Secrets Collide (Bluegrass Brothers)

a football around behind the tent.
    A mousy woman stopped Cy and when he looked up, he signaled Gemma to come join them. She made her excuses and headed his way.
    “Sweetheart, this is Marianne. She owns the Keeneston Journal , our local weekly paper.”
    “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Miss Perry. Cy was just telling me you worked for Inside Peek . I love that magazine,” Marianne pushed up her glasses and looked slightly embarrassed.
    “Thank you. I’m surprised it’s even sold out here.”
    “There’s not a whole lot of news to report in a town this size, but we do have gossip. The magazine and articles really guide me on how to run the Keeneston Journal . It’s so exciting to meet you. I must talk with you sometime about what you do there.”
    Gemma beamed at the compliment. She’d been yelled at, cursed at, spit at, and threatened for stories she’d run before. She’d never been praised. She was just about to ask Marianne if she wanted the scoop of her life—the memory card with Ginger and Tatum was back in her room—when she felt her cell phone vibrate. She never had a chance to turn it in. In fact, she had all the stories deemed too “feel good” about Hollywood celebrities on her computer that her boss refused to run.
    “I’d love to talk more, but I have a call I need to take,” she said, giving Cy a meaningful look. She answered her phone and hurried out of the tent as Cy gave his excuses to Marianne. He was beside her before she even had a chance to say hello.
    “Joe?” Gemma asked as she stopped under the wide branches of a maple tree.
    “Hey, Gem. I feel real stupid, you know. As soon as Nick said her name it hit me. Sarah Elizabeth Flannery.”
    “The socialite?”
    “The very one. Not only that, but the boss man had me put her on tonight’s VIP list. Should I add your name, too?” he asked with a smile to his voice.
    “Looks like I’ll be seeing you soon. Thanks a lot, Joe, I owe you.”
    “Can you get me an audition with Doug Mac for his next action movie?” Joe teased.
    “Ha, I’ll see what I can do. See you tonight.” Gemma hung up the phone and turned to see half the town behind her.
    “Just tell us all. John probably has your phone tapped, dear,” Miss Lily said matter-of-factly.
    Gemma looked past the Rose sisters to where Dani and Mo stood with the rest of the Davies family. “I have a little favor to ask,” Gemma said sweetly. “We need to get to L.A. right now.”
    “I will have the plane ready in thirty minutes.” Mo sent a quick message on his phone and then gave her a little nod. “Now tell us why.”
    “All the clues point to this one woman, Sarah Elizabeth Flannery. I don’t know what a twenty-one-year-old socialite has to do with this mess.”
    “Isn’t she the one with that sex tape out right now? She’s supposedly horribly upset that someone got their hands on it. But as you pointed out in your exclusives section last month, there’s a rumor she’s the one who leaked it,” a tiny woman with her hair permed within an inch of its life said from the crowd.  “Oh, and it’s nice to meet you. I’m Edna.”
    “Hi, Edna. How did you know that was me? I write under a pen name with a fake picture.” Edna just smiled innocently and Gemma was starting to think it was Inside Peek that could learn a thing or two from Keeneston. “Yes, that’s right. She ended up selling the rights and has made a fortune off it. Now she’s trying to be taken seriously and wants to go into acting.”
    “But who is she?” Miss Lily asked.
    “All I know is her mother was some Las Vegas showgirl who got pregnant and nine months later delivered a baby girl with a huge trust fund. She used the money to get a spot on some soap opera. Mama wasted no time getting Sarah in the spotlight, either. She was modeling by the time she was thirteen, dating the hottest teenage actors soon after, and even tried her hand at becoming a rock star. All failed and then suddenly this sex tape comes out with one of Hollywood’s most talked about up-and-coming actors. And the sex tape is superior quality. Very fishy,” Gemma told the group.
    “What could she have to do with this criminal y’all are after?” Marcy asked from where she stood next to Jake and some of the local farmers.
    “I don’t know. Do you have any ideas?” Gemma asked Cy.
    “No, but I do have an idea how to find out.” Cy grinned as if he were the cat that swallowed the canary.
     
    Cy almost