Bailed Out (The Anna Albertini Files #2) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,50

a reporter.”

“This is her first story,” Nick confirmed. “Apparently she got the job last week and moved here. She didn’t tell you that you were on the record?”

“No,” I burst out. “Not only that, she’s twisting my words. I never said those things.” Yet I hadn’t denied finding Tessa and Aiden standing over Danny Pucci’s body, and there was no way to deny that I’d been leaving my cottage in the morning while holding Aiden’s hand. That was there in black and white. “What can we do?”

Nick shook his head. “There’s no law that a journalist has to identify herself when getting quotes, but most organizations have a code of ethics that require it.”

My fingernails cut into my palms when I curled my hands into fists. “She didn’t write anything that’s technically false, so I don’t have a case for libel.”

“Okay.” Nick pressed his palm to the bridge between his eyes and closed them for a minute. “Here’s the plan.” He sat back and looked at me, obviously thinking it through fast. “You have no comment on this. Period. We’ll issue a press release tomorrow, and by we, I mean me and the office. You will say nothing. Do you understand?”

I nodded. Saying nothing seemed like a good way to go for me right now. I couldn’t believe Jolene had set me up like that.

Nick’s expression didn’t alter. “You’re also taking a leave of absence.”

I jerked. “No, I’m not. That’s not fair.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Anybody else would be fired. I like you and you helped me out big time with that last case, and you’re a good lawyer when you stick to the job. But this does scream of a conflict of interest, so until Devlin is either convicted or cleared, you’re on leave. I don’t have a choice here, and you know it.”

“But Nick—”

“You’re sleeping with a murder suspect, Anna.” His chin rose along with his voice. “Both Devlin and your sister were arrested and are out on bond, and I thought we could screen you from the case, but this is too much. Having a relationship with Aiden Devlin is a mistake, and it shows poor judgment. I can’t have that here.”

Yeah. That’d probably screw up his chances to run for governor someday. Anger flushed through me, mostly because he was right and I was wrong. I’d screwed up on the professional front.

On the personal front, I wasn’t sure yet.

Hopefully this would be worth it.

Chapter 18

I ate cold steak for a late breakfast the next morning while sitting out on my deck. When I’d returned home after my disastrous meeting with Nick, Aiden had been gone, and the kitchen had been cleaned up perfectly. He’d left me a steak in the fridge along with rolls on the counter. I’d texted him to check out the online article with a warning that it would be in print in the morning, and he hadn’t texted back.

That worked for me at the moment.

I looked up just as Donna and Tess walked along the trail up from the lake, both in shorts over swimsuits.

“We have drinks, food, and suntan lotion in the boat,” Donna said, a wide-brimmed hat covering her dark hair and protecting her skin. “Get your suit and let’s go.”

I finished chewing. “I take it you saw the newspaper?”

“Yep,” Tessa said, glancing at my half-eaten steak. “We figured you’d be taking the day off.”

“Nope,” I said. “I’ve been forced into a leave of absence. I can’t go back to work until Aiden is convicted or cleared.”

Tessa rocked back on sparkly flip flops. “Cool. Do you still get paid?”

I frowned. “I’m not sure. Guess I should figure that out.” There was no way I was getting my sisters out of there, so I stood. “I’ll go get changed. Whose boat did you borrow?” We had plenty of relatives and friends with boats, but so far, none of us had invested in one.

“We just rented the pontoon boat from the marina,” Tessa admitted. “Seemed like a fun thing to do, and they gave us a discount since it wasn’t being used today. The sound system rocks.”

I didn’t much care how I looked and the headache hadn’t abandoned me, so I put on a plain black bikini with coverup, threw my hair into a ponytail, and snatched a pair of flip flops out of my closet that I was pretty sure belonged to Donna. After tucking sunscreen and a hat in a beach bag, I grabbed a notebook and my