Have You Seen Me?(56)

I hear her cough into a tissue, a mean, dry cough that must really hurt.

“Wow, what kind of stuff?” she asks.

I want to tell her everything, but it doesn’t seem fair when she’s so sick.

“Why don’t we talk in a day or two—once you’re better. Can I at least bring you food? I’m planning to run out for a cup of tea later.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want you anywhere near this thing. And I’m okay in the food department. Right now, I’m living on DayQuil and can’t bear the thought of anything else.”

“Okay, I’ll text you later to see how you are.”

“Sounds good. And please, let me know if anything happens with you, okay?”

“Will do.”

Poor Gabby. But I can’t help but wallow for a moment. I need her right now, especially since I haven’t been able to rely on Hugh as much as I hoped.

With my phone out, I notice I have two voice mails from when I was in session with Erling, one from Derek Kane, my point person at the company that sponsors the podcast. He asks simply that I give him a ring. The other’s from Sasha, who’s finally deigned to return my call from yesterday and a follow-up I made today. I’m sure she’s been sulking about my less-than-glowing feedback.

I start with Derek, since the sponsorship is coming up for renewal at the end of the year, and I want to be certain I’m keeping everybody happy.

“Hey, thanks for calling back,” he says. “You doin’ okay?”

Is he making small talk, I wonder, or has Sasha mentioned that I was under the weather?

“Yes, great, thanks.”

“Nice podcast this week. The company is planning to launch a new tagline any day now, and I’ll get it over to you once I have the green light.”

“How exciting.”

“By the way, I thought Sasha hit it out of the park on the show this week.”

How can he possibly think that?

“She worked really hard on the segment,” I say, as diplomatic as I can be.

“Would you consider having her do it regularly until she finishes up the internship? She sounded a bit more—I don’t know, a bit more of an expert than that gal you usually use.”

I take a few seconds, then choose my words carefully.

“It’s actually Casey’s job as my producer to do the last segment with me, so I’m afraid it wouldn’t be fair to bump her. And the chat at the end is meant to be a conversation with an ordinary person, not an expert.”

“Well, you know best. It was simply a thought.”

“I appreciate the input. And just so you know, Casey’s going on vacation in a few weeks and Sasha will have another chance to handle the segment.”

That seems to mollify him, at least temporarily, and he soon hustles me off the phone to take another call. Once again, I wonder why he’s such a superfan of Sasha’s.

I return her call next.

“Sorry to be out of touch yesterday,” she says. “I’ve been crazy busy. But I’ve done all the research for next week’s podcast. Do you want me to drop by your place again so we can review it?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, Sasha,” I say. The last thing I need is her stopping by with more pops of color and sly-seeming comments about my husband. “Why don’t you email me what you have, and I’ll read through it. . . . And if I have any questions, I can give you a call.”

“Okay, let me know.”

“Before you go, there’s something else I’d like to discuss. Do you have an extra minute?”

“Of course.”

“Did you call the PR person at Greenbacks and ask if you could arrange an interview with someone there?”

She hesitates briefly before speaking.

“Yes, actually, I did.”

“I never suggested you call anyone there for the podcast. I—”

“It actually wasn’t for the podcast.”

“Then what was it for?”

“I’m exploring an idea for a piece on Greenbacks, and if it pans out, I’ll pitch it to a major website.”

“But you used my name. That’s not kosher, Sasha. Not when it doesn’t involve me.”

“Sorry, but I was hoping you’d understand because the piece is going to be important.”

“Important how?”

“To be perfectly blunt, there may be something sketchy going on at Greenbacks—on the business side. I’ve gotten to know someone who works there and he tipped me off.”

My stomach tightens.

“Something sketchy how?”

“Are we speaking confidentially? I know you used to work there.”

“Yes, you have my word I’ll keep it to myself.”

“I hear they might have really inflated the number of accounts they have on the advisory side. Meaning they misled their investors.”

I’m stunned by this. It can’t be true. I was involved only on the content side, but I worked extensively with employees on the business team at Greenbacks, and I never heard so much as a hint of anything unethical.

But then again, that was five years ago.

“You’re basing this on the word of one person?” I ask.

“Yes, but he’s very reliable.”