Chapter Thirty
Olivia
Matthew was taking longer dinner breaks, so Olivia knew she had time to get into the weather office and be alone while he was out. Plus, if he returned and saw her there, she could fake that she had a question about something, something stupid that an intern wouldn’t know.
The first order of business was to plant the hidden-cam pen.
That was easy. Every meteorologist had a cup full of pens on their desk.
She walked to Faith’s and slipped in the pen, turning it on and rotating it so the lens would be facing out toward the main area.
She checked the app on her phone to make sure it was working.
Standing at Faith’s desk she scanned the items strewn across and under it for a quick moment.
Who would come and pack all of this up? Probably HR.
They’d send it to Faith’s family, she figured.
Olivia felt a tiny sting of tears in her eyes.
It was so unnerving to be looking at a desk preserved in time.
Faith had gone out for dinner and never returned and her desk was still there but Faith wasn’t.
Olivia had a hard time making her brain believe it all.
Before she could even help herself, her fingers traveled to the drawers of the desk and she gently pulled each one open.
She just wanted to feel Faith’s life for a moment, be a little closer to her.
Several drawers were jammed with all kinds of office supplies and quickie junk food, but one had newspaper clippings and magazines with articles about Faith or pictures of her.
THE EARRING QUEEN said one headline.
THE BEST OF DETROIT … screamed another.
CHANNEL 9 ON CLOUD 9 WITH RICHARDS BOOSTING RATINGS read a third.
Olivia lifted them out and glanced over them.
She was about to put everything away when her eyes spotted what looked like a leather journal under it all.
Gently, she extracted it from the drawer, cocking her head and listening carefully to make sure she didn’t hear any sign of Matthew returning.
She was ready to stuff everything back and act natural if she did. It was all silent in the hallway.
Flipping the journal open, she saw pages of writing in the same cursive script she recognized from Faith signing the autograph for Aunt Carol. Olivia couldn’t help herself. She started to read. It was almost like a diary format but not with dates, just with random musings.
Today has been excruciating, the anniversary of Charity’s death.
Thirty years later and I can’t get over that I let go of her hand, that I turned my little eight-year-old attention away.
Dad told Hope that he trusted me. I had to take two sleeping pills last night to try and sleep and I’m so groggy today I can barely go on air.
Charity, sweet Charity. My little sister.
I can’t forgive myself. Can you forgive me wherever you are?
I was only a kid, I didn’t know what I was doing.
I have lived with this pain in my heart every day since.
I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I would trade places with you in an instant.
Olivia kept reading. There were more entries like that, all talking about a little sister and something that happened at a Lake Michigan beach all those years ago.
It was obvious how painful this was for Faith, and that pain caused Olivia to feel a heaviness settle into her own chest. Wow.
This was a side of Faith she would never have guessed about.
Knowing this about one of the most popular talents in the entire city was a very weird feeling.
Olivia wondered if others also had a clue.
It made Faith actually human, it made her a sad and regretful person dealing with demons, not just a happy face on the news.
Glancing at her watch, Olivia saw that she had better wrap it up to be sure she wasn’t caught by Matthew.
She replaced the journal and everything else in the drawer, closed it, double-checked the pen, and left the office.
She needn’t have worried. Matthew didn’t return for another forty-five minutes.
When he did, Olivia glared at his back after he passed her in the newsroom.
Knowing this new information about Faith made her that much more likable, and him more of a target than ever.
If he did something to Faith, Olivia was going to help convict him.
She would check the hidden-cam pen app that night and every night to see if she could find anything.