The East Side of Lauderdale

“What the hell happened?”

Samantha Pauline VanDermark held her forehead in her palms as she stared down at the Fort Lauderdale Post, spread out on her desk. Bruce sat in the hot seat in front of her. The door to her office was closed.

“I got beat,” he quietly conceded. “Again.”

She shook her head. Although she was given to theatrics, Bruce sensed this scene was for real. She was legitimately upset.

“Crushed is more like it. I was so proud of you yesterday, Jeff. Your story on the five abductions put us way out in front. But this—” she slapped an open palm on Sheryl Tucker’s column, “this makes us look bad. Really bad.”

“Sam—“

“Tucker finds out that the women probably were abducted for rape videos. On top of that, she reveals that Commissioner Simon is a porn addict and could be linked to all this. How did we miss these things, Jeff? How did we miss such huge developments?”

Bruce was tired of punishing himself and getting upset when Tucker bested him. So his voice rose a little louder than he intended.

“I’ll tell you how, Sam. The police are playing favorites. And Sheryl Tucker happens to be their favorite. That’s one of the nice perks when you work for large metropolitan newspaper. I don’t think she would have been nearly as insightful if she worked for a small, society newsletter like—”

He caught himself, knowing to insult the low profile of the East Lauderdale Tattler was a direct affront to Sam, who, again, had been gracious enough to give him a second chance when few others would.

Sitting up, brow furrowing, she picked up on the barb.

“Is that supposed to be an excuse? Jeff, you’ve got to do better than blame your employer for your own ineptitude. You just didn’t dig deep enough.”

“I did my best, Sam.”

“I don’t think so.”

Both sat silent for a long moment, avoiding eye contact.

Sam finally spoke in a controlled tone.

“Listen carefully, Jeff. You need to come out ahead and stay ahead. We both know that, with your past experience as an investigative reporter, you have the ability to do so. But if this happens again—”

“You’ll fire me.”