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“Where’s Rob? I want to talk to him.”
“Uh . . . I don’t know. I don’t think he’s here yet. Check with Alton,” Ed suggested.
“Alton’s never here this early.” Her years-long relationship with the man had made her aware of that.
“Yeah, well, he is.”
“What?” She couldn’t think. The world had tipped off its axis. “Where is he?”
Ed waved a hand down the hall toward the business offices. She went to Rob’s door, and a man she didn’t recognize was behind his desk. No sign of Alton.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Ellie O’Brien,” the man said with a careful smile. “I’m Russ Niedermeyer, head of production.”
“Where’s Rob?”
“Rob’s no longer with us. And I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we’re going to be letting you go as well.”
Ellie stared at him. She’d had too much devastating information in too short a time. “What? I—I just did that piece . . .”
“It was good, but Pauline is our number-one gal, and we’re going with her,” he said in that fake-bonhomie way that made Ellie want to gouge his eyes out. “I’m sure you know that the station has been sold, and that—”
“Months ago. It was sold months ago!”
“—we’re still making changes. Finding the proper fit, as it were, for all our employees.”
Ellie focused on him, disbelieving. Niedermeyer was a good-looking guy, and he knew it, with a pressed white shirt and a trimmed beard and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. She tuned back into something about severance pay, but then she couldn’t think of anything to say; she wanted to beg to have her job back, and that wouldn’t do.
And Zora was gone . . . she and Brian were gone ...
She walked blindly out of the office, breathing hard. She was in shock. She knew it. Couldn’t seem to do anything about it.
Goddamnit. Goddamnit. They’d fired her . . . Fired her!
This was Coco’s doing somehow. She was tight with Pauline, and she had Alton—that worm!—under her blood-red-nailed thumb.
How did I ever sleep with him? How did I ever think we could be a power couple when he’s a dead battery?
Another station would welcome her with open arms. She’d go to Channel Four herself, push Phil out. It couldn’t be that hard. She’d get that interview with Delta. Didn’t mean she had to believe in her innocence; Dee was still her number-one suspect. Maybe she could get Dr. Stahd to do another interview. Do both together, a juxtaposition. Delta innocent, or Delta guilty? Choose your own adventure.
But Zora was dead . . .
“Jesus,” she muttered on a half gasp.
She was heading out, down the hall, and there in front of her were Alton and Coco, little Chihuahua Penny perched in Coco’s purse. Alton looked away from Ellie, but Coco smiled deliberately.
“Hi, Ellie,” Coco said, while Penny bared her little teeth and growled softly behind quivering black lips.
Ellie looked from one to the other of them.
“Fuck you all, and your little dog too,” she told them and then pushed past them before she could break down and make a fool out of herself.
* * *
Delta reluctantly took Owen to preschool. She was dropping him off later than usual, the result of a sleepless night and a slow morning. “Are you sure you want to go?” she asked for about the tenth time as they neared the turn into the school. “Next year, if you go to Englewood Academy, it’s real school, and I won’t be able to take you out at every whim.”
“I want to go.” His face was set in stubborn lines.
