Page 35 of Greed
“No problem. If you could supply me with the names of the witnesses, I’d be happy to get the fact-checker to follow up with them.”
“That will take too long, and you know it,” Donnie argued. “Another paper will have the story written by then.”
“I’m sorry, I’m not sure why you’re here, Donnie.” She was at her limits. “Were you there? Were you assigned the story?”
She turned back to Fred who sighed and waved his hand at Donnie.
“Donnie, do you have the witness information?”
“No, they refused to give me their contact details.”
“You were there?” Lilo couldn’t believe it. He’d followed her. “Didn’t you trust me to investigate the story, Donnie? And you, Fred. You allowed this blatant waste of resources?”
Stuff Donnie and his meddling.
For once, Fred came through. “No, I didn’t. Lilo is correct, Donald. You shouldn’t have been anywhere near the precinct unless it involved the story you were assigned. You’re not freelance. You’re a full-time employee of the newspaper which means your hours need to be justified. And if you don’t have the witness information for Lilo to corroborate, then unfortunately, we won’t be printing it. You know this. We’re not fiction writers here. We’re journalists.”
Ha! Lilo scowled at Donnie.Pew pew.
He stood up. “Fine. You want to print fake news, that’s up to you.”
Then he left.
Lilo slumped back into her chair, all empowerment gone, hands trembling from the confrontation. What on earth was up Donnie’s butt?
Fred fixed his spectacles and turned to his computer. “Thank you, Lilo. I will have the article proofed then we can upload it. Now, as far as working with Mr. Lazarus goes, did everything work out fine? Apart from the shooting business, of course.”
“Yes. All fine.”
“Good.” He removed his glasses again and peered at Lilo. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded.
“Well, just remember, sometimes these things hit you unexpectedly later. If you need to take some time, I’d understand.”
“I think if Mr. Lazarus can come in after getting shot, then I can keep working.”
“He’s coming in?” Fred blanched. “He can’t. We’ll get sued. He needs to take the correct time to recover. The lawyers are already breathing down our necks.”
“If it’s any consolation, he insisted the bullet only grazed him.”
“Still. There’s the mental health component. You should probably take time off too.” Fred rubbed the bridge between his nose. “On his first day at work, he gets shot. Not good.”
“I’m fine, Fred. Really. I have balls of steel.”
“Always about the cahonies, isn’t it?”
She smirked. If they didn’t see her as an equal to men, she just had to speak in a language they understood, and he was right. It all came back to the cahonies, and she was fast learning she had big ones. All she had to do was remember that around Donnie.
Lilo shifted in her seat in silence, waiting to be dismissed. When Fred didn’t raise his head, she asked, “May I leave?”
A nod was all she received.
Hoping Griffin was already in his office, she detoured there on the way back to her desk. With Donnie already disputing the facts of her story, it was imperative that she confirm with Griffin a unified version of events. There was no reason to believe that he would lie for her, but if he didn’t corroborate with Lilo, then she could be fired. Her heart beat faster. Maybe she was fired anyway. Maybe he was rushing in because he was going to head straight to Fred’s office and tell him the truth about what happened this morning. Maybe she’d made a terrible error with her judgment of character. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Chapter Thirteen
Having spent the afternoon training with Mary, Griffin arrived at the Cardinal Copy newsroom, sore and drained. Working his new ability had taken a surprising amount of mental energy, and combined with his recent injury, he felt altogether lethargic. His shoulder was stiff, and he knew he should have rested it, but he couldn’t sit still at home.
