Private Scandals

started as a secretarial assistant straight out of business college.”
    “Even down in the newsroom we’d hear occasional grumbling from her staff. Some complaints, some gossip. I don’t recall ever hearing anything from your direction. I wondered why that was.”
    “I worked for her,” Cassie said simply. “I don’t gossip about people I work for.”
    Deanna lifted a brow, kept her eyes steady. “You don’t work for her anymore.”
    “No.” Cassie’s voice cooled. “Ms. Reynolds, I know that the two of you had . . . a disagreement before she left. And I understand that you’d feel some hostility. But I’d rather you didn’t draw me into a discussion about Miss Perkins, personally or professionally.”
    “Loyalty or discretion?”
    “I’d like to think it’s both,” Cassie said stiffly.
    “Good. You know I’m going to be doing a similar type of program. You may not repeat gossip, but you certainly can’t help but hear it around here, so you’d know that my contract is of short term. I may not get beyond the initial six months or ten affiliates.”
    Cassie thawed a bit. “I’ve got some friends downstairs. The newsroom pool’s running in your favor about three to one.”
    “That’s nice to know, but I imagine that’s a matter of loyalty as well. I need a secretary, Cassie. I’d like to hire someone who understands that kind of loyalty, one who knows how to be discreet as well as efficient.”
    Cassie’s expression altered from polite interest to surprise. “Are you offering me a job?”
    “I’m sure I won’t be able to pay you what Angela did, unless—no, damn it, until —we can make this thing fly. And you’ll probably have to put in some very long, tedious hours initially, but the job’s yours if you want it. I hope you’ll think about it.”
    “Ms. Reynolds, you don’t know if I was in on what she did to you. If I helped set it up.”
    “No, I don’t,” Deanna said calmly. “I don’t need to know. And I think, whether we work together or not, you should call me Deanna. I don’t intend to run a less efficient organization than Angela did, but I hope to run a more personal one.”
    “I don’t have to think about it. I’ll take the job.”
    “Good.” Deanna held out a hand. “We’ll start Monday morning. I hope I can get you a desk by then. Your first assignment’s going to be to get me a list of who Angela laid off, and who on it we can use.”
    “Simon Grimsley would be on top of it. And Margaret Wilson from Research. And Denny Sprite, the assistant production manager.”
    “I’ve got Simon’s number,” Deanna muttered, dragging out her address book to note down the other names.
    “I can give you the others.”
    When Deanna saw Cassie take out a thick book and flip it open, she laughed. “We’re going to be fine, Cassie. We’re going to be just fine.”
     
    It was difficult for Deanna to believe that she was leaving the newsroom behind. Particularly since she was huddled in Editing reviewing a tape.
    “How long is it now?” she asked.
    Jeff Hyatt, in the editor’s chair, glanced at the digital clock on the console. “Minute fifty-five.”
    “Hell, we’re still long. We need to slice another ten seconds. Run it back, Jeff.”
    She leaned forward in her swivel chair, like a runner off the mark, and waited for him to cue it up. The report of a missing teenager reunited with her parents had to fit into its allotted time. Intellectually, Deanna knew it. Emotionally, she didn’t want to cut a second.
    “Here.” Jeff tapped the monitor with one blunt, competent finger. “This bit of them walking around the backyard. You could lose it.”
    “But it shows the emotion of the reunion. The way her parents have her between them, their arms linked.”
    “It’s not news.” He shoved up his glasses and smiled apologetically. “It’s nice, though.”
    “Nice,” she muttered under her breath.
    “Anyway, you’ve got that together-again business in the interview portion. When they’re all sitting on the couch.”
    “It’s good film,” Deanna muttered.
    “All you need’s a rainbow arching around them.”
    Deanna turned at Finn’s voice and scowled. “I didn’t have one handy.”
    Despite her obvious annoyance, he stepped over, dropped his hands on her shoulders and finished watching the tape. “It has more impact without it, Deanna. You soften the interview and the emotion you’re after by having them take a stroll together. Besides,