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“That’s the one. We’re going to occupy an entire floor.” He rubbed his hands. “Oh, Odelia, I feel so energized I could jump for joy! Can you feel it?”

She could feel it, all right. Madness.“What?”

He took a deep breath, a big smile creasing his face, his beard waggling excitedly.“It’s a new era rolling in, baby. The Era of Dan!”

Odelia staggered out of the editor’s office, not exactly feeling energized as much as sandbagged. Before she could reach her own office—which soon wouldn’t be her office anymore—she was waylaid by the still chipper-looking Kimberly. The woman grabbed her hand and pumped it energetically

“Can I just say it’s an honor, Odelia?” said Kimberly. “A tremendous honor to be working alongside a reporter of your stature.”

“Uh-huh,” said Odelia, who didn’t exactly know what to say to that. “Thanks, Kimberly.”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to learn a ton from watching you in action,” said Kimberly with a slightly frantic gleam in her eye. “Oh, and if you need anything, just holler. Anything for the great Odelia Poole!”

“Sure thing,” said Odelia, awarding the overly excited junior reporter a strained smile.

As soon as she was alone, she let herself drop down into her chair and wondered what her role in the future Hamptons Gazette would look like. Not that she begrudged Dan another twenty or thirty years of productive activity, but if he was going to fill up the office with an army of new recruits, what was her professional life going to be like from now on? Would she still be able to come and go as she pleased? Or would she get an ID swipe card or have to punch a clock from now on in this new‘Era of Dan’?

And as she booted up her computer, she didn’t even look up when someone strode into her office and took a seat in the chair across from her desk.

“Just leave it there, Kimberly,” she said, assuming the hyper-active and no doubt hyper-efficient new colleague had decided to bring the great Odelia Poole a cup of coffee.

“Leave what there?” asked a familiar voice. And when she looked up, she saw it wasn’t Kimberly seated at her desk, but Rose Wimmer.

“Rose!” she said. “How are you?”

The young woman shrugged.“Okay, I guess. Under the circumstances. I dropped by to pick up my phone.”

Odelia made a face.“Um, I don’t have it with me at the moment, but if you could come back later this after—”

“Forget about the phone,” said Rose, leaning forward and lowering her voice. “Did you think about my proposal from last night?”

“What proposal?” said Odelia with a frown of confusion.

“The job! I want to hire you to find my dad’s killer, remember?”

“Oh, that,” she said, sitting back as she studied the young woman’s eager face.

“Don’t tell me you won’t take my case, Odelia,” said Rose. “I know for a fact that my father didn’t kill himself, and I’m also sure that if you take a closer look you’ll absolutely agree with me that he wasn’t the kind of man to commit suicide. He just wasn’t!”

“Okay, all right,” said Odelia. “Look, the thing is—the police are still investigating. And if they decide that your dad’s death was suicide, I don’t see what I can do to dispute it.”

“But he didn’t do it, I’m telling you!”

“What makes you so sure? Apart from the fact that he was your father and you obviously loved him very much and you simply can’t wrap you head around the fact that he did what he did.”

Rose stared at her for a moment, a little taken aback, then said,“Just look into what happened, all right? That’s all I’m asking. Just take a closer look.” She abruptly got up. “Have you found out who sent me those horrible pictures?”

“Not yet,” said Odelia, who keenly felt she was letting Rose down. That couldn’t be helped, though. She wasn’t going to investigate a murder that had never taken place.

Suddenly Rose dumped several rolls of cash on the desk. They were held together with multi-colored elastic bands.“This is all I have,” she said. “My entire savings. Do you think it’s enough?”

Odelia shook her head as she picked up the money and handed it back to the girl.“It’s not about the money, Rose. I just don’t think—”

“Keep it, all right?” said Rose, suddenly sounding desperate. “Just… keep it.” And she turned to leave. Before she walked out, though, she turned and said, “He didn’t do it, Odelia. He just didn’t.”

And then she was gone.

Chapter 7

As Odelia left the office, she didn’t notice that someone was watching her closely. The moment Odelia slammed the door behind her, Kimberly emerged from the shadows in the corridor that housed the offices of both Odelia, the Gazette’s star reporter, and Dan, its editor. The junior reporter was frowning before herself. She hesitated for a moment, then entered the office of the wizened editor.

Dan looked up. He’d been chuckling to himself and now said, “I keep forgetting what a great writer I am. This latest editorial is a real pippin. Did you read it?”