Chapter 54

Charles insisted a driver take me to work, and he waited until the car arrived and had them wait outside my apartment door.

I got ready in record time, knowing there was going to be a lot happening that day but also not wanting to keep Charles' driver waiting.

Nothing seemed unusual when I got to work. The news hadn't broken yet.

I went to my cubicle and sat down, getting ready to write as much as possible that morning before lunch with Charles.

I'd just gotten through my first few paragraphs when Sally buzzed me and asked me to come to her office. When I got there, I could tell from the look on her face that she, for one, had already got the news.

She looked drawn and tired, and there were bags under her eyes. Her smokey scent was faded, as if her scent itself was weary.

"Have a seat, Elena," she said. I had the overwhelming urge to offer to help her in some way, even if it was to get her a cup of coffee, but I knew she wouldn't appreciate me admitting that she looked at all vulnerable.

"You seem upset," I said instead. "Is this about Mr. Middleman?"

She looked surprised, and then nodded. "Charles told you?"

I nodded.

"Did he tell you it's suspicious?"

I nodded again. "He did. In fact, he checked on me this morning because he wanted to make sure I was okay."

"Good," Sally said. "And I am going to ask him to supply some security for you."

I was about to say that he'd already done so, but then thought I'd be exposing more than he wanted known about our relationship.

Sally was silent for a moment, looking off over my head. Finally, she sighed and looked at me.

"I'll be honest with you, Elena. I wasn't close to Nicolas, but this has me shaken up. It's bringing up a lot of things that I still carry a lot of anger from in my past. And a lot of fear, unfortunately. I'm having to face some things I haven't had to in a long time."

I stayed silent, but nodded. I could tell she was struggling to get words out and interrupting her wouldn't be helpful.

"Do you know much about me?" she finally asked.

"Not much," I said, not wanting to betray Charles' confidence. "I know you were an investigative reporter."

She nodded. "Without getting into it too much, I was intense, a little too confident maybe. I was threatened many times, like you've been since the story came out, but I never let it bother me."

"That's pretty brave."

"Not really. More driven by a sense of justice. In any case, the last time I really investigated it took me to the city government, just like where it appears you're headed, like it where it appears Nicolas' story took him."

She sighed. "I ended up in prison, and my husband died."

"I'm sorry." I wanted to hug her, to hold out a hand, but she remains distant on the other side of the desk.

She looks down at her hands. "That was a bad time for me."

"I'm sure."

"But the worst part, Elena, is that I let it stop me." She looked up into my eyes. "I let it intimidate me enough that I stopped chasing justice, I stopped caring about the people getting away with hurting those weaker than themselves."

She shook her head and clenched a fist. "I've sat in this office for years, nursing my fear. And then you came along."

She smiled at me, her eyes still not happy, but bright with fire. "You challenged me, shook me out of my rut."

I opened my mouth to speak, but she continued on.

"I want to thank you for that, Elena. But now I also am determined to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to you or any of my reporters."

"I am determined to pursue this story you and Nicolas appear to have uncovered. I am prepared to take it as high as it goes, and if it goes poorly for me, I am ready. In fact, after the years of being pathetic, I deserve it."

"Not pathetic," I said. "Recovering, maybe."

She nodded. "Perhaps. But this is where I want to check in with you."

She stood, as if the emotions were too much and walked across her office to look out the window. She kept her back to me as and looked out at the city.

"I shared all this with you, Elena, because I want you to understand the consequences for pursing something like this. We don't know right now. It may be nothing, but it also may be something. And my old investigative reporting nose still works enough to tell me it's probably the latter."

"This is your story, Elena. We may assign others to help fill in if it gets larger, which I suspect it will, but you will be given authority over how it's covered by whom, since you are now the expert."

She turned to look at me, her arms crossed. "There is no shame in turning it over to reporters with more experience or more knowledge about the system, if you are feeling in any way like you'd like to step away. You have my word we will pursue it with all of our resources, especially now that this has happened to Nicolas."

I knew she wasn't trying to insult my abilities, but was instead trying to make it easier for me to gracefully bow out if I wanted.

"Charles––Mr. Rafe––asked me the same thing when he checked on me this morning."

Sally nodded. "Good. And? Have you thought about your answer?"

"I don't have family," I said, thoughtfully. "I don't have anyone I need to look after and no one needs me. But I want to do this. I need to do this. If you reassigned me, I think I'd keep doing what I did earlier."

"You mean keep working on it despite what we say?" Sally asked, smiling.

"I'm afraid so. It's gotten under my skin and I can't let it go."

Sally nodded, smiling wider. "I'm sorry, Elena. You've got the same investigative bug I had. It's a nuisance, but it's incredibly gratifying when you succeed."

I smiled back at her. "Please allow me to continue," I asked. "I know I'm not the most experienced reporter, so I may come to you from time to time."

"Oh, I'll expect it," Sally says. "Probably daily editorial meetings now."

I nodded, smiling. "I like that idea."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "I think you're wrong about something important though, Elena."

"Oh?" I was confused. I'd said so little in the last few minutes that I was trying to remember what I'd said that could have been incorrect.

Sally smiled wider. "You said no one needs you. I think you're wrong about that."

My mind was blank. I couldn't think of what she was talking about. "I'm an orphan," I object. "I don't even have any parents who need me."

Sally shook her head. "You still don't know?"

"Know what?"

She gave a quick laugh. "Ah, young love."

"I'm sorry, I'm lost."

"If you don't see it in the way he looks at you then I'm not saying anything. I'll leave it for him to bring it up."

"What? Who are you talking about?"

"People don't buy other people that many meals without a reason," she says.

I gawped at her, and she finally laughed, a real, happy laugh.

"You two are so funny, thinking no one has noticed," she said.

I sputtered and then shut my mouth, totally confused. Could she be talking about Charles? She had to be. She thought he needed me, too? Sure he'd said that, but it was purely a scent thing, not like he truly needed me as a person.

Not like it was love.

She winked at me and put a finger on an office-wide intercom. "Attention, all staff. We have an emergency meeting in ten minutes in the conference room. Ten minutes."

She straightened up and looked at me. "Time to rally the troops, Elena. Coming?"