Dragonfly

Chapter 25

The next afternoon at the paper, I decided to spend the day scanning pictures and forget the Kyser story altogether. I did not expect to be called into Mr. Waters' office the minute I arrived. Nancy was already there, and Mr. Waters was not smiling.

"I got a call from Bill Kyser today saying I've got reporters snooping into his private life," he said. "This is a small-town paper, ladies. Guys like Bill Kyser can put us out of business."

Nancy spoke up. "I don't know what he's all fired up about, Curtis. Anna just asked him a few questions about developing the Phoenicians and the history of the area. Right, Anna?"

They both turned to look at me. My mouth dropped open. I knew what I'd done yesterday had crossed a line, but I didn't expect this. And I didn't know what to say now.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Mr. Waters demanded.

I felt my face turning red. I couldn't even remember what day I'd talked to Mr. Kyser, much less what I'd asked him. It seemed like we'd talked as much about my personal life as his.

"I don't know, Mr. Waters." I stammered. "I just asked him about his inspiration, and I had some old pictures I gave him. Some of them had his wife and Ms. LaSalle in them."

Curtis Waters leaned back in his chair and chewed on his pencil. Nancy pressed her lips together and looked down at the carpet. After a few moments of silence he spoke.

"Sounds like somebody touched a nerve. Only two times people call a paper:  when they're in the wrong and they're scared we'll print it, or when we've made a mistake and printed something wrong. And we haven't printed anything yet." 

He rocked in his chair a few times. "So what do you think, Anna?"

My eyes widened. "About what?"

"Think he's hiding something? Something that matters?"

"I don't know," I lied.

"Well, what's he so upset about?" Mr. Waters growled. "You not talking because you're dating that little Kyser? What's it, John? Jack?"

"Jack," I said. "No, sir. We're not dating."

He sat forward. "So tell me what you know. You must've uncovered something when you talked to Bill or he wouldn't be calling me to try and put a lid on it."

"I really don't know. I mean, I don't have anything definite, and I promised I wouldn't say anything," I rambled.

"Promised who? Kyser?"

I looked up at him for the first time since our meeting began. "Mr. Waters, I can't tell you anything else about it."

Silence again. Then he nodded.

"All right," he snapped. "But your job in this office is to assist in the newsroom. If you want to go off and play Miss Investigative Reporter, that's fine. Good luck to you. But when you start pestering the most powerful man in town and don't let your editor and publisher in on it, I can't cover your ass."

I looked down again. I will not cry. "Yes, sir."

Nancy tried to rescue me. "Curtis, I think Anna might have gotten a little excited about some of the archive materials. Some of the old pictures with Kyser and Alex LaSalle."

Mr. Waters thought a few moments. "What's so exciting about that? Everybody knows those two worked together. Why would that warrant an angry call?"

He paused again, then without looking at me, he said, "Monitor it, Nan, and if you uncover anything, let me know. And if this student intern thing isn't working out, well, let me know about that too."