“This is a joke, right?” Even as she said it, Jenny knew it was for real.
“I’m sorry, Jen. The police are on their way over to talk to the staff.”
“What happened? Was she in a car accident?”
“All they would say was that they’d found her body on the sidewalk by her apartment building.”
“Tony, I just talked to her yesterday. She left a message on my machine, she can’t be dead!” “I’m afraid it’s true, Jenny. We received confirmation during your show. Do you know her family? Maybe you should call them and let them know.”
“No, I don’t know her family, Tony. Look, I can’t deal with this right now. Let me get out of this stupid dress, and I’ll check back with you later.”
“I’ll let you know when the police get here. They’ll be able to answer your questions better than I can. I’m sorry
“Murdered? What makes you think she was murdered?” Jenny asked.“Well, for one thing, there wasn’t any note. For another, most suicides don’t put in a diaphragm just before jumping out of a window. You don’t need birth control in heaven.” Gary tried to lighten the seriousness of the mood.“That’s why they call it heaven.” Jenny caught the intent. “But seriously, Gary, do you think she walked in on a robbery? Although I can’t imagine what she would have that anyone would want.”“There wasn’t any sign of forced entry and nothing was taken that we could see. At least not the usual things like the TV, stereo or jewelry. Her purse wasn’t even touched. That’s all I can tell you for now, which is much more than I was supposed to. But you and I go way back. What’s a few rules between friends? Besides, since you and Gayle were so close, I thought you might ha
Immediately when Jenny entered the bar, she knew that Bob had already heard the news. The usual loud din of laughter and music she had become accustomed to was replaced by an eerie sound of quiet whispers and muted conversation. She sat at the bar and noticed that Bob’s face was damp.“You know,” she said.“I saw the police cars and called a friend of mine downtown. They’re calling it a suicide. I don’t buy that for a minute. That girl had too much life in her to give it up like that.” He put a glass of Jack Daniels in front of her. “On the house.”“I’d ask you to leave the bottle, but I’m meeting the detective at my place later to check out Gayle’s apartment. Remember I told you about Gary White, the guy I went to high school with?”“Yeah, the nice one!”“Turns out he’s the detective on the case. We just had an interesting conversat
When Jenny woke up, she could hear the television in the other room. For a second she thought that Gayle was visiting, but then she remembered. She went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face, but it didn’t help remove the redness on her cheeks or the emptiness in her heart. She moved as if she were in a fog and grabbed a few things from her closet and drawer to wear. When she came into the living room Johnny turned down the volume on the television.“Did I wake you?” he asked.“No, I didn’t get much sleep anyway. Want me to make coffee?”“I already did. Do you want me to get some for you?”“If you don’t stop being so nice to me, I’m going to throw you out of here.” Jenny smiled at him.“You might want to rethink that outfit.”“What do you mean?”Jenny looked at her clothes. She had put on a green sweater with a bright red pair of jo
It was Friday morning. The start of the weekend when most people were making plans to relax in front of the television set, or go to the beach, Jenny was making plans to attend a funeral. Gayle’s sister, Marilyn, had called to tell her where and when the service was going to take place. Since the police weren’t finished with their investigation they weren’t going to release her body until Saturday, so the funeral was going to be at four o’clock on Sunday at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills.Jenny knew the place. It was a beautiful cemetery, if one could call cemeteries beautiful, with a duck pond, marble statues, and a view overlooking the entire valley. Jenny and Gayle had gone there once or twice to feed the ducks and walk around reading headstones and making up stories about the people who were buried there. After, they would go into the gift shop and read the sympathy cards making up their own joke punch lines. They never thought that de
Tony stared at the list in his hand trying to come up with some other explanation than the one Kimberly was suggesting. Alongside every recording artist’s name was a small ‘K’ notation with a range of numbers, beginning with three to seven, then jumped to fifteen to twenty-six. They were all dated from the time that Tony initiated the new program format, the one that his “good friend” Harry had suggested, and they were all timed during the morning Red Wine For Breakfast program.“Kim, I appreciate you’re uh, borrowing this from Harry, but I’m not giving it back to you.”“But, Tony, if he finds out, he’ll kill me! You should have seen him this morning tearing the place apart. There was no way I was going to tell him I had the file. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”“I’ll take care of it. I’ll have my driver take you home. Don’t talk to a
Jenny entered the studio and, as she suspected, Johnny was already on the phone. She sat down and put her headphones on just in time to hear the caller tell Johnny that he’d missed a wonderful opportunity by turning down Jenny’s marriage proposal.“You’re probably right.”Johnny said, “but for now I’m very happy just having Jenny Reed as my better half on Red Wine For Breakfast. We’ll take a break and be back with more music and talk on KKTM-FM.”The “on air” light went dark as the commercial break began.“I didn’t expect to see you today.” he said to Jenny “How are you?”“If I said I’m fine, I’d be lying. Numb, I guess, but I had to come in. The funeral is Sunday, and I needed the distraction... and the company. Did you mean what you just said on the phone?”“About taking a commercial break?” He teased.
“Wes murdered Gayle? I can’t believe it,” Jenny exclaimed in shock.“I didn’t say he murdered her,” Gary explained. “From what he told us, we’re calling it an accidental homicide.”“No wonder the guy’s been acting so spaced out. Wes knew all along how Gayle died. That explains why he didn’t stay in the studio when I asked him to play “Friends” for you.”“And I thought he left because he was overcome with grief. He was overcome with guilt! Gary, did Wes tell you exactly what happened, and is what Tony said true about the drugs?”“We were investigating the homicide and the drug part just fell into our laps. Jenny, we owe our success to you for cracking Gayle’s computer code and letting us get access to her files. She had made copies of Wes’s personal logs and was trying to figure out the connection between Wes and Harry, whe
“The lawyers are drawing up the transfer papers. We have to go to the office and the bank.” Denise said to Brian.“Are you sure about this?”“When Beverly called, I had my doubts, but I know how much you love KKTM and I’m going to be very busy with homework and the campaign. The station will be yours on Monday. Call it a belated wedding gift.”Brian was about to kiss his wife when the telephone rang. Unlike previous times, Brian ignored the interruption long enough to complete the kiss before answering the call.“That was Tony.” Brian said. “He’s called a staff meeting to let everyone know he’s leaving and I’m back at the helm. He said he’d like to get the paperwork finished by six or seven, so they can be filed first thing Monday morning. I think he’s rather anxious to leave.”“Radio isn’t for everyone,” Denise said, &ldquo