arses? You know what, you lot need to grow a fucking brain. She basically talked herself inside so she could get an interview with that dickhead. And then, when he didn’t let her go, she was just trying to get her and the camerawoman out. We were just lucky to get out in the-’
SMACK.
Leanne, surprised to find herself on the floor, looked up in shock at the person who’d finally snapped. Tina. She was rubbing her hand. ‘Shut up, Leanne. Just for once, shut up.’
Leanne got up off her arse. She gave Tina a long, angry glare and Ashley thought she was just getting started. But instead, she rubbed her cheek and walked off back to the ambulance. Ashley distantly heard her say to a paramedic, ‘You need to check me for concussion. I was just savagely beaten. On my birthday.’
‘Happy birthday,’ the paramedic said dryly.
‘Oh, shit, I probably shouldn’t have done that,’ Tina said, turning back to the group.
Gina touched her on the shoulder and smiled. ‘If it hadn’t been you, it would have been me.’
‘Maybe me,’ Ashley added.
‘God, when I tell Polly, she’s gonna lose her mind,’ Tina said, wondrously.
‘Where’s everyone else?’ Gina asked suddenly. ‘The chefs, the waiter, Lily, that lot?’
‘They were all moved somewhere else, some police station to get debriefed. We’re all going there after we’re checked out, they said. Oh, and apparently, all our family and friends, practically everyone we know is at the end of the road. They’re holding them off for the moment,’ Greg said.
‘I can’t deal with anyone else right now.’
‘Not even your dad?’ Gina asked.
‘No. Let him wait in the cold and the dark for a change,’ Ashley said without thinking. And then she added. ‘You know what? Maybe I do have an issue with him.’
Gina nodded. ‘I would if I were you.’
‘I think I might leave that one for another day, anyway. I’m too tired to dissect my childhood,’ Ashley said, shaking her head.
‘God, yeah,’ Sam agreed. ‘I’ve never been this tired, even after powerlifting.’
The sound of clomping heels came toward them. ‘I guess they couldn’t hold everyone back,’ Tina noted. And here she came, Kara Malone.
‘We’ll leave you to it,’ Tina said, and they went back to their paramedics. ‘We’ll swap numbers!’ Greg called over his shoulder.
Ashley and Gina waved them off.
‘Ashley! Gina!’ Kara exclaimed as she reached them. Ashley thought the familiarity was a bit much. ‘God, I’m so glad to see you’re both OK.’ Her cameraman appeared at her side. ‘Any chance of an interview?’
‘None whatsoever,’ Ashley said tiredly. ‘We’ve had a terrible day, and we just want to get signed off and go home.’
Gina looked at her, shocked. ‘Ashley! Be cool, woman!’ she hissed out of the side of her mouth. Ashley knew why she was trying to tell her to play nice. Kara wanted to talk to her, and at the start of this long and strange day, that would have been a big deal.
‘Oh god, of course!’ Kara said apologetically. ‘I’m sorry, I hate to be pushy, but you get it, don’t you, Ashley?’
Ashley shrugged. ‘I guess.’
‘But maybe we could arrange something for tomorrow? You could come down to the studio?’
Ashley thought about it, but it didn’t sound very realistic. ‘Well, I’m not sure if we’ll… I mean the police will probably be talking to us endlessly-’
‘Yes, but you could put them off, couldn’t you?’ Kara gave Ashley a conspiratorial look. ‘I shouldn’t say this, but if you could come tomorrow and give us the exclusive, we could talk about… Well, from what I heard, you’ve been stuck in the small-time and your boss, said you might be interested in-’
‘Kara?’ Ashley said, cutting in.
‘Yeah?’ Kara said hopefully.
‘Shut up and go away.’
Kara’s smiled wobbled slightly. ‘Ashley,’ she said, trying to laugh it off, ‘Come on. This is a big deal for you.’
‘You know what’s a big deal? That I’m alive. All of this?’ She gestured to the camera. ‘It’s not. Not to me. Not right now.’
Kara looked unhappy that her chummy charms hadn’t worked. ‘Well, if that’s how it is.’
‘It is. It really is. I watched you today. While I was stuck with a deranged idiot waving a gun around and you were hiding behind that shield, I watched you bullshitting on TV all day, doing frankly mediocre work, and you know? My desire to get where you are has kind of dried up.’
Kara was stunned and angry. ‘Oh, really? So, you’re better than me now you’ve had one bad day on the job?