Red Hot Rose Boxed Set (28 page)

Several other workers gathered around the cubicle as the broadcast started.
 
Jacqueline started with the lead-up to her top story, talked about few old pieces of news and then announced her top story:

“News just uncovered today … congressional candidate Alex Blackstone has violated campaign contribution laws.
 
Confidential sources have provided us an exclusive look into his financial data, and we have confirmed what appear to be improprieties on the part of Mr. Blackstone …”

I didn’t hear the rest of it.
 
I was too busy getting Alex on speed dial.

“Did you see it?” I asked without saying hello.

“Yeah.”
 
He was pissed.
 
“It’s total bullshit, you know that, right?”

“Yes, of course I do.
 
I’ve been through your records twenty times.
 
There’s nothing wrong in there.
 
You need to make a statement.
 
I’ll prepare it for you now.”
 
I put the phone on my shoulder.
 
“Melissa!
 
We need to do a press conference.
 
Can you get on that?”

“You got it, boss!” she shouted, running back to her desk.

“Everyone else, talk to Melissa!
 
Do what you can to help her.
 
Jason!”

“Yeah?!”

“In my office!”
 
I put the phone back to my ear.
 
“I have to go.
 
I’ll email you the statement in ten.”

“Thanks, babe.
 
I’m glad you’ve got my back.”

I smiled.
 
“Me too.
 
That bitch is
so
going down.”

“That’s what I like to hear.
 
See you soon.”

I rushed into my office and gave Jason my chair.
 
“Find me any financial inconsistency and find it now.
 
Look for anything entered by Samuel.
 
Especially anything in the last month before he left.”

“You got it.”
 
Jason wasn’t even looking at me anymore. His fingers were flying over the keys so fast I couldn’t see them.

I left him to his thing and went out onto the floor.
 
“Everyone, this is our top priority right now!
 
Look for anything you can find that was done in the month leading up to when Samuel left.
 
Anything at all that doesn’t look right, you bring it to me.”

Everyone’s heads were down in to their computers or log books, the whole team desperately trying to find the needle in the haystack, assuming it even existed.

“Found something!” yelled Jason, his voice muffled by the glass partition.

He jumped up and ran over to the printer, hopping up and down on tiptoes as he waited for the several page print job to finish.

“Here!” he said, thrusting the papers in my face.
 
“Page four.
 
Entry ten.
 
It’s a shell company.”

“What?” I said, scanning the page to find what he was talking about.

“Remember when you had me re-do the backups and go over the computer in there?
 
When you first came in?”

“Yes…” The feeling of dread was building in my heart and making it spasm painfully.

“I found this then but didn’t think much of it.
 
I mean, we get donations all the time.
 
But then there was this news article about these shell corporations that organizations had set up to hide the sources of contributions.
 
They listed several they’d uncovered.
 
This is one of them.” He poked the page.

“Fuck.”

“Yes.
 
Fuck is right.
 
But here’s the good news.”
 
He grabbed the papers from me and shuffled through them, dropping most of them but shoving one in my face.
 
“Here.
 
That’s the entry journal.
 
Look who took the contribution in and signed off on it.”

“Samuel,” I said, my face heating up with anger.

“Yeah.
 
And how much do you want to bet he knew the entire time what they were?”

“I wouldn’t bet one red cent because I know he knew.”
 
I ran over to the one of the interns who was really good with internet research.
 
“Get me everything you can find on this company.
 
Who opened it, who’s on the board or its officers, everything.
 
This is your top priority right now.”

I left him and grabbed my journalism student intern who had a special way with words.
 
“You come with me.
 
We need a statement for Alex.”

“I’ve already got something for you to look at.”
 
She jammed her pen behind her ear and handed me her legal pad.

I scanned the words, pulling the pen out of her hair and making a few changes.
 
“Do this, strike this, move this over here.
 
And give me more outrage.
 
And as soon as you get Brian’s results on that company, put them in.
 
Then email it to me.”

“Done,” she said, going over to the other intern’s desk and sitting down next to him.

My phone rang.
 
“Hey, Alex.
 
What’s up?”

“I’m just checking in.
 
I’m almost to the office.”

“Good news and bad news.
 
Let’s save it for when you’re here.
 
I have a couple things I need to check on first.”

“Okay.
 
See you in five.”

I hung up and walked over to Melissa’s cubicle, whispering in her ear.
 
She nodded quietly and got up, going into my office and shutting the door.
 
She got on the phone and began talking animatedly.

I took a deep breath and smoothed my hair down.
 
Everything is under control.
 
Just hold it together and don’t kill anyone
.

It hadn’t been difficult to arrange a press conference.
 
The journalists were jockeying for seats in the cramped meeting room that the team had secured at a local hotel for the event.
 
I made sure to reserve a special spot right in the front for Jacqueline and Samuel, who not surprisingly arrived together.

Alex stood behind the podium with his speech in front of him.
 
I was off to the side with the rest of our team - the ones who weren’t still back at our office researching this mess.

“Ladies and gentlemen … thank you for coming on such short notice,” Alex began.
 
“I’m going to make this short and sweet because I know your time is valuable and so is mine.
 
I still have votes left to win.”

A few scattered laughs came from the crowd.

“Today Jacqueline Silverman broadcast what she called a scoop on live television.”
 
He nodded to her with a slight smile.
 
Her expression said she was very proud of herself.

He continued in a friendly but slightly sarcastic tone.
 
“Unfortunately, it appears as if she skipped that incredibly important step that professional journalists like to call ‘fact-checking’.”

A few more uncomfortable laughs broke out, and several people shifted loudly in their seats.
 
Whispers carried across the room, and Jacqueline’s face burned a deep red.

“There have been allegations leveled against me relating to illegal campaign contributions.
 
After a careful review of our records, we found an irregularity there, just as she suggested.”

Jacqueline looked smug again.

“This irregularity, it appears, was introduced into our system by my former campaign manager, Samuel Potswell.
 
Samuel is here too, in fact.”
 
Alex gestured to Samuel, who glared at anyone who dared look at him.

“Now, Samuel was given a list of suspect contributors by my employee Melissa Waters.”
 
He looked over at me and I nodded at him.
 
Alex continued.
 
“Melissa will be joining us shortly.
 
She’s doing some last-minute investigating for us.”
 
He cleared his throat.
 
“This list was given to Mr. Potswell
three months
before he made that entry into our system.”
 
Alex paused to look around the room.
 
“I repeat, Mr. Potswell was specifically told not to accept contributions from this organization, and yet he did so anyway, against my specific directions.”

Melissa rushed into the room and handed me a piece of paper.
 
I opened it, scanned the contents, and then walked over to the podium to hand it to Alex.
 
When I tried to leave, he grabbed my hand and held me there next to him.
 
I turned to look at the crowd, my face going pink with embarrassment.

“Thank you.
 
You all know my manager, Rose DuPont?
 
She took over for Mr. Potswell and has done a fantastic job of getting us back on track.
 
We’ve already taken over the lead in all the relevant polls, and I’m proud to say I also somehow convinced her to marry me, so it’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned.”

The laughter was more enthusiastic now.
 
Jacqueline looked like she was going to have a stroke she was so mad.

Alex opened the paper.
 
“Thanks to my crack team of investigators, we’ve found another irregularity that Ms. Silverman neglected to point out in her broadcast.
 
This particular company that Mr. Potswell accepted a donation from, is functioning under the direction of several individuals.”
 
Alex paused for effect, sweeping his gaze around the room.
 
All of the reporters were on the edges of their seats, several of them with fingers on their bluetooth ear pieces.

“It took a little legwork to get around the creative structuring of this particular entity, but it appears as if this one is controlled by not only Mr. Potswell’s father - Pollack Potswell - but also Senator Arnold Flint and …”
 
He turned his attention and hundred-watt smile on Jacqueline.
 
“…Ms. Silverman herself.”

The journalists not sitting near Jacqueline jumped to their feet yelling out questions.
 
Those near her leaned towards her asking her questions and shoving microphones in her face.

Jacqueline jumped up.
 
“You’re going to be sorry for that, Alex!”
 
She stormed out of the room, Samuel on her heels.
 
He glanced back once, but his angry glare only made us laugh.

“Obviously there are some details to work out, but I’m sure my attorneys will do what needs to be done to make this right.
 
The important take home message for us, folks, is that if anything happened that shouldn’t have with my campaign, it was caused by a sadly misdirected group of people who thought they could manipulate voters and the system for their own gain.
 
And today they failed.
 
Thanks for your support and your vote.
 
I’ll leave you to my team who will be more than happy to answer your questions for five minutes.”
 
He stepped away from the podium and went out the back door, dragging me along with him.

We ran down the hall and up to the suite we’d rented for the day.
 
The door shut
 
and locked behind us, and we collapsed in laughter on the couch.

“Oh my
god
, that was amazing,” said Alex out of breath.

“You
so
took her down,” I said, looking at him with pride.

“I didn’t do anything.
 
That was all you, babe.
 
What would I do without you?”
 
He pulled me into his lap, looking down at the ring on my hand.

“I don’t know,” I said, teasing him.
 
“Probably go date another dumb witch who forgets to do her fact-checking.”

He growled and flipped me onto my back, diving on top of me.
 
“You’d better watch that smart mouth of yours, girl.”

I smiled up at him.
 
“Oh yeah?
 
Why?
 
What’re you gonna do about it if I don’t?”

He sat up partway and took off his jacket, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.
 
“What will I do?
 
Well, first I’m going to marry you. And then maybe I’ll have to
 
punish you, too.”

I grabbed his tie and pulled him down slowly.
 
“Go for it,” I said, reaching up to grab him by the back of the head, drowning us both in a passionate kiss.