Page 36 of The Business Trip

Bill turned to me now.

“Tell them about diversity in our newsroom, Trent.”

“Diversity, yes, so important,” I began and pulled yet another Trent rabbit out of the hat, talking of Jorge and other people of color in the newsroom. “And just look at us on air,” I went on. “We’re like the United Nations!”

I laughed loudly, but others only gave a slightly nervous giggle. Maybe that wasn’t PC? What the hell could you say these days if you couldn’t compare yourself to the United Nations?

“Trent will now take you on a tour of the newsroom,” Bill said. “It’s fun to see what’s behind the magic, right? I’ll be back in my office, and I’ll catch up with you at the end.”

They started following me down the hall. Having given hundreds of tours over the years, I knew what people liked tosee. I would save our glistening studio for last. First we would swing by and meet some of the anchors they admired on TV every day. Viewers always got excited by that.

We walked up to the desk of Leigh, our female five, six, and eleven p.m. anchor, and I began introductions. She was a pro and started charming them with a story about how her sister had found the best mattress she ever had at a Mega Mattress. I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but it seemed to be working.

A noise came from my phone in my pocket. It wasn’t a ringtone; it was more like an alert you get from one of those apps you don’t use often. Slyly pulling it out, I snuck a peek. It was my doorbell-cam app from home. Living in a condo in a nice neighborhood, I rarely had seen this thing go off. No one bothered me, and I wasn’t one of those people who ordered from Amazon all of the time.

The app was giving me an urgent warning that someone was at my place. Stepping a few paces from Leigh’s desk, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Two police officers were banging on my door.

Leigh glanced over at me. I pointed to my phone so that she would see I needed her to keep up the pace while I took care of an important matter. Leigh was used to subtle cues like that as an anchor, and she just revved up another story and kept the group engaged while I went to my office.

The officers were banging hard. And calling my name.

“Police, open up!”

What the hell was going on? My mind was so confused by the sight that I didn’t know how to react. I had to play it cool, but I also had to get home.Now.Before they literally broke down my door.

Mega Mattress folks were being introduced to others by Leigh. I felt a surge of gratitude to her. I would repay her witha beer. She and I were good friends. Yes, we had one drunken slipup and made out after a holiday party many years prior, but that was old news. She trusted me and I trusted her. We helped each other out.

Leigh had her phone as she did the tour, so I hurriedly texted her.

Emergency. Do me this solid and finish the tour. Tell them a news matter arose for me and apologize. We need this client.

Her eyes shifted to my office, and she gave an ever-so-slight nod. I nodded back, grabbed my coat from the hook, and bolted for the parking lot.

My condo was just five minutes away. I had chosen it for that very reason. Keeping my eyes on the doorbell-cam app as I went, I saw the officers bang a few times more and then begin peeking in windows. There had to be some massive misunderstanding. I would clear this up and maybe even make it back before Bill noticed I was gone.

The cops were just starting to walk back to their squad car as I came up and threw the Range Rover into park. Jumping out, I yelled, “Hey, what’s going on? I live here.”

“Are you Trent McCarthy?” one officer asked. He was bald as a cue ball but had a thick goatee, so his face looked strangely out of proportion.

“Yes, and why are you here?” I asked. “What the hell is going on?”

“Sir, I need you to step over here,” the second officer said. He was a smaller Asian guy with a very loud voice. “Take your hands out of your pockets and raise them up.”

“What the…”

“Sir, keep your hands up.”

I glanced around anxiously to see if any of the neighbors were watching. How would this go over at the next HOA meeting?

Officer Goatee came over and started patting me down. Finding nothing but my keys and wallet, he was satisfied and nodded to Officer Deep Throat, who then stepped forward.

“Sir, we received a 9-1-1 call from a concerned citizen that a woman might be in danger here.”

“Whaattt?Who called 9-1-1? Who said they were in danger??” My mind didn’t know where to turn. Was this Katrina’s doing? “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. I was at work when I got a notification from my doorbell cam.”

“Sir, we are responding to a 9-1-1 call. Is anyone in the residence at this time?”

---