Scandalous Desires

Chapter 16

The room was buzzing with the hushed voices of reporters and photographers who sat around waiting for the press conference to start.There were chairs facing a dark blue carpeted stage with a wooden podium.

As bright and white as the room was, with sunshine beaming through the windows, the tone was heavy and tense. Community members and various organizations stood outside in protest demanding justice for the deaths and illnesses caused by the assumed carelessness of local government.

Policemen and policewomen also positioned themselves at the building entrance and in key places around the crowd to ensure no one unauthorized entered the building, and to maintain order in the streets.

Micah entered the room with Rick, having 15 minutes to spare before Russell was expected to appear. Micah scanned the room noting the various media outlets present, including their rival newspaper, the City Reporter. Micah recognized their top journalist, Sheila Ryan, immediately. She was a tall, slender, dark haired woman. She always dressed and looked sharp and was no nonsense when it came to getting at the truth.

Micah had been following her career throughout her time as an undergrad. The women was always on point and always stared at people with a piercing gaze, as if she could see through people's b*llsh*t. It was that same gaze that she was scrutinizing Rick and Micah with now as they entered the conference room.

Just as Micah was about to point her out to Rick, a young red headed guy with freckles holding a camera approached them, and grabbed her hand to shake it before she even offered.

"Charles, Charles West," he said, a bit excitedly. Micah looked at him questioningly as he continued to shake her hand.

"Hi…" she said with a frown, "Shake any harder and my arm will fall off…." she said as she snatched her hand back as abruptly as he had grabbed it. Who is this guy? She thought. She gave Rick a questioning glance.

"Sorry, my bad," he said with an apologetic chuckle.

"Hey Charlie," said Rick, "I hope you got the protesters outside, " he said, nodding at the camera.

"Yeah, Black Lives Matters, South City chapter is out there, and some other environmental groups. I snapped a few pictures of them and the rest of the crowd."

"Great," said Rick, glancing from Charles to Micah, who looked like she was clueless. "Charlie's our newest resident photographer. Whenever we cover stories in South City, he's our guy for photos," he said as he patted Charles on the shoulder with a grin.

"Cool," she said with a nod.

"Micah's our newest reporter and is working with me on this Russell case today," explained Rick to Charles.

"Welcome to the team!" he said with a smile. Micah thought he was a little too giddy considering the purpose of the conference and the angry protestors outside, but she decided to chalk it all up to him being excited for his new job.

"Yeah, you too," she replied with a smile that halfway reached her eyes. She glanced back over to Sheila, who was talking to her own photographer. "Isn't that Sheila Ryan?" whispered Micah to both men.

"Yeah, she's no joke. Russell better watch out. I've seen her grill a politician so hard he wished he was in jail," said Charles.

"Yeah, she is a hard hitting journalist," Micah said.

"I sort of eavesdropped on her. She has a whole line of questions about the affair with the secretary, and Russell switching the contaminated water," Charlie said.

"Well she hasn't seen anything yet," said Rick. Micah was about to ask what he had planned to do, when she noticed what Rick was looking at. Sheila had ended her conversation with her camera guy and was heading their way. Her piercing gaze stayed on them like a hawk on its prey.

"Great," said Charles sarcastically.

Micah watched as Rick gazed at Sheila with a straight poker face, as if mentally preparing for an unspoken battle that he intended to win.

"Well, well well, if it isn't Mr. Rick Dickson. You're looking bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning," she said, raking her eyes over him. "I didn't know you were a morning person," she said with a smirk.

Micah knew she was trying to insult Rick. It was a subtle but unmissed stab at his unruly night life habits, but Rick's face remained unwaveringly blank.

"Yeah, well when duty calls for an early start I'm always up and ready," he said, raking his eyes over her. "Something I'm sure you don't hear said too often," he smiled with an icy glare. They all caught the subtle s****l pun. It was a stab back at her lack of unruly night life habits or a s*x life.

Everyone knew that with her abrasive personality and 24/7 focus on her career she didn't have any relationships, or even friends for that matter. Her unfriendly grin got wider.

'Hmmm…" she said, ignoring his comment with a hardy laugh, as she gave a hard glance at Micah and Charles. "Looks like the Daily Times has got some fresh faces, your little newbies will get a chance to watch me and see how a real reporter gets things done."

"I think I've got that covered already. Plus, your little arsenal of questions are so off the mark today I think yours would be more of a cautionary example for these rookies."

Sheila laughed, "I'm off the mark? Really?"

Rick raised his eyebrows in silent confirmation. "My 4 year track record says different, which no one can say for you." Sheila's phone began to buzz.

"Well if the questions don't fit… omit," said Rick with a sarcastic cheeky grin. Micah mentally laughed at how corny that was but held an equally straight poker face, which she'd become good at these days.

"We'll see about that!" she scoffed as she pulled out the phone and walked away to answer the call in a huff.

"Saved by the buzz," said Micah with an eye roll.

"Wow…" said Charles. "The Daily Times and the City Reporter rivalry up front and in color!"

"Yeah, she's the only person at that paper who insists on pushing this rivalry thing," sighed Rick. "She's a piece of work," he said, with his poker face now cracked with a look of annoyance.

Micah made a mental note that even though he handled that pretty smoothly, dealing with Sheila kept Rick on edge in a way that was unnerving for him in the same way that he unnerved her.

"What did you mean that her questions were off…?" asked Charles

Before Rick could answer someone had appeared on the stage. It was the secretary to the mayor who had entered the stage from a private entrance and approached the podium. He was a fairly young guy. He wore a gray suit and tie, which he adjusted before he spoke.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen of the press. We are ready to get started. If you can all be seated," he said.

The secretary watched as all the members of the press quietly sat down, except for the news cameramen filming live and a few photographers who stood at the back, including Charlie. The two made their way to the second row. Micah noted Sheila at the very front row fidgeting with her digital recorder. Micah had the voice to text and recorder in her phone held out and ready.

Once everyone was settled the secretary continued with welcoming words, and the agenda of the conference, emphasizing that questions would be taken after Russell spoke. He then introduced the Mayor.

The mayor of South City, Mayor Valentine, then appeared with a recap of the events. He was an older man, maybe in his sixties, thought Micah, whose comb over did little to hide the bald head underneath. He had a friendly face, with wrinkles around his eyes that hinted that he smiled a lot, even as he solemnly addressed the audience.

After greeting the audience he briefly clarified information that was misrepresented by the press, especially emphasizing that he was not involved in the water testing protocols, an apology to citizens in general, and more specifically families who have been directly affected, and the city's means of compensation. Finally he gave a brief introduction of the man of the hour, Mr. Russell himself, who stood quietly and stoutly behind the mayor.

While some hands went up by those who wanted to ask him questions, everyone was reminded again to wait until the very end where they could address both men and their statements during the last part, which was the Q and A.

"Mr. Russell, please step forward to the podium", the mayor said, as he gestured to Russell and then he stepped aside.

The audience of the press fell to a hush so quiet one could hear the sound of a pin drop, the sound of the protesters outside was not even audible or as attention grabbing as the anticipated words to be spoken by Russell.