Chapter Four - The First Phone Call

"You'd better have a damn good explanation for why my half naked body is splashed across a supermarket tabloid!"

The venom in her voice almost made him wince. He knew she was going to be angry, but he hadn't expected her to unload the full force of her temper at his feet. "I'm sorry." was all that Danny could whisper into the telephone receiver.

"You're sorry? That's it? I have reporters camped outside the studio, my dry cleaners, and now my apartment building...but it's a comfort to me to know that you're sorry!" Kassia was livid at his apology and she ignored the shock of passion that shot through her at the sound of his voice. The fact that he could still do that to her made her even angrier. She knew she had to calm down. Being angry at him was not going to get her anywhere. "How could you do this to me?" she whispered.

"I didn't, Jimmy. I swear I didn't." She had no reason to believe him, but he had to let her know that her trust in him was not misplaced. He would never have compromised the beauty of those pictures and that time in their lives by selling them to a sleazy tabloid.

"Well who did?" She questioned him, accusingly. "You and I are the only two people who even know they existed. We're the only ones who have copies...except now for The Enquirer."

"I have an idea, but I haven't confirmed anything yet." He practically spit the words out.

"Don't play F.B.I. super agent with me, Danny! Tell me who it is." Kassia demanded into the phone.

"Are you sitting down?" Danny took a deep breath and began to tell her the story that started in his apartment two weeks ago. Actually, it started long before that, but culminated in his apartment. "I was seeing this young woman," he began, stressing the word young, "and it ended badly. I mean, really badly. But before it ended, she saw the pictures."

"You showed them to her?" Kassia was incredulous.

"No, I did not. I absolutely did not." Danny protested, closing his eyes. This was not going to be easy. "She found them."

"She found them?" Kassia repeated, her anger getting ready to boil over.

Danny continued, "She works for a local magazine. She was looking through some of my work one day and got curious. I guess she began snooping and found them in my studio."

"Nice girl." Kassia replied sarcastically.

"She is a big fan of yours, Jimmy. She was impressed that I knew you well enough to have taken those pictures..." Danny began, but Kassia cut him off.

"And you told her? To impress some little twit?" Kassia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "After all these years? And after all those speeches you gave me about not wanting this whole thing to get out? You're an idiot, Danny. She must have been a really good piece of ass."

Danny winced at that last comment. Kassia was pissed. Really pissed. He had never heard her this angry and he had no excuse for his actions. And the story was only going to get worse. He took a deep breath and started again, "In a million years, Jimmy, I could never have anticipated what she did next." He paused. "I don't know when exactly, but it had to have been some time after I dumped her and before she returned my key. She must have gone into my private studio and..."

"She stole the pictures." Kassia finished for him, no emotion in her voice. "And sold them to the tabloids."

He quietly continued with the awful story. "I didn't even know what had happened until someone told me today that they were published. One of my co-workers thought that it might have been one of your ex-lovers getting revenge on you and I realized what might have happened. I went right home and, as I suspected, my copies were gone."

"How could they publish them? They were stolen!" The realization of what happened was slowly hitting her. Hitting like a ton of bricks.

"The publisher didn't know that." Danny hated the pain in her voice. He couldn't believe this had happened. He never believed that Cynthia would go to such extremes to get back at him.

"Are they going to arrest her? For stealing them from you, I mean?" Kassia asked. "You are F.B.I., after all. Can't you bring a federal indictment against her?"

"I'll take care of it." Danny assured her, grinning as he imagined the revenge scenarios playing out in her head.

"Don't you dare patronize me, Danny Taylor." She warned. " I haven't even seen the magazine, yet. I just got off the phone with my agent. Literally, just got off the phone."

"I'm sorry, Jimmy, I really am." What else could he say?

Her mind was racing now, barely hearing his apology on the other end. "Have they at least blurred out my breasts and..."

"Yes." He answered quickly, knowing where her thoughts must be taking her. God, he hated this for her. "They wouldn't have been able to publish them any other way. But if someone got hold of them on the internet, you won't be afforded that protection."

"Oh God." Kassia leaned back against the sofa and closed her eyes. She needed a drink. "Did she tell the magazine that you took them?" she asked quietly, almost helplessly.

"I don't know. Cynthia won't return my phone calls." He replied, leaning back on his bed and closing his eyes. This was going to turn into the nightmare he had tried his entire career to avoid.

"Cynthia? Is that her name?"

"Yes."

"I prefer 'Bitch', if it's all the same to you." Kassia quipped. She got up off the couch and walked over to the mini-bar. Peter kept it pretty well stocked and...Peter. Oh God. How was she going to tell Peter about this?

"Sounds good to me." Danny chuckled warmly on the other end of the phone.

Kassia poured herself a drink and downed it in one gulp. Hearing what was happening on her end of the phone line, Danny asked, "Gin?"

Kassia grinned, unable to stop herself. He had always known her so well. "Scotch." she answered and he could hear the smile in her voice. It made him feel a little bit better. "What would make her do something like this?" she wanted to know next.

"I don't know, Jimmy." He sighed deeply and continued, "I never even saw this coming. I mean, I knew she was angry at me. But this borders on psycho."

"Danny, you really have to start dating a better class of woman." Kassia teased.

"You ruined me for any woman of real substance." He replied quietly, unable to stop himself.

"So, this is all my fault then?" Kassia teased, trying to keep the conversation light. She heard the tone of his voice and didn't think she could handle any old feelings right now. Kassia sat back down on the sofa, a fresh drink in her hand. "Danny, what are we going to do?"

"Maybe it will die down in a few days." He told her, wishing he sounded more hopeful than he felt. "You remember how this town works. Someone out there is really pissed today that you stole their headline. Tomorrow there will be another story and someone else doing something for attention. New York has always had a permanent case of ADHD."

"I hope you're right."