After All (8 page)

“
A guy?”

“
Ye-es.”Michelle squirmed
under his steady gaze.

“
You dressed up to meet some
guy. That's called a date.”Nathan walked off.

“
Was not!”Michelle yelled
after him, and then was abashed when several people turned to stare
at her. Nathan kept walking.

***

“
What changed your
mind?”Michelle sat next to Greg Matthews at a McDonald's restaurant
near his house.

“
This is owned by a Theo
Lazarus, a Black man.” Greg swung his arm wide.” Gave jobs to a lot
of poor kids 'round here, you know? Got college students from
Southern tutoring the ones he finds out are having problems with
their lessons. He's made it and doing something good. But not all
of them are like that.” He sighed deeply.

“
I know.”Michelle stared out
of the large glass window at the poor neighborhood.

“
Couple of days ago, a
little three year old baby pushed right on through a door. He went
out on the balcony of his mama's third floor apartment and ended up
at the bottom of the stairs. He's in the charity hospital right now
with a broken arm and two broken ribs.”

“
Terrible, but I don't
understand what that's got to do with my story.”

“
His mother been beggin'
them to fix it for the last six months. They did a cheap patch job.
I can't sleep nights knowin' maybe I could do something to make
things better. Fixin' up the projects ain't just a cosmetic thing,
see what I'm sayin'? People are gettin' hurt.” Greg stared at the
untouched cup of cola in front of him.

“
You think your friend would
talk to me?”

“
No way, she needs her job
bad.”

“
Then I'm back where I was
before you called. It doesn't help to hear all this but not be able
to use the information. Charlotte Kinchen will just deny any of
this is true.”

“
She won't talk to you, but
she'll get copies of work orders stamped completed and the invoices
showing the company that got paid for the work. Will that help?”
Peering around, Greg leaned across the table speaking in a barely
audible voice.

“
You bet! Oh,
sorry.”Michelle lowered her voice.” That would be a great way to
start.”

“
Another thing, there's
folks living in some of these projects won't mind talking to you.
In fact, a couple have formed tenants groups. They've been
complaining, but Miss Kinchen just ignores them mostly. I'll get
the names from my friend.”

“
Thanks a lot, Greg. And
thank your friend for me.”

“
We wanna see some change,
Miss Toussaint. I won't lie; I'd enjoy seeing some of the so-called
big shots get what's coming to them. But nobody should have to live
the way those poor folks live.”

“
I'll do my best,
Greg.”

Michelle wondered later if she could
live up to his expectations. The stakes seemed to be higher than
just informing the public about a violation of their trust by
officials being paid to manage a government program. Like Greg
Matthews, she was reminded of the effects on those who had to
endure the conditions in the government subsidized houses and
apartments. Had she been equally honest with him, she would have
admitted that the prospect of exposing Ike Batiste was what really
hooked her. Now, she felt a little ashamed. On her way back to the
office, Michelle began to outline a different approach. She decided
to profile the lives of tenants trapped in what seemed like a
merry-go-round of misery. Stories of their courage and struggles
could stand in stark contrast to the obstacles they faced,
including those thrown up by a system intended to aid them. The
closer she got to the station, the more she convinced of changing
the direction of the story.

“
Hey, you seem fired
up.”Earl peered over her shoulder.

“
Umm. I just happened to see
Mansur, our esteemed News Director, a few minutes ago. I pitched
the idea of beginning my series of investigative reports on
wrongdoing at the Housing Authority with at least two reports on
the conditions of public housing. Also, I'm going to profile some
of the residents from a human interest point of view. Mansur gave
me the green light.”Michelle's fingers flew over the
keyboard.”Brilliant, if I do say so myself.”

“
Scoring one with the big
dog, smart move.” Earl let out a long whistled of appreciation. “Of
course, it going to piss Jason off big time.”

“
How will I sleep nights,”
Michelle snorted. Ending a sentence, she saved the text.”How've you
been?”

Earl's face screwed up into a frown.
“Awful. Cheryl is on this macrobiotic kick. Meals at home have
become torture. She quit speaking to me for an entire day when she
found an empty French fry bag in my car.”

“
Hang in there, next week
it'll be something new.”

“
That's what scares me.
Since she turned thirty-five, she's been obsessed with finding the
secret to staying young and healthy.”Earl sank down in a nearby
chair.

“
She looks fabulous, always
has.”

“
I tell her that, but the
fact that I'm five years younger bothers her now.”Earl took a deep
breath.

“
Then keep telling her. And
show her, too. Nothing elaborate, but compliment her on her
everyday things she does for you. Even those meals.”

“
I can't promise that,” Earl
laughed.

“
Speaking of unhappy wives,
have you talked to Mrs. Bridges yet?”

Earl moaned.” Oh boy, have I. She spent
the better part of an hour listing all his affairs, and everything
he's done to mistreat her for the past fifteen years. It took all
of my self-control not to cut her off and tell her I wasn't her
marriage counselor. I'm going to talk to her again, but it doesn't
look like she'll give me anything solid.”

“
More advice, domestic
quicksand ahead. Don't get sucked in. A bitter spouse can be a
curse as well as a blessing. If she spends the next one or two
interviews ventilating about him without giving you something that
could lead to a story, you're wasting your time,” Michelle
said.

“
And it was so promising.”
Earl's face lit up with renewed eagerness. “But I have a plan.
Maybe she'll give me the names of other people who might be willing
to talk. Maybe somebody he's taken advantage of and wants revenge.”
He rose.

“
Keep hope alive.”Michelle
waved goodbye to him. She hated to tell him how skeptical she was
at his chances.

“
Is Earl still dogging that
James Bridges thing?” Rexanne strolled in and put her large leather
bag on Gracie's desk. Sitting down wearily, she propped her feet on
another chair.

“
Yeah, he's got my sympathy.
I think she's a woman scorned who wants to cause trouble for her
husband, but doesn't have one piece of usable information.”Leaning
back, Michelle took a break from writing.

“
If anybody knows something,
it's her. It's a matter of how much she really wants to stick it to
her husband. She may want to keep him awake nights worrying. She
probably made sure he knows she's talking to Earl. How's your big
one coming along?”

“
I'm on the right
track.”Michelle understood that she was referring to the one
potentially big story she was working on.

“
Count your blessings. I've
been chasing my tail all morning with this follow-up on Senator
Jeansonne. He is one slippery rascal.” Rexanne raked fingers
through her dark auburn hair.

Kate hurried over looking anxious.”Hi,
Rexanne. Say Michelle, Jason's been asking me if you've submitted
any footage for editing.”

Michelle barely opened her mouth before
Rexanne interrupted.”Jason, how are you?”

“
Fine,” Jason said warmly,
smiling at Rexanne briefly. With her standing at the station, he
was careful to always be cordial and respectful. Then he turned to
Michelle.”We need to talk. My office.”He walked away without
waiting to see if she followed.

“
Sure thing, Jason.”Michelle
spoke in a false light tone even as she made an ugly face at his
back.

Looking back at Rexanne, she got a
thumbs-up sign of encouragement from her. Kate tried a brave smile.
Nathan was already seated in one of the fine leather chairs in
Jason's office. Michelle raised a questioning eyebrow at him.
Before he could speak, Jason began.

“
It's been three weeks since
you started on the Housing Authority story yet you haven't had one
report on air. Problem?”Jason settled in his large executive chair
and crossed his arms.

Nathan spoke before she could
respond.”Some pretty big names are being tossed around. Nobody is
going to rush forward to spill the beans. As I've explained to you
before, good investigative reporting takes time.”His voice
indicated his patience was being tested to the limit.

“
What about the alleged
solid contacts she had from a previous story?”Jason spoke to
Nathan, but looked at Michelle.

“
She can't go on the air
without information that's been thoroughly checked out. Even then,
Taylor and his legal minions will have to put it under their
microscopes first,” Nathan said.

“
Since you're talking about
me, and I'm so conveniently in the room, why don't I just speak for
myself thank you very much.” Michelle's voice rose with each
sentence. She looked pointedly at Jason.” It so happens I have a
source inside the Authority who is going to make copies of some
very interesting documents over the next few weeks. Since this
person needs his, or her, job this has to be done slowly and
carefully. Furthermore, I was working on a series of preliminary
stories about conditions in public housing; that is until you
interrupted me just now.”

“
Wait a minute.” Jason held
up a hand. “That's nothing but a rehash of the piece you did last
year. I don't think so. Nathan, give her something else to work on.
Maybe Jennifer can get an interview since she knows the director.”
Jason picked up his phone and punched her extension.

“
When I spoke to Mr. Mansur
this afternoon, he thought it was a great idea.” Actually, Gerald
Mansur had said it had merit and he was willing to review
it.

“
What?” Jason held the phone
ignoring the voice at the other end.

“
He said he was looking
forward my report.”

“
How dare you go directly to
Mr. Mansur!” Jason's face was flushed as he clutched the
phone.

Jason never failed to remind the
reporters that as Lockport’s assistant, he funneled ideas for news
stories and features to him for consideration. It was not practice
to skip the chain and go to the News Director. Skipping Lockport
meant skipping Jason. And Jason liked control.

“
He passed me in the hall
and asked how it was going. He is the news director; he can ask
those things, Jason.” Michelle grinned at him.

“
Then that's that. I agree
with him, by the way. I've got a lot of work, Jason. See ya.”
Nathan gave Michelle a pat on the shoulder as he sauntered
out.

“
Me, too,” Michelle said to
no one in particular. “I have to set up some interviews, schedule
one of the guys to meet me at the Mason Housing Project to shoot
some video; I tell you, it never stops.”She followed Nathan out
without looking back.

***

Michelle left work but had a mission to
perform. She rehearsed her speech for the entire drive to see her
older brother. She parked in front of the modern single story suite
of offices. Brian’s grey Mercedes Benz was in his reserved space.
Typical of him, he was working later than his employees. He
exchanged the usual greeting and inquiries into her health in a
perfunctory manner.

“
What do you want from me,
Michelle?” Brian, impatient to continue work, shuffled papers on
his desk

“
Daddy listens to you. Tell
him to give Dominic a job. Mama is beside herself. You know how she
gets, especially when it comes to Dominic.” Michelle began to chew
a fingernail, and then caught herself when she realized what she
was doing.

“
Sure, Dominic could be
standing over a dead body with a dagger dripping blood, and Mama
would blame the dead man for soiling his precious hands.” Brian's
voice held a tinge of bitterness.

“
Don't
exaggerate.”

“
And you're just as bad.
When will you both learn that bailing him out doesn't help? Dad's
right, it's way past time for Dominic to stand on his
own.”

“
I don't make excuses for
everything he does, but Daddy won't give him break. He's treats his
employees better than Dominic. He's the youngest and Mama went
overboard spoiling him, it's true. But going to the other extreme
is just as wrong. Brian, come on.”

“
Not this time little
sister.” Brian went back to scanning the papers on his desk.”I've
let you talk me into protecting Dominic for years, but no more.
I've been burned too many times, especially when I get between him
and Dad.”

“
But Dominic really wants to
prove he can stick to something. You know how he feels about you.
Your opinion means a lot.” Michelle watched for some sign that he
would relent.