“What did I just tell you?” Chesney asked wearily.
Laura didn’t answer him, as her eyes narrowed as she looked between the two of them suspiciously. “Sorry...guys...But I forgot to give this form to Greta yesterday and she wasn’t at her desk and I know you need it asap…”
Chesney grunted in annoyance, and Laura put the paper she was clutching on his desk before fleeing and shutting the door firmly behind her.
But the moment was gone. The two of them looked at each other from opposite sides of Chesney’s desk, both of them wondering how many of the staff had heard Laura banging on his door. So much for Chesney keeping his private life separate from the office. The staff were going to be gossiping about this for the rest of the day.
Chesney pushed a hand through his hair, “Fuck, ok. After you left last night, I started thinking and...and if what you told me is true -”
Gracie bristled, glaring at him.
“I mean...You’re telling me that Huang hired a PI because some articles were spiked?!? It’s just a few leaks, it’s not that big of a deal. I didn’t even know that Huang cared that much about it. I don’t think that he cares that much about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I think he just wants someone to keep an eye on me. I mean, I’m the one that he told you to investigate, right?”
Gracie nodded. “I wasn’t even told the name of anyone else that works here.”
“So...if Huang only wanted you to investigate me, and you’re not going to be doing that anymore...right?”
He looked across at her, his expression unsure. Gracie hesitated, watching his eyes widen as he waited for her answer.
“I don’t think you’re the one spiking the articles,” she confirmed for him.
“Good!” he said in relief. “Because while I like having you here, you don’t have to stick around pretending to be my PA. Let’s go out on a date, an actual date, where we know each other’s names and we talk to each other honestly.”
Gracie chuckled. That sounded good. The right way to get to know someone, instead of all this sneaking and lying. She didn’t need to come into the office to look into what Huang was up to.
“Alright, I’m going to hold you to that.”
Chesney grinned, and when he smiled like that a small dimple formed on his cheeks. Gracie hadn’t noticed it before and she found herself utterly charmed by it.
She wished that she could just let the case go. But she still wanted to know why she’d been hired; why had Huang wanted someone to keep an eye on Chesney? And was Chesney really 100% innocent of leaking the magazine articles?
She believed so, her instincts told her that he was, but there was no conclusive proof that Chesney was innocent.
“I’ll see what else I can dig up around the office, now that you’re not my prime target, and then check in with my boss. My real boss. I guess this is the end of my career as a PA.”
There was another knock on the door, although this time the knocking was much quieter, as if the person on the other side of the door didn’t actually want to be heard.
“I should get to work, but I’ll message you about tonight, once I get that address.”
Gracie nodded, wanting to say something else but there was another knock on the door, louder and slightly more confident. Without waiting for an answer the door opened and two journalists strode inside. Both of them speaking at once:
“Chesney, you need to look over my article.”
“I was wondering if you had a chance to think about that deadline extension...”
Gracie caught Chesney’s eye and then slipped out of his office, closing the door softly behind her and cutting off the sound of the journalist’s complaints. Although she had told Chesney that she’d dig around the office, there wasn’t really anything else that she felt she could usefully do here. She packed up her bag and left.
Klarov swunghis feet up onto his desk and scowled at her. The soles of his shoes were filthy. Gracie moved her chair away from them.
“Where have you been all morning? I was going to give you a nice, easy ‘follow and photo’ job, but I had to give it Crystal instead.”
“I went into the Attitude office.”
Klarov let out a disappointed sigh, “Jeez, just give up on the whole thing.”
“There’s something weird going on there, I want to know what it is.”
“Maybe, but you’re talking about investigating the guy that was paying our bills.”