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Part 10
Daydream Believer


So it was unbearably hot that day, I overheard Dave saying something to Joe about fixing the air conditioner. Joe just said that he was working on it. I drifted off into a somber. I wasn't for sure how long I was out. But it seemed like it was a while.
"Audrey, is this your real name?" I heard a voice say.
I couldn't tell who said it, I looked all around but I saw no one. I laid my head back down. "I can't believe that you would lie to everyone like that, you should know better." This voice was haunting me.
"Audrey." My shoulder started to shake. I jolted my head up and opened my eyes. "Are you all right?"
I saw that it was Matthew. "Yeah, I must have been dreaming or something." Catherine came over and sat down beside me.
"This heat has really got us all in a daze. It's just too damn hot."
I took another drink of water from the bottle. I felt very uneasy. Maybe my secret was out. "It is so hot in here." I said.
Joe came from the elevator lobby. "Well, I have some good news and some bad news."
"Tell us the good news first, Joe." Dave demanded.
"Well, the good news is that the air conditioning is almost fixed."
"And what could the bad news possibly be?" Bill asked.
Joe showed everyone a metal plate with wires and cords attached to it. "Well, I really don't know where this goes, but I'm working on it."
No one was pleased. Mr. James walked into the office.
"Why, it's hotter than hell in here." He said.
"Oh, come on, Mr. James, like you've ever really been to hell." Matthew said.
"Son, I've been there." Mr. James said with a straight face, "and it wasn't pretty."
Matthew got scared and ran back to his desk.
"Jimmy, could you please talk to Joe? He has been working on that air conditioner all morning and hasn't made any progress." Catherine asked.
"I'll see what I can do, sugarfoot. But why don't you just have Dave call someone? We pay people to do that."
"We are paying someone." Dave said. Just then we heard a sound that sounded like a motor.
"Is it fixed?" Lisa asked.
Joe walked back into the station. "Who's the man?"
"You are, King Joseph." Matthew said.

After a couple hours the office was cooling off and we started to work again.
"I am having Beth file all the recent stories and documents. It has been a while since we have done this." Dave told me as I laid Bill's editorial on his desk so Dave could review it.
"Oh, do you want me to help her?" I asked.
"Well, I have hired a temp to help her, I mean, there is a lot of documents to go through. But if you want to help her it's okay, just not necessary."
"I have some other things to finish up. Why don't you just call the agency and tell them not to send the temp. I can help Beth."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, just let me finish up a few things and we can get started."
I started to walk out of Dave's office, "Oh, Audrey." I turned around, "If you don't mind I would like to cook dinner for the both of us tonight." I thought this was a sweet gesture. "As long as you're not here too long helping Beth."
"Okay," I said with a smile. "That would be great." I turned around and went to go sit at my desk.


I finished the work that I needed to do, on a couple of interviews that Bill and I went over for his upcoming guests on the McNeil Perspective. I met Beth out in the hallway where there was stacks upon stacks of boxes with documentation that needed to be filed.
"Dave said that you were going to help today." Beth said.
"Yeah, but I had no clue how much there was to do." I said.
"This really sucks, I don't even want to do it." Beth complained, "There is no way that just the both of us are going to get this done. I'm going to have Dave call and send that temp over here."
I looked around at the mess. "I think that may be a good idea."
Beth ran in to ask Dave to call the temp I started to look over some of the papers when Lisa informed me that I had a phone call.
"Hello."
"Audrey, hi. This is Karin," it was Karin, a Dateline producer, she informed me that the Ramseys had decided not to do the interview just yet because their lawyers advised them not to until their names were clear. I was quite disappointed, but also a little relieved. Researching the case was taking up a lot of my time, I knew that I was in over my head when I agreed to do the interview in the first place.
When I hung up the phone I felt a little lighter. I had not done a spot for Dateline in quite a while. Maybe they didn't want to use me anymore. I wasn't for sure. But what I was sure of is my place, and who needed me the most. I wasn't trying to be modest, but I thought I had found my place. And that place was WNYX in New York.
For the rest of the day Beth, the temp, and myself started to go through all the documents and file them. It wasn't an easy task, but somehow we managed to do it. Meanwhile, Dave informed the entire staff that there was a bomb threat in our building, and we were going to be evacuated so the FBI could do a thorough check throughout the building. So we had to stop what we were doing and go straight home. Frankly, I was quite happy to go home. I was scared.
"Well, these sort of things happen all the time." Mr. James said as we exited the building.
"Joe, you didn't do this, did you?' Dave asked him.
Joe just smiled at him. "Dude, do you really think that I am capable of doing something this outrageous?"
"I am afraid so." Dave replied to Joe's smirky grin.
"I just want to go home." I heard Beth say.
We all stood across the street from the building. It was so hot. "I think that I am just going to go home." I said. "I'm tired anyway."
"That's a good idea." Mr. James said, "why don't all you kids just go home and get a good night's rest for tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?" Matthew asked.
"Friday." Catherine replied. Dave and I took a cab ride home.

That night Dave made a delicious dinner at his apartment for the both of us. I told him that someday I may cook for him. But I was a horrible chef and not even a vulture would want to eat my cooking. We had the next day off because the Feds were still searching the building. They came up empty handed. But it was nice having a four day weekend for once. Especially after the week we had just gone through.

Part 11