She got up from the kitchen table and went to the couch. Chuck and Penny followed her. Chuck sat on the floor within ear-scratching range and Penny jumped up beside her.
“We need a plan, Penny.”
The terrier yipped in agreement.
“God, I wish you spoke English. Or that I spoke Dog. I bet you could think of something.”
Penny sneezed.
“Okay, I get it, you’ve already got it all figured out. But until I can speak Dog, I need to think of one myself.”
So she set her mind to planning.
When she came up with an inkling of a plan, she called Barbie and told her everything.
“I'm just so fucking frustrated that Weisser intimidated the publisher so badly that they killed the story.”
“Bribed is more like it, hun,” Barbie said, the voice of experience. “Or, maybe both.”
Wren paced back and forth, from the kitchen at one end of the house to the bedroom on the other, Penny clipping along at her heels while Chuck watched from the couch. “I can't give up on this story. It's way too important. I've looked into the eyes of these people who have been hurt by this man, people who were already at their weakest. And he took advantage of them. I can't let it stand.”
“So you need to get in to talk to him. Is that what I'm hearing?” Barbie asked.
“That's exactly what I'm saying. And I have no idea how to do it, not without tipping my hand.”
Barbie paused and Wren could practically hear the gears shifting in her head.
“I think I have an idea. Let me get my people to set something up.”
Wren stopped pacing.
I should have known.
“Barbie, I didn't call you to get youinvolvedin this. I just called, I don't know, to bitch.”
“Wrenbird, don't worry about me. No, I think I know how to handle this guy, and I have the time to do it.”
“No. Way. No. Huh-uh. Penny, tell her she can’t jeopardize her career, or hersafety.”
“Wait, Penny?” Barbie asked. “You’re at Elias’ house?”
“Yeah. That’s the other thing I need to catch you up on, after you tell me you’re not getting involved with my insanity.”
“Fine, I’ll set things up, then I'll let you do the dirty work. But I’ll worry about you the entire time and that’ll give me gray hair and I don’t have time for gray hair. So you better not screw up, hear me?”
“Promise.”
Barbie outlined her part of the plan. Halfway through, Wren’s head stopped throbbing. Her heart started pounding instead. When they were through, Wren looked up Milestone’s main phone number, took a deep breath, and called.
Once she got to an actual human, she said, “Yes, could you please put me through to Mr. Weisser?” Then she waited.
I can do this.Ihaveto do this.
“No way amI letting you do this.” Elias grabbed his hair and pulled it into an even crazier mess than it already was when he got home. They were still sitting at the table right after dinner—a massive bone-in ribeye that cost a fortune and that Wren hoped would soften him up when she told him what she was up to.
No such luck.
“How ’bout we try that again?” she said calmly. “How about, no way am I letting you do thisalone.”
