Winds of Fire, стр. 32

“Then you would definitely win an award.” Johanna rolled her eyes. “I don't feel good about this.”

Frankie brushed the back of her hand softly across Johanna's face. “We'll be fine. I thought we could record the conversations.” She pulled several pens from her bag. “We'll use our lucky pens. We haven't used them in a while.”

“I'd forgotten all about the pens. Good idea.” Johanna shook her head as a smile broke across her face. “It would be nice to interview Becca.”

“I doubt she'll agree to it. Since this is supposed to be a homey piece, try to steer the questions to the working atmosphere, then subtly ask about Thatcher.”

“What about Becca?”

“Only bring her name up if we interview someone from the finance department. There are a lot of employees here so an employee from a different department may not have had contact with her,” Frankie reasoned.

“Good point. I'm still surprised at the amount of employees.”

“Well, Thatcher has expanded into many ventures outside of the hotel business.”

“And Becca handles everything that comes in and goes out.” Johanna walked back to her table and looked up when the door abruptly opened and Jayne ushered in two young women and then disappeared. Since Frankie's table was closest to the door, she welcomed them and motioned a mousy looking woman to a chair near her table. Johanna smiled brightly as the other one, a light brown haired chubby woman with large doe-like eyes, timidly began walking over to her.

Johanna glanced at Frankie and then took a notebook and one of the pens Frankie had given her and clicked it on, holding it loosely between her fingers before turning her full attention to the woman. She set the notebook and pen on the table and then extended her hand in greeting. “Hello, I'm Katie Roberts. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed.”

The woman took Johanna's hand and shook it. “I'm Rae Collins.”

“It's nice to meet you, Rae. Please have a seat.”

Her voice was so soft that Johanna barely heard her. It seemed to match the limpness of her handshake. Johanna doubted she'd get much from this one. She ran a series of questions through her mind wondering how to break the ice. Like Frankie said, it was supposed to be a homey piece, so she decided to put on a little charm and dive right in. Maybe it would loosen Rae up, who sat stiffly watching her.

“Excuse me a moment,” she said as she retrieved her reading glasses from her purse and perched them on the edge of her nose. She picked up the pen and wrote Rae's name on a blank page. “It must be exciting working here.” She smiled widely hoping Rae would pick up on her enthusiasm.

She nodded. “I enjoy it. Everyone is friendly and helpful. It's like one big happy family. I like coming to work every day.”

Johanna tossed a strand of hair over her shoulder as she listened to Rae's stiff reply. It sounded phony and scripted. Possibly Jayne had prompted them about the proper way to answer the questions. If that wasn't the case, then Rae had more problems than just shyness. She decided to try a different approach. “Even families sometimes have their disagreements,” she said with the same smile. “Nothing you say will go into the article without your approval.”

“I see it before anyone else?” she asked haltingly.

“Everyone we interview will get to see his or her piece and make changes before the article is submitted. Anything you don't want in it will be omitted,” she promised. “And while we're talking here, you can tell me if something you say is to be strictly off record,” she added.

Rae's shoulders slumped even further. “I don't mean to imply that all the time everyone has a big smile pasted on their faces.” She shrugged. “There's the usual pettiness that you find everywhere.”

“Would you care to elaborate?”

Rae looked at her apprehensively. “Gossips whispering behind your back. It's nothing new.”

Johanna assumed that Rae was talking about herself. She made a quick decision to play on Rae's vulnerabilities. It couldn't hurt since she had nothing to lose. She needed to gain the woman's trust. “I think we've all been subjected to office gossip.”

“I suppose that it doesn't matter the name of the company or how wonderful the position is, there will always be cliques. There will always be someone who will try to ruin it for you.” She lowered her eyes. “You can't get away from it.”

Johanna looked at her sympathetically. “I know the feeling.”

Rae raised her eyes. “You were subjected to it?”

“None of us are immune, Rae. I once worked for a very well-known magazine—I won't mention the name—and the publisher was handsome, suave, and sexy. All the women were crazy about him. It was only a matter of time before he began making inappropriate advances toward me. Of course, the office gossips' tongues were wagging and making my life miserable thinking there was something going on between us. The gossip didn't stop even though I refused the advances. I watched others less qualified than me receive the promotions I was more than qualified for. Even then the gossip didn't stop. It took a while for me to realize what was going on. If I didn't give in, I'd never be promoted. I ended up quitting.”

Rae frowned. “I've only met the owner of the company once, and even though he's a charmer, he never made any inappropriate comments or gestures.” She twisted her fingers together. “I wouldn't be his type anyway.”

Johanna was thoughtful for a minute. “Have any of your co-workers mentioned Thatcher Longman ever acting inappropriately around them?”

Rae peered at her warily. “Why all the personal questions about Mr. Longman? This isn't what I was told the interview would be about.”

“I'm sorry if you misinterpreted what I was asking. I apologize for any unsuitable questions.” She exhaled loudly. “I suppose I'm a little envious because of my past experience—the one I just told you about—at my dream job. I