Chapter 70 Ore
Chapter 70
Ore
Queens, New York
The first call came from Carlos and he got straight to the point. ‘I want to go on the record, Ore. I have given it some thought and I have decided that Chuck needs to be brought down.’ He never explained what had made him change his mind, but after the calls from Dudley, Nicole and even Amanda, who Ore couldn’t remember ever having even spoken to, she assumed that Carlos had campaigned on her behalf. When the promised call from Mel’s mother came through, Ore was happy to explain that she wouldn’t need Mel’s testimony anymore.
‘Mel will be very disappointed I know, but I for one have to say I’m a bit relieved. I hope you know what you’re going up against with Chuck … Take it from me, he’s ruthless in court,’ Patricia warned sternly.
By the time that the New York Tribune got back to her, the ‘named sources’ she had promised were a reality and they agreed to commission the piece. She was put in touch with their investigations editor, who was none other than her idol, Gail Fairweather. Sitting opposite her in her window lined, penthouse office, Ore fought the urge to pinch herself.
‘This isn’t going to be plain sailing, Ore. I hope you know that,’ she’d warned sternly. Ore chuckled at the apt turn of phrase and then had to assure Gail that she was indeed taking this very seriously.
‘Going up against a man like Chuck Regas, we need watertight evidence,’ she continued, and Ore wondered if she was doing it on purpose. ‘And we’ll have to get legal to go over it with a fine-toothed comb.
‘The only problem is that all your sources are speaking to Chuck’s character, terrible as it is, and backing up the NDA, the dodgy sexual assault cover-up, but apart from those documents and well hearsay, we don’t have enough to publish the bigger, Klauparten, mining bit of the story,’ Gail went on.
Ore had known this was coming; without Daniel or Agatha, there was no one to corroborate those claims. ‘I’m working on it,’ she lied. She couldn’t face trying to contact Daniel and when she had tried to email Agatha on her Pagonis account, it had bounced back.
‘Well, keep working on it,’ Gail said before hanging up.
Ore spent the next few days writing up a version of the article that only included the bits she could back up. It was still explosive, but the idea that Chuck would get away with launching his new ‘eco’ battery, making millions in the process and probably being lauded as a sustainability hero made her blood boil. And if the world had taught her anything it was that men accused of sexual assault rarely faced any real consequences, let alone those only accused of covering it up.
It was the middle of the night when her phone rang and Agatha identified herself on the other end of the line.
Ore scrambled for a pen and her recorder. ‘Hi, Agatha, how are you? I’m so glad you called.’
Agatha was in no mood for pleasantries. ‘I’ve left Pagonis. I’m founding my own company; I’m sick of working for someone else.’
‘That’s great, Agatha, congratulations!’
‘And I didn’t take a payout. I even left before my last paycheque.’
Ore was confused as to why she was telling her this, and then it clicked.
‘So, you haven’t signed an NDA?’ Ore asked tentatively, her excitement building.
‘Nope,’ Agatha replied bluntly.
Ore was beside herself, but she tried to keep her voice even. ‘What made you decide to leave?’
‘I’m assuming you’re recording this?’
‘I’m not right now but if you’re giving me your consent to do so, I would love to start.’
‘Yep, that’s fine.’ Agatha paused, whilst Ore set up the recorder, and then almost as though she could sense that it was time, she started talking. ‘I left Pagonis because Chuck Regas is a bully and a liar, but worse than that, he’s a hypocrite …’
It was a sorry tale. Agatha had been scouted straight out of Oxford and promised a job in the coding team, only to end up being used for her youth and prettiness instead as Chuck’s executive assistant.
‘He told me it was just for six months, whilst he found a place for me on the team, that it would be a good opportunity to get an overview of how the whole company worked, that it was a privilege, and don’t get me wrong, he paid me very well, but I was basically just a pretty face to reply to his emails and collect his dry cleaning and flirt with his investors. I didn’t get a double first just to sit on Richard Greenam’s lap and laugh at his jokes.
‘So I’ll be your whistleblower. You can say the documents came from me, if I don’t end up in court, at least it’s good publicity for my new company.’ She chuckled wryly.
‘I can’t tell you how much this means to me, Agatha, thank you so so much,’ Ore gushed.
‘You know that when you came on board, I hated you?’ Agatha cut in.
‘I sort of gathered,’ Ore admitted.
‘And it wasn’t some sort of jealous white-woman thing, well maybe a little bit, but mostly it was how easily you carried yourself. Sometimes I’ve had to be a cold bitch to get anyone to take me seriously, and other times I’ve had to pretend to be a bimbo to get them to like me. You just turned up, being you, and Chuck was nice to you, and the crew liked you, well more than me at least, and Daniel …’ She trailed off.
‘The point is, you had principles and talent and you wouldn’t let anyone convince you otherwise, and that’s what I want to prove to myself: that I can do that too. So this is my first step.’
‘It’s a very brave one, Agatha, and I appreciate all of it.’ Ore was touched.
Agatha seemed too uncomfortable to dwell on the sentimental. ‘OK, well if you have all that on record, I better be off.’
‘Bye, Agatha.’
The dial tone clicked and Ore stopped the recording, immediately downloading it onto her laptop and scouring through the transcript for the best quotes. She couldn’t wait to update Gail in the morning.
‘Impressive stuff, Ore, this really takes the investigation to a whole new level.’ Ore beamed at Gail’s glowing review. ‘Have you tried Captain Wilsons again? We could probably publish without him, but it would be the cherry on top, or one of Claude’s victims maybe?’
The question brought Ore crashing back down to earth. She should have remembered that Gail was relentless; there was always something that could be better. ‘I haven’t had any luck getting hold of his contact details and Captain Annie doesn’t want to talk,’ she said gingerly.
‘You’re an investigative journalist, Ore, do some digging. Surely the other crew you’re in touch with have his number?’ Ore hadn’t told Gail about Daniel. She’d felt embarrassed that she hadn’t kept things strictly professional.
‘No totally, I’ll try and get hold of him.’
Instead she spent two days tinkering with the article and finding things to do that were exactly not speaking to Daniel. She knew what his answer would be anyway so she didn’t really see the point.
Another unknown number call came through while she was getting ready for bed. She braced herself, as she had been doing recently, in case it was Chuck’s team. She was growing ever more paranoid that they might have gotten wind of the story. When the voice came through, Ore didn’t recognise it.
‘Is this Ore?’
‘Yes speaking, who is this?’
‘It’s Vicky, from Lady Thalassa .’
A beat of silence as Ore prepared herself for the threat.
‘I want to go on the record.’ It was not at all what Ore had expected her to say. And she began to wonder what had happened on the boat after she left. Who had managed to turn all of Chuck’s tight-lipped staff into whistleblowers?
‘OK, let me just set up a recording,’ Ore said, still cautious.
Vicky explained everything, revealing another litany of cases when Chuck had silenced mostly women to protect himself and his friends. Annie of course, but also his ex-wife Patricia, a handful of younger stewardesses that hadn’t lasted, and finally the revelation that Vicky too was a victim. Not just of Chuck, but of Claude too.
‘Why are you telling me all of this now?’ It just didn’t add up for Ore, and she found herself wondering if this was some sort of trap set by Chuck himself.
Vicky sighed loudly. ‘I’ve given years of my life to that man, and I thought a lot about what Daniel said to us all, that we’ve all come to just believe he’s invincible, but that’s just another one of his lies, the most powerful one of all. It’s about time I stop falling for it and tell the truth.’
It took a moment for Vicky’s words to sink in. It was Daniel who had turned the tide on board. Why? Wasn’t he supposed to be doing Chuck’s bidding, and killing her story? She thanked Vicky. It occurred to her that the things Chuck seemed to look for in the women he surrounded himself with – tenacity, intelligence and practical thinking – were the very things that had, in the end, turned them against him.
‘One last thing, Vicky, do you have Daniel’s number?’
She sounded surprised when she said, ‘You haven’t spoken to him?’ but then didn’t wait for an answer before reciting the digits down the line.
Now Ore was impatient to speak to him. ‘Best of luck, Vicky.’ She ended the call and began to dial the number, before she lost her nerve. He answered after two rings.
‘Ore,’ he breathed, and she felt herself melt at the tenderness of that single syllable.
‘So you already have my number then?’
He chuckled at her indignance. ‘I’ve been meaning to call you, for a while.’
‘Why didn’t you?’ Ore asked quietly, shocking herself at how wounded she sounded.
‘After the last time I saw you … I don’t know, I couldn’t explain myself. I just shut down and let you believe that it was about working for Chuck, because it was easier than admitting that I was a coward.’ Ore held her breath, waiting for more.
‘I was scared, shit, I’m still scared of this story coming out, of what it means for my job, and for yours, but mostly I was scared because you were leaving, and I’m only brave when I’m with you, and …’ Daniel faltered and then took a deep breath.
‘And because I love you, Ore, in a way that’s terrifying, in a way I’ve never felt before.’
Ore wanted more than anything to see him, to stroke his face with her fingers, to feel the heat of his breath on her neck as he pulled her into his arms. A hot teardrop rolled down her face and dripped onto the notepad in front of her.
‘Are you still there, Ore?’ Daniel asked softly, but urgently.
‘Yes, sorry, I’m …’ Lost for words. Except for four. ‘I love you too.’
She could hear the smile in Daniel’s voice. ‘I’m sorry for everything, and I’m sorry that you had to be the one to call. I’ve dialled your number probably about a hundred times in the last week, but then again, as I said, you’re the brave one.’
Ore laughed. It was a raspy hiccup of a sound, stifled by the tears now flowing thick and fast. ‘Vicky told me what you did, that you spoke to everyone and convinced them to go on the record for me.’
‘Vicky? I didn’t think she was taken in by my speech at all.’
‘Your speech? Captain Wilsons, what has gotten into you?’ Ore teased.
‘You,’ Daniel replied earnestly ‘I just thought, “what would Ore say right now?” and it all just came flowing out.’
‘And what about Agatha? That was a bit of a shock I have to say.’ Ore couldn’t help herself with the questions.
‘That was nothing to do with me, she left right after you in the morning, but I’m glad she came around. I always hated how Chuck treated her.’
‘I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye.’ Ore imagined him watching her leaving from the tower of the wheelhouse. The thought made her desperately sad.
‘It’s OK. It was understandable in the circumstances …’ There was a moment of silence, as they each sat with what a different version of a goodbye might have looked like.
‘Anyway,’ Daniel said finally, ‘I’ll do it. I’ll go on the record, if that’s what you’re calling about.’
‘How did you know?’ Ore replied with mock-amazement, trying to lighten the mood, although getting him into the article had swiftly fallen to the very bottom of the reasons to make this call. ‘My editor will be thrilled.’
‘So you’ve found a publisher?’
‘ NY Tribune .’
‘Wow, even a southerner like me knows that’s a big deal,’ she could hear the pride in his voice.
‘Are you with the Hartfords yet?’ She didn’t want the call to end.
‘No, I’m staying with my mom. They’ve pushed back my start date, something about spending another week in Mozambique because they haven’t seen a lion on their safari yet …’ They both laughed. ‘But they’re not like Chuck. They’re demanding, sure, but without the weird mind games.’
‘A blessing,’ Ore agreed, and then a worry popped into her head. ‘The article is coming out next week by the way. Is that going to be a problem with them? I know discretion is a pretty big deal in your world.’ Ore was already working out how to explain to Gail that she hadn’t been able to get hold of him, or maybe that he’d just flat-out refused again. ‘I could probably do the piece without mentioning you at all.’
‘No, I’ve thought about it, and it would be unfair. I’m the captain and I’ve got to go down with the ship, if the rest of the crew are going to brave the storm, so am I.’ Daniel sounded very sure.
Ore’s eyes welled again. He sensed that their time was drawing to a close. It was hard not to wallow in the tragedy of it all. For a while they both just breathed, neither wanting to pull the plug, and then both at once.
‘I better go …’ Ore began as Daniel did too.
‘It’s getting late …’ Another shared chuckle, another bout of silence.
‘Night, Ore, good luck with everything, sending … all my love,’ Daniel said quietly, the depth of his voice rumbling right through her. She closed her eyes, wanting to savour the feeling.
‘Night, Daniel, sending all my love right back.’ Ore hung up before he could hear the sob escape from her throat. She cried until her chest hurt. When she realised the recorder had been running she skipped to that part … the part where he said those magic words, and replayed them over and over until she fell asleep. Because I love you, Ore, because I love you, Ore, because I love you, Ore, because I love you, Ore, because I love you, Ore.