The Mystery Before Christmas

Chapter 22

I had to admit that I was more than slightly nervous about my meeting with Dex. I wasn’t sure if he’d be angry or disappointed in me or if he’d understand my trepidation and simply pass the story to Brock. I really wanted Dex to like me, and I really wanted to expand my hours at the newspaper, but I’d given the situation a lot of thought, and as I’d told Gracie, I really needed to follow my heart and my conscience.

“Hey, Gabby,” I greeted the friendly receptionist after entering the building. “Is Dex here? I have my articles.”

“Actually, he isn’t here. I’m not sure if you heard, but there was a house fire on the north end of town this morning. Brock is still on leave due to issues of a personal nature, so Dex is covering it himself.”

I frowned. “Was anyone hurt?”

“No. Based on what I heard, the Christmas tree caught fire after the lights were left on all night. I guess the tree is in a separate living area in a finished basement, and no one even knew it had been left on. The light sets used on the tree were old, and it looks like one of the strings may have shorted out. The kids had already gone to school by the time the fire started, and both parents were at work. There were a couple of cats indoors, but a neighbor got them out in plenty of time, so everyone is fine.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I feel bad that the family lost their home, but homes can be replaced while people and pets cannot.”

Gabby smiled gently. “I couldn’t agree more. If the fire had started while everyone was sleeping, who knows what would have happened.”

I pulled up a chair and sat down. “I know this is none of my business, but what’s going on with Brock. When I saw Dex on Saturday, he mentioned that Brock was taking care of some personal issues, but I wasn’t aware there was anything so serious going on that he would still be out this week.”

“His wife left him. I don’t think that is common knowledge at this point, so please don’t say anything to anyone. Apparently, the couple had a huge fight on Friday, and she packed her bags and took herself and the kids to Virginia, where her sister lives.”

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ve only spoken to Brock twice and even then only briefly, and I’ve never met his wife, but I hate to hear about families in crisis.”

Gabby picked up her stapler and secured the stack of papers she’d been shuffling around since I’d been there. “According to Dex, Brock has asked to be off until after New Year’s. He decided to go to Virginia to try to work things out. It is going to make things tough on Dex, but at least he’d decided to assign the Secret Santa story to you and not Brock. It would have been a real mess if he’d been the one responsible for the series.”

“Yeah,” I groaned. “A real mess.”

Now, what was I going to do? I’d been all set to pass Secret Santa off to Brock, but now that wasn’t going to work out. Maybe Dex would want to do the final story himself. Not that he had time to research Secret Santa now that he’d lost his only full-time reporter. The poor guy was going to have his hands full shuffling everything he was already doing with everything Brock had been assigned.

“I guess I’ll just leave the photos and stories I have with you.” I handed Gabby the envelope with the hard copy, photos, and thumb drive with digital copies of everything. “If Dex has any questions, he can call me. I know he is probably going to be swamped today, but I do need to talk to him. I guess maybe just pass that message along. My schedule is pretty flexible, so we can meet whenever it is convenient for him.”

Gabby took the envelope. “Okay. I’ll tell him.”

“And let him know if he wants me to help pick up some of the slack, I can make myself available to cover other stories. I’m not sure what Brock was working on, but I’m sure Dex is going to have his hands full.”

“I’m sure Dex will appreciate the offer, and I suspect he’ll take you up on it. Not that there is ever a good time for Brock to be gone, but now with everything that is going on, it seems like a worse time than normal.”

“Well, I’m willing to do what I can.”

She smiled. “Dex really likes you, you know. I can tell. There have been other folks from time to time who’ve contributed stories on one event or another. Sometimes Dex runs them, but that is usually the end of it. After your first one, the one about the murder of those young girls, I could see that Dex was sold. I overheard him telling someone on the phone that you had real talent. A talent he hoped to hone and utilize in the future.”

I grinned. “Thanks for telling me that. It means a lot.”

“I think Dex was really impressed when you made your case about being assigned the Secret Santa series as well. Most people who basically have zero experience doing a series like that wouldn’t have wanted to put themselves out there the way you did. Most wouldn’t have been willing to take the risk. But you just jumped right in and went for it. I know that impressed Dex. Heck, it impressed me. I’m pretty sure if you are interested, you have a real future here.”

I forced myself to continue smiling when all I wanted to do was cry. “I am interested in a future with the newspaper, and I appreciate everything you’ve said.” I stood up. “I should go. Tell Dex to call me when he is ready to chat.”

“I will, and good luck with the third installment of your series. I can’t wait to see who Secret Santa is.”

“Yeah, me too,” I mumbled under my breath.