A Dangerous Affair

A Dangerous Affair Chapter 10

Brick was a tall, slightly overweight man in his fifties with short, wiry, brown hair and a fiery temperament when pushed. His eyes slowly rose from his paperwork when Stephanie and Tom walked into his office together, and he watched them suspiciously.

“Sir, may we have a word with you?” Stephanie asked.

Brick said nothing but gestured for them to both take a seat opposite him.

Once seated, Stephanie began. “Sir, it concerns the Carlton story. Tom and I have come across some information which changes things slightly and we’d like a little more time to follow up on our findings.”

“May I be so bold as to ask what these findings are?” Brick asked with some sarcasm.

Stephanie was being purposely vague. She had the feeling that if she gave away too many details about the way they had found that paper in the old theatre, then Brick would start asking some awkward questions. She was hoping to avoid that.

“Well, it would seem that the man we need to research is not Henry Carlton after all, it’s his father, Hugh Carlton. He’s the man with political connections,” she informed him.

“And Henry?”

“We were right, he is dealing drugs but that’s all.”

Brick raised an eye brow.

“All?” he said incredulously.

Stephanie began to tense. “No, I didn’t mean to trivialise the fact, but it’s his father who will give us the big story.”

Tom watched the interaction between Stephanie and Brick thoughtfully.

“What actual evidence do you have that this Hugh Carlton has anything to do with the crimes in the city?” he put to her.

“His son is a drug dealer!” she said, as if she couldn’t believe that he’d asked the question.

“Okay, so write your story about Henry then. You have nothing to suggest that the father is involved.”

In truth, Brick suspected that there was a bigger story in all of this but he was testing Stephanie to see if she was determined enough to warrant the extra time he’d have to allow them to continue with this work.

“But sir...” she began.

Tom jumped in then. “Boss, do you want the big story or a second rate story about a sleazy drugs dealer?” he said, quoting Stephanie’s own words. Brick turned his attention to Tom and contemplated him for a moment. “I’m keen to work on this with Stephanie boss, and we will get our story,” Tom said adamantly.

“Why are you two working on this together now? You’ve never worked on anything together before.” Brick knew what Tom was like. Although he was a top rate journalist, he was also incorrigible when it came to women, and Brick couldn’t help but think that Tom had ulterior motives in pushing for this work with Stephanie.

 tephanie’s eyes darted to Tom nervously. What the on earth could either of them say? That he had offered to watch out for her after she’d got spaced out on Carlton’s pill!

Tom was struggling to come up with an answer. What the hell could he say? That he’d been infatuated with Stephanie for months and that he was desperate to spend as much time with her as he could! Tom chose to focus on the one thing that Brick was always insistent on.

“Let’s face it boss, Steph can’t work on this alone, when guys like these are involved. She needs me there for safety.”

That didn’t really answer Brick’s question, but Tom had brought up a good point. What’s more, he was the best person to help out in such circumstances. One thing Brick was certain of, Tom would look after Stephanie.