Chapter 3
I have a Pavlovian response to the sound of my email dinging, so despite the late night I had, when it pings, I am, regretfully, awake.
My laptop is still open on my bed, a half-fleshed-out deck on my screen and two new emails in my inbox. There’s another candle sale at Bath another about a haunted hospital, where Hayden interviewed a paranormal medium on her experiences there; and another about the Denver airport. Because he’d mentioned it, I investigated the place myself. I learned a lot of far-fetched shit, but some of the segments on the episode were a blast to listen to.
“We can create a new kind of investigation show—not like the overdramatic staged shows on TV, something fun and accessible for a wider audience—”
“Hallie, I didn’t take you for a conspiracy theorist,” Kevin teases.
“I’m not. I’m actually a pretty big skeptic.”
“So why did you bring this to us?”
“Because I think Hayden is a great talent and has a way with words, and if he can convince someone like me to listen to hours of his podcast, I think he’d convince a lot of our viewers to tune in, too. Whether or not you believe what he’s saying, it is entertaining. Hell, why do you think Cosmic Conspiracies has seventeen seasons?”
“He’s hot, too,” Chloe whispers, jotting notes.
“Hargrove…” Kevin muses. “Where do I know that name from?”
“Have you been listening to The Out There ?” I jab.
This gets a small chuckle out of him. I’ve never made Kevin chuckle before. Fuck yeah.
“So…what do you say?” I ask.
?
?
Minutes later, I dip out of Sad Keanu and into Success Kid and pull out my phone. I linger over Hayden’s number, but instead I set the phone down and scrub my hands over my face with a few giddy bounces. I will need another reapply of deodorant, but I will be going for one of the beers in the kitchen. I want to “cheers!” everyone I see.
I calm myself and wait for Hayden to answer.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Hayden. It’s Hallie…you know, from Skroll.”
He laughs softly on the other end of the line, and I feel like a puddle. “Hi—did you present the deck to your boss?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“We’re in,” I say, trying to hide my giddiness.
“Really?”
“You sound shocked.”
“I’m surprised such a mainstream company wants to pick up my show about Mothman,” he says. There’s a sense of bewilderment in his voice, until he clears his throat and levels himself out. “I mean, wow…that’s great. So, what are our next steps?”
“They want a pilot episode by the end of next week. It’s a bit of a crunch, but we’re joining the game late. We can reuse one of your old episodes so we don’t have to do the research from scratch. We can set up a time to get to work.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of work to do. What are you up to tomorrow?”
“Nothing.”
“Good. We’ve got to catch you up to speed.”
He hangs up before I can ask what the hell he means.