A flash of red registered in her peripheral vision, but the elevator doors slipped shut before she reached them. Her editor’s door snapped open just as she reached it.

“Hey, Cassie.” He smoothed his hand down the front of his T-shirt the way he would’ve if he’d been wearing a tie. “Come on in and have a seat.”

“Is something big going on?” She sat in one of the two chairs angled in front of his desk. “I didn’t see any special news being reported when I got ready this morning.”

“Hmm?” He looked up from the distracted frown he’d aimed at his desk and shook his head. “Oh, no. No special coverage needed. We just...” He looked to the side as though searching for the right words, then refocused on her. “We have a situation we need to deal with.”

“A situation.”

“Yes.”

Not good. Not good at all considering the uncertainty behind Ed’s eyes. He was a good man. Direct. To the point on both praise and criticism. So, if he was stalling and struggling to put words behind what needed to be said, something was seriously wrong.

She cleared her throat and straightened her spine. “Well, then, maybe the best thing to do is just get it out there.”

He studied her a moment, his mouth pinched tight. “Right.” He splayed his hands on the desk, focused on them for a good three heartbeats, then lifted his head and pinned his gaze on her. “We received information last night that you’re directly involved with a local mafia organization and that you’ve been leveraging the station’s resources to further their interests.”

The chill that had chased her every step upstairs settled iceberg hard against her skin, and if she hadn’t been sitting down, the dizziness that hit her would have knocked her over. “I’m sorry...what?”

He huffed out an awkward chuckle and clasped his hands together. “That was my reaction, too, but the allegation is a pretty serious one, and one of the higher-ups insisted it was a legitimate claim we needed to address.”

“Address how?”

“Well, that all depends. I told my boss the odds of it being true were slim, but then I remembered the men in the fancy car who’ve been picking you up lately. When I talked to one of your video guys, they said they’d spotted men following your crew while you’re working, too. So, I thought it best I follow up immediately.”

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

Her heart took off at a sprint, and a cold sweat broke out along the back of her neck. “I hope you don’t mind my asking, but where did this tip come from?”

“One of the execs. They were at some big fund-raiser last night. The Midsummer Masquerade.”

“And you’re calling into question my ethics on a casual comment?”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t casual. It was quite pointed. The person they spoke to said you’re presently involved in a relationship with a man by the name of Kir Vasilek and that this Vasilek person works for Sergei Petrovyh—who’s rumored to be tied to Stephen Alfonsi’s disappearance. A fact you well know since you’ve done a good number of stories on Alfonsi in the past eight months.”