Chapter 35
Ali Kat
I walk back across the field, to my people, my mind full of questions.
“That’s a wrap,” Meghan says, stretching her arms into the air like she’s just completed a workout.
The camera guys start packing up, Brett and Rose dash away, and I’m left with just my family and friends.
“Thanks, everyone,” I say meekly.
Irene rushes towards me, grabbing me up in a hug. “Wow—what a rush! I haven’t been able to interrogate someone like that in way too long!”
Caleb approaches, looking Irene up and down. “By the way, I’ve recently hired your little friend here to assist at the firm.”
“Really?” I scrunch my brow. “Even with her—”
“Because she’s been disbarred, I was able to hire her cheaply.”
My jaw drops as I look from Caleb to Irene. “I’m-I’m so sorry,” I sputter out. “Caleb—you will pay—”
“He’s joking!” Irene says. “I’m being paid well.”
“I don’t understand. How did all this happen?”
“It was obvious to everyone that something was up,” Jenna starts. “But the first concrete evidence we had that it wasn’t just a string of bad luck and a shitty friend came from Irene.”
“After I saw Brett and Rose on air, I just couldn’t take it anymore,” Irene says. “I couldn’t believe they played mere seconds of the clip. And then I remembered all the people milling around. I looked at the picture we took together, and I saw two men I’ve never seen before. So I decided to contact your team.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Garrett says.
“You were already so upset, and I didn’t want to give you any false hope,” Irene replies.
“Jenna was acting like a total bloodhound,” Ted cuts in, “so when Irene called me up saying she thought something was fishy, I gave her Jenna’s number.”
Jenna continues with, “Chatter was the first tabloid to break each story, and they had exclusive details for each one. After talking with Irene and learning that Chatter had approached Garrett, I decided to look into the the photographs she sent me. I started by looking up the men Chatter often contracts to work for them. Didn’t take long to place Donald.”
“But we knew how litigation can go,” Caleb cuts in, “documents can be sealed, and there’s still the court of public opinion. We knew that we needed more to go off of, and we honestly wouldn’t have pulled it off as well as we had if not for Jenna.”
“And so the plan all along was to come here and confront them?”
“Actually, no,” Ted says. “And until last night, we had another angle we were looking to pursue. We knew we were going to crash the interview, and that Irene was going to ‘flip the script,’ but since the evidence was circumstantial, we were going to focus on engineering a ‘redemption’ arc. We were even considering having you apologize to Rose and actually come out with the fact that you were trying to make Garrett jealous, so you didn’t look like a home wrecker. It’s totally ‘reality television’ worthy, but with how successful your Instagram stories were, we thought that maybe it’d work for you. That was until you had some crazy conversation with Jenna about your drinks.” He looks to Jenna.
“When we were talking last night, you mentioned your ‘drink system,’ and it got me thinking back to the feed from the bar that I had already looked at, putting it into context. I didn’t think anything of it, at first. I didn’t know that last drink was water because it was served in a fancy cup, so when you told me that system, I rewatched and noticed something. I had to watch the clip five-times last night, slowing it down to snail speed, taking a shit-ton of notes. You went to the bathroom, Eva ordered a drink, it was clear, she had your water dumped. You came back to the bar, got up with your friend, and drank the clear drink. I called the bartender this morning to get more details, and he had Dallanger pull the receipts. He hadn’t even realized the drink switch up, but he looked back over the feed and filled in some of the details, painting the full picture of what went on.”
I turn my attention to Garrett. “And…what did you know?”
“He didn’t know much,” Irene cuts in. “He hated the idea of going to the press, but I had been talking with Jenna, and we realized there was an opportunity. We didn’t go in initially thinking we could clear your name, but we at least wanted people to know there was another side to the story.”
“Why didn’t anyone clue me in?”
Ted continues with, “We had so little to go off of, and you needed to start forging a new identity for yourself. Caleb and I were flying down to discuss your evolution, and we didn’t even realize we could clear your name until this morning, when Jenna briefed me on the footage from Saint Cloud. We had no idea Eva had bought up shares of Chatter until Hillary dropped that nugget.”
My heart feels impossibly big right now, full of love from my family and friends. “Wow, I just want you all to know that I appreciate every single one of you.”
The small crowd raises their arms and rushes me like a horde of zombies, wrapping me in at least a dozen hugs.
After I’ve thanked everyone, Ted says, “I have a feeling the Purple Legion role will be back on track soon, as well as—”
