Chapter Twenty-Three
One of the things Nancy Smith hated the most about her job is catching a red eye flight and having to be ready to go live on national television without showing any signs of fatigue. Sitting on her chair waiting to be made up her makeup artist, she reminisced about the weekend fondly. Brandon McKenzie had turned out to be a sexy lover. Sensitive and supportive, which was more than she could expect from someone in a position of power.
“Heard the news?” Roy asked. He had been responsible for making Nancy look flawless and ageless for close to a decade. Over the years they had developed a friendship glued together by the exchange of juicy gossip. And Nancy knew a good one was waiting for her. She was gone for a couple of days, and there was bound to be something of interest she missed on.
“This better be juicy. Not feeling up to it today. It’s been a busy weekend.”
“Can tell from the way your face smiled. Who was it?”
“Not that important. What is the news?”
“Seth Crawford. The billionaire in Boston.”
Nancy acted as if she hadn’t heard anything. She had given her word to Brandon not to pursue the news story before she left.
“What about him?”
“His oldest daughter, the one from his first marriage, apparently died over the weekend.”
“That is unfortunate. What’s the news?” Nancy knew for this kind of gossip to travel all the way from Boston to Washington, D.C., there had to be something more to it.
“The one at Harvard. The rumor is she might have overdosed. Some kind of sex party gone wrong. That is what happens when these youngsters try to take their frustrations with family out in the world. It leads to recklessness. Poor girl, she apparently never got along well with her mother or the father, and hated the current wife.”
“That is so sad. What is the latest? I mean how do they know she OD’d?”
“What the hell do I know? It is a matter of time before the whole thing blows over with the girl’s face plastered all over the papers and screens.” Roy said putting finishing touches on Nancy’s face.
“Will keep an eye out. Thank you, Roy!” Nancy kissed him on the cheeks and walked to her office.
No one understood and supported her as much as Roy did. Too bad he didn’t date women. The consolation was, of course, Nancy had a trusted counselor she could approach with her secrets without fearing they might get exposed. She looked forward to hearing his reaction about Brandon.
Before Nancy sat on her chair, the executive producer of the show, Sally Cromwell, barged in and started going on about how no one seems to care about the show as much as she does. Nancy had heard this rant before, and she couldn’t care for it.
“We have to clear everything from today’s schedule,” Sally said looking at a clipboard she liked carrying around with her everywhere.
“Why?”
“We have to do the Crawford story.”
“What Crawford story?”
“Where have you been? Hiding under the rock all weekend long? You sure seem not to have time to return calls or messages.”
Nancy looked forward to a time when she might have to never deal with Sally. In the pecking order of the morning television business, she was a major brand and yet the network executives have repeatedly turned down her request to fire Sally.
“What are you insinuating?”
“Well, it seems I am the only one caring here and looking out for good stories. I don’t have the time or energy to fight. We are clearing the deck for this story. Here is a preliminary script I got the writers to put together. Can you think of anyone we can call or bring in?”
“Wait. Hold up a second. Are we doing this based on unsubstantiated rumors? When did we turn into tabloid television?”
“These are not rumors. Besides, who cares? If we don’t cover it, someone will once it is out in the open. This will set the ratings on fire. Can’t beat this. Pretty blond, fame and fortune, drugs and sex, crime and mystery, whodunit… It has everything.”
Seeing the determined look on Sally’s face, Nancy knew this was going to be a fight she was going to lose if she tries to keep a lead on the story. But she owed it to Brandon to at least try.
“I see your point. But we need to investigate it further before we make a fool of ourselves. Has there been anything official anyway?”
“You don’t get the point, do you? If it is official, we are just one of the other losers jumping on the bandwagon. We need to break the story.”
