Chapter 70
Ore
Queens, New York
The first call came from Carlos and he got straight to the point. ‘I want to go on the record, Ore. I have given it some thought and I have decided that Chuck needs to be brought down.’ He never explained what had made him change his mind, but after the calls from Dudley, Nicole and even Amanda, who Ore couldn’t remember ever having even spoken to, she assumed that Carlos had campaigned on her behalf. When the promised call from Mel’s mother came through, Ore was happy to explain that she wouldn’t need Mel’s testimony anymore.
‘Mel will be very disappointed I know, but I for one have to say I’m a bit relieved. I hope you know what you’re going up against with Chuck … Take it from me, he’s ruthless in court,’ Patricia warned sternly.
By the time that theNew York Tribunegot back to her, the ‘named sources’ she had promised were a reality and they agreed to commission the piece. She was put in touch with their investigations editor, who was none other than her idol, Gail Fairweather. Sitting opposite her in her window lined, penthouse office, Ore fought the urge to pinch herself.
‘This isn’t going to be plain sailing, Ore. I hope you know that,’ she’d warned sternly. Ore chuckled at the apt turn of phrase and then had to assure Gail that she was indeed taking this very seriously.
‘Going up against a man like Chuck Regas, we need watertight evidence,’ she continued, and Ore wondered if she was doing it on purpose. ‘And we’ll have to get legal to go over it with a fine-toothed comb.
‘The only problem is that all your sources are speaking to Chuck’s character, terrible as it is, and backing up the NDA, the dodgy sexual assault cover-up, but apart from those documents and well hearsay, we don’t have enough to publish the bigger, Klauparten, mining bit of the story,’ Gail went on.
Ore had known this was coming; without Daniel or Agatha, there was no one to corroborate those claims. ‘I’m working on it,’ she lied. She couldn’t face trying to contact Daniel and when she had tried to email Agatha on her Pagonis account, it had bounced back.
‘Well, keep working on it,’ Gail said before hanging up.
Ore spent the next few days writing up a version of the article that only included the bits she could back up. It was still explosive, but the idea that Chuck would get away with launching his new ‘eco’ battery, making millions in the process and probably being lauded as a sustainability hero made her blood boil. And if the world had taught her anything it was that men accused of sexual assault rarely faced any real consequences, let alone those only accused of covering it up.
It was the middle of the night when her phone rang and Agatha identified herself on the other end of the line.
Ore scrambled for a pen and her recorder. ‘Hi, Agatha, how are you? I’m so glad you called.’
Agatha was in no mood for pleasantries. ‘I’ve left Pagonis. I’m founding my own company; I’m sick of working for someone else.’
‘That’s great, Agatha, congratulations!’
‘And I didn’t take a payout. I even left before my last paycheque.’
Ore was confused as to why she was telling her this, and then it clicked.
‘So, you haven’t signed an NDA?’ Ore asked tentatively, her excitement building.
‘Nope,’ Agatha replied bluntly.
Ore was beside herself, but she tried to keep her voice even. ‘What made you decide to leave?’
‘I’m assuming you’re recording this?’
‘I’m not right now but if you’re giving me your consent to do so, I would love to start.’
‘Yep, that’s fine.’ Agatha paused, whilst Ore set up the recorder, and then almost as though she could sense that it was time, she started talking. ‘I left Pagonis because Chuck Regas is a bully and a liar, but worse than that, he’s a hypocrite …’
It was a sorry tale. Agatha had been scouted straight out of Oxford and promised a job in the coding team, only to end up being used for her youth and prettiness instead as Chuck’s executive assistant.
‘He told me it was just for six months, whilst he found a place for me on the team, that it would be a good opportunity to get an overview of how the whole company worked, thatit was a privilege, and don’t get me wrong, he paid me very well, but I was basically just a pretty face to reply to his emails and collect his dry cleaning and flirt with his investors. I didn’t get a double first just to sit on Richard Greenam’s lap and laugh at his jokes.
‘So I’ll be your whistleblower. You can say the documents came from me, if I don’t end up in court, at least it’s good publicity for my new company.’ She chuckled wryly.
‘I can’t tell you how much this means to me, Agatha, thank you so so much,’ Ore gushed.
‘You know that when you came on board, I hated you?’ Agatha cut in.
‘I sort of gathered,’ Ore admitted.
