Chapter 9 - Insider

"I found the insider," Nora's friend said to her as she walked into their shared office, her heels softly clicking the tiles.

Her eyes lit up, then suddenly became clouded by anger, "Who is it? " She asked as she dropped her bag on the desk in front of her friend.

With an incredulous smile, her friend replied, "It's one of the cleaners. We probably left a clue or something in this office." That's the only way she could have found something out. I also found out a lot of interesting things, like how boring going through CCTV footage is. "

She let out a loud frustrated sigh, laughed a little, then said to Nora, "please have a seat."

Nora obliged and took her seat facing her friend, who slid some pictures over to her. She picked the photographs up and began flipping through

"she's dating..." It's more like the journalist is fooling around with her, he's only using her, for want of better words to describe what they're doing, rolling her eyes, she paused, then continued speaking. "The journalist,- he isn't even a real journalist, he's just a struggling freelance blogger looking for a big break, Remember the blog we found? "

She asked and Nora nodded in response, "That was what led me straight to him. It was pretty easy to find him." He gives the cleaner a lot of money and promises of love, in return, she gives him the little information she has about the company. The information isn't enough to lead straight to me, but it's enough to raise suspicions and cause others to ask questions, and that's what he wants. I found that she's actually not the only one he has approached for information on the company. He has approached a few other ladies, but they either couldn't provide enough information or they saw through his lies and that he was only trying to use them for information."

Her friend produced a folder from the desk and slid it across the table to Nora, who quietly collected it and opened it.

"The details of everything about the reporter and the cleaner are in there; names, background information, contact information, address and also any small detail that might help."

Nora scanned through the papers then said, "I don't understand why she'll want to do this. Aren't we paying her enough for working here? We pay more than an average cleaner should be earning."

"It's love, darling, love. The money is just a bonus. I believe her motivation for doing this was love. He manipulated her into doing his every bidding because, from what I found out, she was doing pretty okay but she seemed smitten by him." Her friend replied.

"That's nonsense. You want me to believe that she was willing to risk her job just for a man she loves, who, by the way, is cheating on her?"

"But the poor thing doesn't know he's cheating on her..."

"Then she must be really dumb or just plain stupid." Nora interrupted

"No she's not Nora. Based on what I know, she's smart. She's an intelligent young woman, but love can make even the most intelligent do really stupid things", she replied.

They both went silent and stared right at each other, each one daring the other to speak as a sly smile formed on their friends' lips...

"I still think she did it for money," Nora said, finally breaking the silence, as she returned her attention to the papers in front of her.

Her friend giggled and said, "Okay."

The room fell silent again until Nora spoke, "he's not from here, which explains why he is so foolish and reckless. Every reporter in this country knows it's futile to go after FS Phoenix." Her attention still on the papers as she flipped through them. "How exactly was he able to get that article published in the tabloid?" She asked, raising her gaze to meet her friend's.

"If you had continued reading, you would have seen it. Well, he's got "connections," her friend replied, making air quotes as she spoke.

Nora interrupted, " it's another woman right?" and her friend simply nodded and laughed loudly, her head thrown back.

" What exactly is it with this guy? No, actually, what is it with the women who fall for this guy? He's not even that good looking. " Nora spoke venomously in a raised voice.

This only earned a louder round of laughter from her friend. Nora looked confusedly at her. Sowly pulling herself together, she had a mischievous grin on her face as she opened her mouth to speak.

Nora , thinking she figured out what she was going to say, immediately said, with seriousness written all over her face, "Don't tell me it was love cuz this isn't. They're either under some weird spell or he has a lot of money."

Stifling a loud laugh but failing woefully, her friend clutched the edge of the desk and laughed again.

This only left Nora more confused and slightly irritated. "I don't understand what is so funny about all this," her friend shrugged as she slowly composed herself.

"It's not money, Nora," she said, letting out a wicked laugh.

Nora retorted, "Everyone has a price, everyone can be bought at the right price, but please tell me how this isn't money."

" I know it isn't money because I carried out the investigation and background checks. He doesn't have that much money. Yeah, he got a sizeable sum of money from his parents' inheritance, but he has wasted most of it, and with the way he's going, he'll be broke soon and in huge debt. So no Nora, it's not money."

" Okay, then he's practicing voodoo or black magic, because these women seem to be spellbound. That's the only explanation I have. "How else do you explain two women, and I hope there are only two, falling in "love" with such a guy who makes them do whatever he asks without questioning, risking their jobs, allowing themselves to be used?" She said loudly.

In amusement, her friend said, "I sometimes tend to forget how much of a feminist and an advocate for women's rights you are."

"I'm not a feminist, I just tend to get passionate about certain things." Nora calmly replied.

"You can deny it all you want, but I'll keep believing you are until you prove otherwise." Nora remained silent.

"The answer to your question is simply MANIPULATION. It is a very powerful tool used in controlling humans, especially those who are prone to being easily manipulated. It's a mind control technique, and apparently he's skilled at that. Yes, money might be involved, but just as you said, that was only a bait to draw them in. He made them believe he cared about them, wormed his way into their lives, and then began manipulating them like a puppet master. I mean, look at them Nora, they're all single ladies. "

"That doesn't mean anything, and you know it. I agree with you on some aspects, but not because they're single. We're both single ladies also and we don't fall for just any guy"

"I understand, but not everyone is like you, Nora. Not everyone is like us."

"Fine, I get it, so what's the plan? , What do we do now?"

"First we fire the cleaner, but before we do that, we have to call both of them, (the cleaner and the journalist), and interview them. Show her the pictures of the other ladies and explain to her how she has been a victim of manipulation. " Her friend said, with a creepy smile.

Nora smiled, knowing how much her friend loved to set cheating couples against each other. "Fine, I'll do it, only because I think the cleaner needs to know she's been played and because it'll be fun." But I still don't agree with you on the "manipulation thing". Nora replied.

"Fine, whatever, as long as you'll do it," her friend said in return.

Nora and her friend spent the rest of the day working but Nora couldn't get her mind off the new information she had about the journalist and the cleaner, she needed to get everything over with and put it behind her so she could focus on other things. She hated hiccups like this, but they were inevitable. she finally decided on a course of action at the end of the day and she felt a lot better haven come up with a solution.