Page 37 of A Ticking Time Boss

I want her to realize that… just not with some random guy from a dating app.

I tuck my phone into my pocket and go searching for Wesley again. He looks up when I enter his office. “Yes?”

“You said you’d introduce me to the investigative team. I want to do it now.”

“Right, okay. Let’s go.” To his credit, Wesley never seems off balance with my suggestions. Not even when I’d slashed half of the circulation department.

We reach the newsroom and walk through the busy corridor. People fall quiet as we pass, the sound of animated voices quieting down to a hesitant murmur. They still don’t trust me around here. I wonder if I have a giant sign over my head that says your job is in danger whenever they see me. One person I don’t recognize actually ducks back into his cubicle, as if he’s safe as long as he can’t see me.

Wesley stops in the center of the office. “Anyone seen Booker?” he calls.

A gangly man in a tweed jacket answers. He’s sitting next to a wide-eyed Audrey, her eyes moving from me to Wesley. “She’s finishing up a phone meeting,” he says.

Wesley clears his throat, but I step in. This is the team Audrey waxed poetically about. It’s the kind of reporting that, I have to admit, she has a point about. It could put us back on the map.

“Sorry to disrupt your work,” I say, projecting my voice to the entire room. There has to be at least forty people working here. “We’ve met before, but not on a personal basis. I’d like to get to know this department better and familiarize myself with the work you all do. I’ll do a lap of the room with Wesley here, and speak to each one of you.”

Quiet murmurs break out as soon as I’ve finished. The journalists are hesitant. A quarter of them aren’t even in the office. But some tell me in open, excited terms about the stories they’re working on. One man, older than most, informs me that he’s working toward a deadline and doesn’t have time to hold my hand. Wesley pales by my side, but I grin at him.

“Someone who understands the value of time. I appreciate it. I’ll talk to you at a better time, then.”

“Looking forward to it,” he says with the enthusiasm of someone talking to their dentist.

So this team doesn’t like me very much. That’s all right. As long as they produce great content for me, they can think me the devil and I’ll be happy.

Audrey’s table is the very last I visit. I speak to her deskmate first. “Declan, is it?”

He nods. “Yes. Nice to meet you, sir.”

“No sir here,” I say. “Tell me what you’re working on.”

“I’m fact-checking some things for Emery’s Sunday article.”

“Right. Junior investigative reporter, right?”

“Yes. Together with Audrey here, we mostly support the other journalists.” He reaches up and rearranges his glasses. Despite the stern expression, there’s a bead of sweat on his forehead.

Audrey clears her throat. She’s been following the conversation, and I’ve been watching her from the corner of my eye. Her hair is pulled into a low ponytail and she’s wearing a blazer, no lipstick, a world away from the woman I’d spent time with at the Reporters’ Ball. She’d been almost giddy then, filled with so much excitement for her job and life that it excited my own.

“Well, we used to work on our own stories,” she says. “Before the freeze on our articles. Declan’s idea was fascinating.”

He shoots her a glare.

“Oh?” I ask. “Tell me about it.”

He does, reluctantly at first, but his eyes soon glow with enthusiasm. Audrey had been right. These people are self-starters, and assuming they can write, they’re one of the paper’s greatest assets.

“Don’t forget to look into the other perspective,” I tell him. “I want you covering both sides.”

“Will do,” Declan says. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.” I turn toward Audrey. She meets my eye with a careful one of her own, her face composed like she’s sitting for an old-time portrait. The obvious attempt at casualness makes me want to smile.

“Audrey Ford,” I say. “You interviewed me for the newsletter.”

“Yes, that’s right,” she says. Even her voice sounds stiff.

I crack a smile. “It was a good interview. Well, what are you working on now?”

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