was the exhibition? I wish I’d had someone to go with.”
Dennis looked up again from the file.
“It was invite only,” he said with his best smile.
There was the sound of someone clearing their throat. Dennis peered past her to look across the office.
“Miss Smith,” Rogerson called from his office door. He had just arrived and his hand was on his door handle.
Becky turned and smiled.
“Just coming Mr Rogerson.”
She turned back to Dennis as she slid herself off his desk.
“See you later Peter.”
He watched her go. She was deliberately wiggling her bottom. Halfway to Rogerson she looked over her shoulder back at Dennis and winked at him. He closed his eyes and shook his head again to clear his thoughts. The fact that she fancied him she had made obvious in the two weeks that she had worked there. She followed Rogerson into his office and turned again to close the door. She grinned at Dennis and he found himself grinning and nodding back. Then she turned to her boss and sat and Dennis couldn’t see her anymore. He concentrated on the boxfile she’d given him. It contained a lot of correspondence on the current revolt in Libya and Dennis suddenly found his heart begin racing at the prospect of his new assignment. He tried to put Becky out of his mind then a thought struck him.
‘Shit! Natalie’s coming here for lunch. What if she behaves like that in front of her. Nat will kill her. Me too.’
He picked his phone up to ring her to arrange to meet out when Rogerson’s door opened again and Becky called him.
“What?”
“Mr Rogerson wants to see you.”
Reluctantly Dennis left his desk and headed over.
‘What now?’ he was thinking.
Dennis entered his boss’s office. Rogerson was frowning at a newspaper front page.
“Yes sir.”
“Sit down Pete.”
Smith held the chair for him and leaned over it further than she needed to giving Dennis a view of her backside. He did his best not to notice.
“Thank you Miss Smith. I’d like coffee please, Peter?”
“Yes thank you.”
She poured the cups while Rogerson continued to read the front page. Then after deliberately making sure her fingers stroked Dennis’ hand as she gave him his cup she poured and placed a cup in front of the editor.
“Will there be anything else Mr Rogerson?”
“No thank you. You can leave us.”
Dennis watched her go. She closed the door silently and blew Dennis a kiss through the window. He glanced nervously back at Rogerson still reading. His boss hadn’t noticed.
Rogerson finished reading the front page of the newspaper he was holding, then turned it around and dropped it in front of Dennis.
“Hell of a party huh?”
It had been three days since the spear exhibition and the story was still dominating the front pages.
“I assume you’ve been keeping up with events.”
“Yes. I’ve read every newspaper going.”
“Good. Then you can squash some of the conspiracy theories. Dixon has been covering the story since it happened. I want you to work with him on this. Is he in the office?”
“I haven’t seen him Tom.”
“Well as soon as he gets in, nab him, tell him everything you know. Everything Pete.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I did the story?”
“No. Dixon has covered it since it happened. I’ve got Alex and Suzy in Tripoli covering the Gaddafi thing. Like I said before I want you to do an article on the impact his death will have on the country. I‘d get you a plane ticket but the whole bloody country is in uproar. Apart from foreign military there is nothing in or out. You‘ll just have to do what you can from here. Set up a satellite link on your laptop with Alex and Suzy. They‘re in a hotel in Tripoli and should be able to get wi-fi. You should find everything you need in that box file Becky has given you. If you need anything else come to me Pete. Ok? ”
“Understood.”
“Now tell me what happened with the police.”
Dennis told his boss everything that happened as far as he could remember.
“Have you told anyone else?”
“Apart from Natalie. No.”
“Good. You can tell Dixon everything you’ve just told me.”
“Ok.”
Rogerson studied his journalist for a moment.
“How are you Pete?”
“How am I?”
“Yes how are you? It’s a simple enough question. You’ve been through a lot lately. The affair with Von Werner and the sarcophagus, that maniac Russian….”
“Ukranian.”
“What?”
“Danilov was from Chernobyl. Chernobyl is in the Ukraine.”
“Well it was Russia once. Look the thing is you barely got over that and then this happens. I just