Page 30 of Manner of Death

“It’s a pretty new effort,” his sister went on. “And we don’t have many experts lined up to consult with on the actual police work aspect of things yet.”

“So you want me as a consultant?” That sounded…possibly tolerable.

“Exactly!” Jessica sounded pleased. “We’re working on the pilot episode right now, and as soon as my writer heard about that crazy chainsaw thing in your city, I knew we—”

“Wait. What?”

“The chainsaw murder! Hello? It’s all over the crime vlogs right now.”

How had it gotten all over the crime vlogs? What the hell?

“—just so exciting,” his sister was saying. “I mean, that’s the sort of thing you only hear about in movies, but now it’s happening in real life! My writer is really into verisimilitude, so as soon as I told him I could get the details of what really happened from you, he jumped on it.”

Sawyer ran his hand down his face. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you’re asking about a case we’re actively investigating.” He was irritated and didn’t bother to hide it. “A case that’s only a few days old. I have no idea who started talking about it, but I hope whoever it was stops, because there’s nothing I can tell you. If you want to write about a chainsaw murder so bad, make some shit up or research another one.”

“No!” Jessica protested. “Part of the selling point of this show is the idea that we’re drawing directly from real life, from things that are happening almost right now! It’s what will make it stand out in a sea of similar content. We can’t just start ‘making shit up’ or no one will watch it!”

“Then no one watches it.”

“Sawyer.” Oh, that was her pleading voice. “Come on. You know how badly I need a break. And this could mean amazing things for Chloe’s career, too.”

“Chloe is working on two different shows right now. Her career is fine.”

Jessica scoffed. “Are you kidding me? It’s Netflix. There’s no certainty that another season is going to be picked up. And you didn’t hear it from me, but that bitch of a lead in Uncanny slept with the director and got him to promise her that he’d kill Chloe’s character off in three more episodes. By this time in a month, she could be completely out of work.”

“Then she can try out for something else like everybody has to.”

“I’ve got the next big thing for her!” Jessica insisted. “This is a show that could make her into a household name! We’ve got interest from HBO!”

“You don’t even have a pilot yet.”

“Sawyer!”

He gritted his teeth. He hated upsetting his sister, but there were a dozen good reasons he kept his distance from anything related to show business at this point. She should have known better than to ask him in the first place. “You know I only want the best for you and Chloe, but I’m not going to break confidentiality about a case just to give you a few more titillating facts to throw into your maybe-show. I want you to keep my name off this project, and don’t ask me for help on this again.”

Jessica started to cry. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me!” she gasped out. “How can you be so cruel to us? To family!”

“Good luck with the project,” he said, then ended the call.

Well. That was not how he’d hoped his morning would go. Still, there was nothing else he could do. His sister would forgive him…or she wouldn’t, but either way, Sawyer wasn’t going to compromise a case for her. He hoped she left well enough alone and found another murder to write about. Jesus, it sounded so macabre when he put it that way.

It was macabre either way. And he wasn’t going to be a part of it. His sister could bitch as hard as she wanted.

Let’s hope she stops here. If I have to talk to Mom too… Ugh.

He needed coffee to face the day now. Lots of it.

Even work had to be better than this.

Chapter 9

Going into last night’s date, Bashir hadn’t really thought he and Sawyer would end up in bed. Not that he was a guy who moved slowly or anything—he was more than happy to jump between the sheets with someone if the chemistry was there—but in the back of his mind, he hadn’t expected to get naked with Sawyer quite yet.

Today, though, he was seriously pissed off that they hadn’t fucked.