story is huge. I don’t know how big, but pulling me off the flaming hands idea isn’t a good one.”
“I’m not pulling you off it,” Jim assured her. But she didn’t relax. “This story might be connected, or it might be something else. I don’t know. But I do think you are the perfect person to look into it.”
“Jim, if you send me off on another story, I can’t–”
“This story is right here in town. Someone came across a story about a politician that might be taking bribes. Think you can uncover the truth?” He handed her notes from another reporter.
Ella quickly skimmed the pages. “Why didn’t the reporter follow up on this?” she asked.
“Those notes are from Randy Oslo. He’s flying out to research possible deaths from a pharmaceutical company. He thinks that they are covering up dangerous side effects. There could be more than fifty people who have had coronary episodes caused by this medicine.”
“Fifty people?” she gasped. “That’s a lot!”
“Yeah. Randy interviewed several of the families here in London. They said that they’d spoken to the consumer protection agency to ask for help. The lower level employees that took the initial calls were interested in helping the victim’s families. But the complaints were quashed when they reached the desk of this person,” he pointed to the name scribbled in the margin. “So, while Randy goes to Canada to look into that side of things, I want you to check into this person.”
She nodded, already considering areas she could investigate. “I’ll check into his financials, his mortgage, debt problems, find out if he has a gambling problem. All of the usual background checks.”
Jim nodded. “Good. But while you’re looking into that, keep your ears open. This consumer protection agency has ties with other government employees. You might hear something from them about imports, bogus shipments, or something that doesn’t add up.”
“It’s a long shot,” she told Jim, referring to the connection to her original investigation. “But I’ll see if there’s anything that pops up.”
“Good. Go to it, Ella,” he stood up, indicating the end of the meeting.
Ella gathered up the papers, eager to get started. Her mind was full of questions and ideas. There was an area of the newsroom where roaming reporters like her could find an open desk. She opened her laptop and started her background research. If her thoughts lingered around Malcolm, wondering what he was doing now, where he was, if he was still in the city, then she pushed her mind right back to the bribery issue. Once she had some background information, she started making calls, lining up interviews with the government employees. They all seemed eager to talk to her, so by noon, she had a full afternoon of meetings.
In the late afternoon, Ella interviewed a woman named Cindy who told Ella about several consumer issues that had been dead-ended on this person’s desk. Ella felt her phone vibrate, indicating that she had a text message, but she ignored it while Cindy spoke.
For a half hour, Ella took notes, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the text message, wanting to see if it was from Malcolm. Cindy was quite the talker though! Thankfully, Ella got a lot of great information. “Thank you so much for your time,” she said. “I know that you need to get back to work. But thanks for taking your lunch break to give me this information.”
“Is the guy going to get fired?” Cindy asked, standing up and picking up her purse.
Ella’s attention was raised with that question. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have a lot of others to talk to.” Ella stuck out her hand. “Cindy, thank you!” she said again.
Ella watched Cindy walk away and scribbled down a few more questions. The main one, “Was the boss just unliked? Were these employees trying to get him fired?”
She picked up her phone and glanced at the message, smiling as she read it. “Dinner tonight?” Malcolm asked. Nothing else, just that.
“Just dinner?” she texted back.
“Feel free to use me however you desire,” he replied at once.
Ella laughed, feeling a bubble of happiness envelope her. “Not love,” she reminded herself as she texted back, “What time?”
He replied back, “As soon as you are finished. Text me your schedule.”
She told him that she could meet him at six o’clock that evening and smiled as she dumped her phone back into her messenger bag. “Not love,” she repeated like a mantra as she stood up.
Over the next