Chapter 707: Sketch Dailey
Thursday, March 16th, Morning
The second-floor office of the Sketch Dailey was only a few offices, a server room, a reception deck, and a whole bunch of hoteling desks. Ellie sat at the desk she claimed for herself and sighed as she stared at her laptop's screen. Several other writers sat at different desks, but Ellie didn't talk to them.
Ellie looked over the story about Absolution. It was more detailed than the previous article that was posted on the Sketch Dailey. Ellie looked it over, it wasn't groundbreaking, but it was better than the lifestyle stuff (shit) she usually wrote. It was more of a travel log or a place you might be interested in type of article. She tried, but what Eleni told her checked out, and Eleni couldn't or wouldn't help Ellie meet with her older sister, Paget, who owned and ran the club.
Shaking her head, she went into the Sketch Dailey upload page and uploaded the file. Ellie spent most of her time at the office doing one last go-through of the material and double-checking that it conformed to the style guidelines. Leaning back in the chair, she waited; she knew it was coming.
After a few minutes, Ellie stood up, went to the coffee machine, and got herself a cup. She returned to her desk and stared at the screen. Ellie sipped at her black coffee; she could tolerate it; in fact, it was one of the few things she could keep down during Kemo. Now black coffee was her constant companion; she once tried sleeping without drinking coffee once, but it didn't work, and the caffeine detox sucked. She had to drink coffee. Ellie missed her weekly coffee dates at VLC with Fallon and Trin. Ellie felt she was ready to head back to New York and face down Ainsley.
Tree Hill has been pleasant, but she must return to the grind. Jolie even mentioned it to Ellie. Ellie shook her head and sipped her coffee; she would have to talk to her dad and Brooke about her return to New York City.
Ellie sighed and spun her chair to look out the window. Downtown Tree Hill was going about its regular daytime routine. Ellie sighed, sipped her coffee, and watched her hometown life go by. She remembered writing at VLC or the office on the parlor floor of the Hell's Kitchen townhouse. Ellie sighed again and turned back to face her laptop; nothing yet.
Finally, she leaned forward and went online to check for flights back to New York City. What sucks about the direct flights flying into LaGuardia. Ellie didn't like LaGuardia; she preferred JFK because of the train connections that would get her close to her townhouse. It would be great to return to the city, see Jade, Jared, Finley, Justin, and Hardy, and maybe get some drinks and dance.
Ellie sighed and closed the window of the airline. With another sip of her coffee, she checked her emails but nothing of anything important. Ellie sighed, turned back to the window, and watched downtown. Ellie keeps sipping at her coffee and is starting to consider getting another cup of coffee. As she turned around to get up, her internal messenger dinged. Ellie stopped and looked at the incoming message.
Sophia Dwerryhouse: Please come see me.
Elizabeth Scott: Be right there.
Ellie got up and went to the coffee machine. She refilled her coffee. She walked across the small office to where the editor's office was located. Ellie looked into the office to see Sophia Dwerryhouse sitting behind her desk. Ellie nodded and knocked on the open door.
Sophia looked up. "Ah, Ellie, come in," she said.
Ellie entered and took a seat. "You wanted to see me," Ellie said.
"Yes, it's about this article," Sophia said.
"What about it?" Ellie asked.
"I expected more," Sophia said.
"There wasn't more; I dug deeper and found nothing more than I put in the article," Ellie said.
"What about that lead you told me about?" Sophia asked.
"I followed up on the information given, and nothing was true; it's in the file on the server," Ellie said.
"I read them, so this was all you could salvage?" Sophia asked.
"I was able to get what I got," Ellie said.
Sophia nodded, "You couldn't get Paget?" she asked.
"I tried everything, every contact; she doesn't give interviews and wouldn't see me," Ellie said.
Sophia nodded, "It's well written; that you can write was never in question, it was your investigational ability. But it seems not to be a worry here," Sophia said.
"Thank you," Ellie said.
Sophia sighed, "It seemed the subject had more allure than substance," she said.
Ellie nodded, "Yeah, I was pissed when I found that out as well," she said.
Sophia nodded, "Well, we'll publish it as a review, I guess. Would you like a new contact?" she asked.
"What?" Ellie asked.
"I've read some of your other work and was wondering, I know you want another print book, but would you accept doing short works for us?" Sophia asked.
"I was contemplating returning to New York," Ellie said.
"That's the glory of being web-based; you can be anywhere," Sophia said.
"Well, I have to think about it and get my agent involved, plus I can't be exclusive," Ellie said.
Sophia nodded, "Think about it and have your agent contact me," Sophia said.
"Okay, I will," Ellie said.
"Who is Renfield?" Sophia asked.
"I don't know, ran everything I could on him, and nothing hit; he's just a John Doe," Ellie said.
"Okay, that seems like a better article," Sophia said.
"Yeah, maybe," Ellie said.
Sophia nodded, "Maybe, someday, that's all," she said.
Ellie nodded, "Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome," Sophia said.
Ellie stood up and left. She returned to her desk, packed up, logged out, and left the office.