MILLIE ROSE EVICTIONS 13 DAYS OF EVICTIONS Day 4 ?2023 W. D. Lewis

The Media Comes a Calling

“Miss Millie?” Lenny screamed from the front office. “The media people are here!”

“You know my name,” Leslie-Jean scolded him as she walked past his desk and looked out at the fast flow of the Mississippi River. “You’ve practically looked down my blouse and brushed my butt “accidentally” enough times. We are practically engaged.

Lenny did not answer the teasing.

“Is Miss Millie in a meeting or what?” She looked through the crack in the door to see if she could see anyone else in the office with Millie. “She knows I had an appointment, didn’t she?”

“I found your name on my calendar, Leslie,” Lenny replied. “I don’t know how you got on my calendar because I have strict orders to block you and Katie Nguyen if the Mississippi River ever pushes you two to the Westbank of New Orleans.”

“Oh, and by the way,” Lenny added. “There is coffee in the breakroom, but I did not offer you any.”

“No thanks,” Leslie-Jean was looking around the office as though she was looking for a news scoop. “Is she ignoring me? She knows I’m on a deadline, right?

Lenny looked at her as though he was looking through her.

“By the way, what do you know about Ms. Ruth Howard’s accident? Do you think she’s one of the real estate agents that’s been attacked on the Westbank?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Lenny said dismissively. “Why don’t you save some of this lively repartee for when you get into see Miss Millie? I’m sure you two will crack each other up.”

The large double doors opened slowly to Millie’s office. “Come in Leslie! I can’t believe I allowed either of you two snoops to come to my property let alone to my office. What is this about again, ?‘A Ride Along’?”

“Well,” Leslie-Jeane spoke as she turned from the picture window behind Lenny’s desk and walked past Millie into her day-bright office. “Thank you, Lenny! That’s why I came to see you initially, Miss Millie. But when that tragedy happened to Ms. Howard, I had to touch what’s the story on Ruth Howard?”

“You tell me,” Millie countered. “I know as much as you know, even less.”

“Miss Millie! You always know what’s happening!” Leslie-Jean pulled out her recorder. “You are head of the Real Estate Nonviolence Committee Against Real Estate Agents or something or another, you should know if Ms. Howard was attacked by some organized attempt against real estate agents! It's in your real estate bible, isn’t it? ”

“Leslie-Jean, I allowed you up here to ask about ‘A Ride Along’. If that’s not why you are here, you can leave now.”

“Real estate agents are being targeted, Miss Millie! You are working with an FBI Special Agent! Aren’t you guys on top of this?”

“Assuming that we are, Leslie-Jean, why would we run to the media and tell everything for you to blow up our investigation?”

“I’ll give you that Miss Millie,” Leslie-Jean put away her recorder, reluctantly. “But you do have me and Katy Nguyen at the top of your list for information, right?”

“Katie and me,” Millie corrected her. “and yes, Leslie-Jean you two are at the top of my list.”

“By the way, I’ve been trying to reach that Special Agent Rogers lady,” she segued. “I have been leaving her messages and she has not returned any of my calls. Are you two working together on the task force?”

“Yes, why do you ask?” Millie asked Leslie-Jean as she looked up from her laptop to study the curious reporter’s face.

“We were just wondering why there had not been any updates since the $250,000 upgrade to the reward you added for Vanessa Riley or the other real estate agents who were attacked and murdered. ?It has been nothing but crickets!”

“You don’t need to worry about that unless you have information that you are holding onto?” Millie asked suspiciously.

"No, nothing on my end,” Leslie-Jean responded.

There was an awkward silence between the two women.

“How about the ride along?” Leslie-Jean broke the silence.

“I tell you what?” Millie picked up the office phone while speaking into the phone at the same time. “Sarah, come in here, please.”

Movement from the back of the office produced Millie’s assistant.

“Sarah, have you met Leslie-Jean from the television station?” Millie introduced the two.

“No, Miss Millie, I haven’t!” Sarah extended her hand to Leslie-Jean.

“Leslie-Jean is one of 2 reporters who is always chasing me down for a story,” Millie shared apologetically. “Her cohort, Katie Nguyen, who may be in my closet, or outside of my window, are pitching an idea I would like for you to spearhead.”

“Great!” Sarah said enthusiastically. “What is it?”

“’ A Ride Along’! Millie exclaimed sarcastically. “They don’t have anything better to do than to want to ride along with me and my crew as we put people out on the street!”

Sarah looked confused. “How do we arrange that?”

“That’s one of the reasons why I brought you from Texas: to figure it out!”? Millie began rolling her wheelchair to her office door. “Give me an update once a week, and maybe it’ll work out all right.”

She pressed the button for the door to open. “Now, you two can meet up somewhere else, because you can’t stay here. I have to go to lunch, and then, put some people out on the street!”

“Lenny?” she called him as she rolled past Lenny’s desk towards the elevators. “If you hear anything about Ruth Howard, call me first and immediately.”

“Yes, Miss Millie,” Lenny. “You didn’t want to order in today?”

“No, I am going to go out and enjoy this wonderful weather. I’ll be back about 2 today.”

?

Disclaimer: For entertainment purposes only. If you are facing an eviction, consult with an attorney.

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