Unfinished Business Read Online Free PDF Page A

kid.”
    Christy nodded, thinking it was sad that teenage runaways in this country were becoming an epidemic. She had written a report on the problem while working as a reporter in Houston. “Did she ever come back?”
    “No. Mrs. Patterson claims her daughter is dead somewhere and she knows it for certain because periodically she gets messages from Bonita from the grave.”
    Christy blinked. “Really?”
    Shemell rolled her eyes upward. “Well, of course we all know she’s off her rocker, but the woman is convinced there is some diabolical international organization that’s kidnapping teenage runaway girls and shipping them to some foreign country and using them in a slave trade.”
    “Wow,” Christy said. “Has anyone reported this to the FBI?” She asked since she knew kidnappings fell within their jurisdiction.
    Shemell nodded. “Yes, but their investigation ended when they couldn’t find anything to support Morganna’s claim. Everyone around these parts figures Morganna Patterson has a few screws loose, but because of her family’s name they pretend to believe her. Her family’s former ties with this paper are the reason she brings any news here instead of taking it to the police. Cincinnati’s finest won’t give her the time of day, because they are short staffed, and the FBI refuses to take anything she has to say seriously anymore.”
    Shemell leaned back in her chair. “Malcolm is a longtime family friend and just to make her happy he usually will assign one of his reporters to take down the latest development, assure the woman we’ll investigate things, and then a few days later we discreetly file the information away.”
    Christy sighed deeply. “If people assume she’s not operating with a full deck, then why doesn’t her family get the necessary help for her?”
    Shemell smiled. “Again, because of the family name. She’s harmless and not hurting anyone, except maybe someone who’s nutty enough to believe her story. Morganna’s mother’s side of the family were from Louisana. I understand her grandmother was supposedly psychic, which is probably why Morganna actually thinks she’s communicating with the dead.”
    Christy nodded, thinking Mrs. Patterson’s story was probably more interesting than the one she had covered that morning about the cat that had gotten trapped in a sewer and had to be rescued by the fire department.
    She knew that it was time she had a talk with Malcolm. She was an investigative reporter and wanted assignments she could sink her teeth into. Who knew? If she became so absorbed in her work, then she wouldn’t have time to think about Alex Maxwell.
    Alex sighed deeply as he hung up the phone and leaned back in the wingback chair in his hotel room. Justin and Clayton had been satisfied to hear he had seen Christy and that she was doing fine. Dex, however, had wanted in-depth information such as whether or not she was eating properly, if her apartment was in a safe location, and whether she was dating and, if so, who the guy was and how serious it was.
    Alex had decided to tell the brothers as little as possible; after all, he’d meant what he had told Christy. Her brothers were not the reason he was in Cincinnati. They deserved to know she was doing OK, but that was it. Besides, the shit would hit the fan when they discovered his true reason for being here. He fully understood that when the depth of his relationship with Christy was revealed, he’d have the Madaris brothers to deal with. But at the moment that concern was the least of his problems. Right now he had to first go about establishing that relationship. And Christy was being deliberately difficult.
    It was evident that she was not in a forgiving mood. But he was a patient man and she deserved at least that from him. So while he waited for her to come around, there was one thing he could do.
    Eliminate the competition.
    Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it .
    Christy sighed as she