for this.” She held the computer up. “You spying bastard.”
He gave a soft laugh that only made her angrier. “Jess, how many times do I have to tell you to do your homework? That’s a company-issued laptop, and you signed a piece of paper that said you would use it exclusively for company business, which you do, I notice. But it’s legal for this company to put any software we want on it, and…well, we do.”
Beads of sweat formed on her neck. “Software to spy on private conversations?”
“Just that one, I promise. You keep that laptop closed unless you’re writing, I noticed, so I didn’t see anything, you know, really private if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Mercedes backed away, her lip curling. “I’m pretty grossed out by this.”
Mac looked sideways at Mercedes. “I’m grossed out by how you mismanaged the biggest bombshell interview anyone ever gave you. Get comfortable in print, Mercedes, because you don’t have the chops for TV.”
“Screw you.” She pivoted and walked away, holding up her middle finger.
He stared after her. “That’s a fine way to say thank you for the biggest break in your career!”
“Mac.” Jessie’s voice was barely a whisper. “What is wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with you?” he fired back. “Do you want to be in this business or not, Jessie? It isn’t for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. But you do have the chops and they agree in broadcast. Swallow your pride, get with the program, and meet me in my office. I’ll bring you coffee.” He put one of his fat little hands on her shoulder. “And, I have more great news. I’m accepting the job as executive producer of ITAL On Air. We’re going to be a great team.”