Collapsing on her sofa, Marti had just unloaded her car and poured herself a glass of wine when the telephone rang. Looking at the phone screen, she saw it was her Aunt Shirley.
"Hi, auntie how was your weekend?" she asked.
"Tom and I went to see a play in Falls Park. How was your meeting in Savannah?"
"We got to interview a pilot who flew for Serino. He's agreed to give me an employee list so I can call the ex-employees to see what they will tell us."
"That sounds promising. Should I hold off on this concert then?"
"Can you give me one more week? I'll be driving up this Thursday to see Dad. Then I’m driving over Saturday to see you and Chuck."
"Why don't Tom and I make dinner for you and Chuck here on Saturday?"
"I would love that, Auntie. Check with Chuck when you see him this week. How is your new medicine working out?"
"It has some side effects that I'm learning about; my heart has raced a couple of times. I'm keeping my journal like Dr. Morse asked. We're going to try an injection next to see how that works."
"Good. I want to hear all about it next weekend."
***
Marti cornered her cameraman the next morning in the coffee room. "John, can you stop by my desk for a minute? I have a quick question to discuss with you."
"No problem. Our assignments don't come down for a few minutes."
As they walked together, Marti began describing her story. "I'm investigating a wealthy minister who flies around on speaking engagements. I've interviewed his previous pilot who can testify to boxes of money being unloaded from the aircraft. I need to photograph that happening since some of it allegedly ends up in the minister's car."
"How far away would the photographer be?" John asked as he sat across from Marti's desk.
"At least five hundred feet maybe more. The airport has an observation deck so you would be up high as well and possibly shooting at night. Do you know anyone who would have the equipment to do that?"
"Sure. He used to work here. When he retired he started working cases for an insurance investigator. He follows people who say they are injured and photographs their activities."
"That sounds perfect. Would he let you use the equipment if we needed it for this story?"
"I'll ask him. When would we be doing this?"
"I'm emailing with the pilot today to ask if he has a calendar of Serino's speaking engagements. It would be sometime in the next thirty days. We would only need the equipment for a couple of days. We have to follow the money when it leaves the plane to see where it goes."
"And the editor has signed off on this?"
"Yes, I'm covering all aspects of mega-churches. It seems that some of them do a lot of good. We will go shoot some footage at the church school here in town. I just think Serino could be overstepping his bounds to make himself a multi-millionaire."
"My Dad always said that Billy Graham was the only true preacher he'd ever seen on TV," John said. "It's got to be tough not to let that fame go to your head."
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