Scandalous Desires

Chapter 8

Micah sat waiting a good 20 minutes before Rick returned.

The first thing she noted as soon as he left was that the office was warm, so she removed her jacket and tried to make herself comfortable in the chair. She took a moment to look around his office.

Everything seemed very generic; a wooden desk sat in the middle of the office, some black leather chairs for visitors, a floor to ceiling wooden shelf behind the desk had files, fake plants, and greco-romanesque statues arranged on it.

There was, however, a framed photo of him with his dad, standing together. He was younger in this photo, his hair was much longer, but still slicked back. The two of them were wearing suites and standing in front of the Dickson Publishing main entrance.

"So the guy actually knows how to smile," she said out loud looking at the grin plastered on his face.

Seeing the photo only unnerved Micah more. He'd been intentionally cold towards her, and insulting- except for that clumsy and unpredictable moment they just shared when she fell into his arms. She still wasn't fully sure what happened. The look he gave her was so intense… it made Micah shiver a bit. She decided to just put the whole thing out of her mind and focus on the task at hand.

It was five minutes after Rick ran off that she took the opportunity to review the entire file Hearte gave her. It had all the basic info on all the people involved in the scandal.

For some reason she couldn't take her eyes off of the pictures of the secretary. She looked a bit homely compared to his bombshell, blond haired wife - who looked like a Hugh Heffner pin up doll. The secretary had straight brown, shoulder length hair. She wore glasses, and loose unflattering clothes that hung limply on her very frail looking, bony body. Why would he cheat on her with this woman? Perhaps it was superficial for Micah to think that….

"Any ideas?" said Rick rushing back into the office, as if he wasn't gone for a long time.

His demeanor, which had softened just before he disappeared was now gone. The gruff and obnoxious persona was back in its place. She could tell by his now stiff stature and the unnerving look he was giving her, yet again.

"You've been gone for almost 30 minutes…" she said flatly. He took a seat, looked at her blankly, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I thought," she continued, slightly annoyed, "that you might have some ideas, being that you've had more time with the details of this story than I have."

"Well, I think he's guilty and should rot in jail for what he did, there's nothing else to it," Rick said flatly.

"Yeah, but, some of these details don't add up…" she said. Rick began pianoing his fingers against his desk.

"First, if this secretary was his mistress, what tipped her off to even check his home computer or even know where in his computer to look for this evidence against him?" Micah said.

Rick shrugged his shoulders again, as if disinterested, and began looking at his phone.

"Second, and this may sound superficial..." she said, edging closer to his desk. She leaned towards him to get closer so as to make sure he could see the images well. She held up two photos on either side of her face;. "Who would you bone, the wife," she waved the photo on her right, "or the secretary?" She waved the image on her left.

"Honestly? Neither. I have... different tastes," he replied with an intense stare that made Micah pause for a moment. He cleared his throat, "My point being, to each his own. Just because you wouldn't bang her doesn't mean he wouldn't."

"Touche."

"And, the fact remains, she obtained files from his house".

"So she says," said Micah leaning back towards her seat.

"Right, but how else could she have obtained them if not for what she says? Russell has yet to deny the allegations," said Rick.

"So there we have it, let's ask if he did indeed have an affair with the secretary," suggested Micah.

"All the reporters will be asking that question," he said dismissively

Micah tried not to roll her eyes at him, "So what questions do you have?"

Before anything else could be said, his cell phone rang. "Uh, just a moment," he said, checking the number, "I need to take this." That began the start of a seemingly inappropriate conversation with what sounded to Micah like a female friend on the phone for 10 minutes.

"Um… sure," chuckle, "we can have that...uh...meeting later tonight…. Wear the one I like…you know, the hot red one…. the one with the cute little..." He pivoted his swivel chair so that his back was facing Micah and his voice got too low for her to hear.

She rolled her eyes. Oh, so he can be nice, she thought, ...when it was totally inappropriate! She couldn't believe this! He's wasting their time flirting on the phone instead of working. It was getting close to the next hour, and they still hadn't gotten anything done!

He swiveled his chair back to face her. "Sorry, about that. I had to take that important call. You were saying?" He looked at her squarely.

Seriously? She thought. He was going to try and act like that call was important?

"Listen, you may not like me - and I don't care if you don't, but that's no reason for you to show a lack of professionalism in my presence," said Micah in a stern but even tone.

" I really don't appreciate that you are wasting the very little time we have left to get this assignment done," she continued. "The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can be out of each other's space, so can you please focus?"

Rick's facial expression went from shock, to a frown. She could tell that he didn't expect her to confront him. Score one point to her for finally throwing him off. He opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't say anything. But then he began to laugh again.

Micah rolled her eyes, "and what's so funny?"

"Trust me sweetheart, you probably don't want to know…" he said. She rolled her eyes. This was pointless.

"Do then tell me this, What hard hitting questions do you have, Dickson?" She said before he could speak. She didn't want to waste more time listening to him trying to divert from their task.

"I don't have any," he finally said.

"Well, take the next 10 minutes to write some down, please. Let me know what you come up with," she said finally. She knew if she didn't set him to task nothing would get done. She took her boss' words to heart when she warned her that her male coworkers would try her.

After 10 minutes they exchanged notepads. He had about 3 questions which all seemed a bit too general and generic at best. She wrinkled her nose at them. "What are your thoughts on the lawsuit?" was one of the questions scribbled on the page. How's that 'hard hitting'? She asked herself. Was he really a 'seasoned journalist'? she wondered.

"Any feedback on my questions?" She said.

"Your questions are pretty on point, for the most part," he said, glancing over them.

"Is that, dare I say… a compliment, Dickson?" she asked rhetorically, with a feigned look of shock.

Before Rick could comment there was a knock on the door. It was the Op Ed Assistant, Melissa, who she met earlier at the elevators.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but… Micah, your cubicle is ready. We need you to come have a look."

Gladly, thought Micah, she couldn't wait to leave.