Vixen Investigations: The Mayoral Affairs

by Ashley Papa

  His eyebrows went up as if thoughts of that day were making him sentimental.

  “Whatever happened to that babysitter? Is she still close to the family?” I interrogated.

  Walter put the picture down.

  “No,” he quickly said and cleared his throat. “That was just a temporary situation. Can we continue?”

  “Fine. Let’s go back to you and Victoria. She mentioned the cute little pet name you gave her back in the day, Kryptonite Tiger.”

  Walter leaned forward again and placed his hands palm down on the desk. He looked seriously at the camera and then back to me. Then, he forced out a fake smile.

  “Where did you get that pet name from?” I asked.

  He refused to answer and just looked down at his watch as if this were a basketball or soccer game and he was running the clock.

  10:40 a.m.

  Ask about the boat.

  I took a quick glimpse behind me to see that Leon had returned and him and Jimmy were quietly chatting with each other. The cameraman was looking down at his phone and Adam had his eyes on me. Anxious yet collected, I continued.

  “When it comes to activities, what are some things you like to do with the family?”

  Walter rattled off some random answers like movies and walks in Central Park. He sounded even more eager to wrap up the interview. His answers had become curter.

  “What about sailing? Ever do any of that?”

  “Sometimes,” he blurted and rubbed his hand over this chin and mouth again.

  I proceeded to pull out a picture of the boat with the name Kryptonite Tiger on it and presented it to him.

  “I have to laugh because the other day I saw a boat docked in the marina with that same name on it,” I pointed out while Walter studied it. “Do you share that boat with Comptroller Brownstein, Mr. Mayor?”

  “How did you know it belongs to him?” he suspiciously asked but I ignored him.

  “Now, there has to be more to this name because when going through your, umm, records and proposed projects, I found one called Operation: Kryptonite Tiger, as well. I just find it almost too coincidental that there would be a boat and a city-funded projected named after the nickname you gave Victoria.”

  I had now switched to complete interrogation mode, getting firmer and slightly louder. Even the cameraman seemed to be showing greater interest as he readjusted the lens and the light. Tiny beads of sweat were starting to rise above Walter’s upper lip. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Leon had stepped out, leaving a defenseless mayor and two empty seats.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I thought we were talking about my family and nonpolitical stuff,” Walter sternly stated with minor hysteria.

  He was trying to avoid launching into a fit of rage while the camera kept rolling. I pulled out another file containing a photocopy of the section of the budget that briefly detailed project “Operation: Kryptonite Tiger.”

  10:45 a.m.

  “Can you explain this part of last year’s budget? Nearly $1 million allotted for this. What exactly is this money funding, sir?”

  I pushed the documents towards him. By now he had to have an idea of what was going on. The questions about his babysitter, about Victoria’s pet name, and wanting another child; Walter knew he had been conned. New York City’s favorite mayor was about to be taken out by the Vixen Investigator.

  “No. I can’t explain it,” he nearly shouted.

  Fear and anger radiated from his hard posture. He was now at his most vulnerable self. Any sudden move would all be caught on camera.

  “Why is your former babysitter at all your press conferences?” I asked while pulling out the most valuable photo: the one of Lucy, the comptroller, and the 4-year-old boy standing with the three of them. “And, why is Lucy partying with you all in the Hamptons?”

  I handed him another picture and then another until he had been inundated with snaps of him, Lucy, and the little boy. He studied each of them as fast as he could but didn’t say anything.

  “Where did you get these? What is going on here?! Turn that camera off!” he yelled, knocking his “New York’s Best Mayor” mug on the ground.

  He ripped off his microphone. Adam ran to the door, locking Leon and Jimmy out.

  “Keep rolling, keep rolling!” I ordered.

  The cameraman looked startled but likely knew the video he was getting was Pulitzer-worthy. I rose sharply off my seat and met Walter’s gaze. We were face to face as if we were about to engage in a cage match.

  “I know about everything! I know about your affair and secret family with the ex-babysitter. I know how you met her on Rags and Riches and what goes on, on that sex-infused sailboat of yours and Brownstein’s…” I shouted.

  Walter stared back into my eyes with such force. He had been betrayed by someone he let himself trust: me. His chest rose up and down with every deep breath of outrage. The security guard was now charging at the door. After three loud thumps, it flew open along with a big chunk of the doorframe. The big guard started reaching for my arm.

  “You need to leave now. Turn that camera off and give me the tape. Do as told and nobody gets hurt,” the guard ordered.

  Leon and Jimmy came running in and pulled Walter aside. I watched the cameraman pop out the cartridge, but when he went to hand it to the guard, he faked him out and threw it to Adam instead. Adam ran out of the office.

  “You’re paying your buddies to keep their mouths shut. You’re swindling the residents of New York City to fund your secret affairs. You and your entire cabinet should be in jail!” I yelled towards the three men.

  None of them said anything. They were fucked and they knew it. While the cameraman distracted the guard, I grabbed my tape recorder and bag, but before bolting out, I informed them all that the evidence I had uncovered was already in the hands of the FBI and the State Attorney’s office. The three administration officials huddled together as if trying to figure out what to do. I darted out of the office before the beastly guard could grab me. He tried to chase after me, but tripped over one of the knocked over chairs.

  As I ran down the hallway, I looked back to see Walter’s eyes on me. No doubt he was in full panic mode.

  I was breathing heavily as I pushed past the small crowd that had gathered outside in the hallway. At the same time, I couldn’t help but smile.

  With a full-scale investigation currently underway, by tomorrow morning the entire city and nation would be aware of the scandal. After nearly getting chased out of City Hall, I went directly to The Gotham Post, where Taylor and Adam were already waiting for me outside. Adam handed me the tape and I kissed it as if kissing an Oscar. He, like me, was still panting with excitement. We gave each other a big success and relief hug before heading up to Connie and Juliet’s office.

  “Why didn’t you tell us about all this from the beginning? This is unbelievable,” Connie asked while rewatching the videotape. “I see a huge, weeklong exposé on this. The whole administration is involved. What a soap opera!” she raved.

  “So, you think the administration had something to do with Henry Parker’s murder?” Connie asked me.

  “Yes, honestly. But that’s out of my wheelhouse. That’s for the FBI to figure out. I’m just a…reporter,” I coolly answered.

  Now that the scandal was out, protecting Victoria and Vixen Investigations was priority number one. Connie and Juliet had no idea that Walter’s wife had hired me to investigate her husband, and it had to remain that way. My role as a reporter was done, but not as the Vixen Investigator.

  The next morning, I didn’t even bother to change out of my pajamas before running to the corner deli for The Gotham Post. As I hustled by the bus stop, people waiting in line had their heads buried in a copy, as well.

  There was only one more copy of the paper in the bodega and in big, can’t miss letters, the headline r
ead, MAYORAL AFFAIRS. I grabbed the paper and slammed the $1.75 on the counter. I didn’t even bother to find a place to sit outside; I immediately flipped to page three.

  EXPOSED COX: NYC’s Favorite Mayor Hides Secret Family With Daughter’s Ex-Babysitter; Staffers Paid To Keep Silent.

  The four-page spread, by Gotham Post staff, was a complete breakdown of the events. The article was written like a script of sorts. I was about to turn on to page five when I saw an incoming text from Taylor. She had already read the article and was ecstatic about the press. The whole scenario was obviously insane, but I didn’t feel as thrilled about the report as she was. I thought about Victoria. I hadn’t spoken with her yet.

  What followed was an influx of texts from friends, colleagues, and contacts I didn’t even have stored in my phone.

  Was this you?

  Did you read about the Mayor?

  Yo, did you bust Wil-cocks???

  What a scandal!

  What’s happening in your city?

  It was so overwhelming I had to turn off my phone. When I got back to my apartment, after absorbing everything that had been revealed so far, I flipped on the news to see how the story was playing out on the air. As expected, every local and national news channel was on it and all were attributing Channel 6 and The Gotham Post. There was not a mention of Paige Turner anywhere.

  I clicked the TV back off. I needed to make a phone call.

  “How are you doing?”

  “Honestly…relieved.” Victoria sounded a lot more relaxed than I thought she would, given the circumstances. “Piper is a wreck. I’m taking her to a therapist in a few hours. The whole thing about Lucy is very traumatic for her.”

  “What’s been the exchange with Walter?”

  “Well, he warned me last night, after your interview and after he met with his lawyer, that something big was going to be coming out about him. He prepared me, but I already knew. He was probably surprised at how calm I was, honestly,” Victoria debriefed.

  I apologized to her for having the scandal go public as fast as it did. The fact that Walter’s staff was being paid to hide it all took the case to a different level; a level that was out of my control. As more revealed itself, feds came to discover that there were even more people involved in the cover-up than first thought. The portly secretary, several security personnel, and even the cleaning lady and doorman were all getting a cut to stay silent.

  When I hung up with Victoria, I bravely put the TV back on. Every channel seemed to have the same LIVE video of Walter, Jimmy, and Leon being escorted by three attorneys and several security guards through a sea of cameras, reporters, and civilians. One resident held up a sign that said, “My Money Funds Your Affair.”

  As I watched and listened to the reporters talk about it being the “biggest sex and fraud scandal” in the city’s history, I was jolted again by the sound of my ringing phone. The caller ID said “Unavailable.”

  “Good work, detective,” the robotic voice said.

  “Who is this? You may as well reveal yourself now,” I responded.

  There was a brief bout of silence.

  “I’ll be waiting for you on the second bench to the right of the BP gas station on the East River Bikeway at noon today,” they said and hung up.

  The heat of the summer sun seemed to match the intensity of the city right now. The traffic leaving Manhattan was already bumper-to-bumper and it wasn’t even noon yet.

  I had an Uber drop me off at the corner of 1st Avenue and 20th street, not far from Taylor’s apartment. I walked across the remaining East Side and up a few blocks to where the gas station and my mystery informant were.

  Momentum built the closer I got to what looked like a person in a baseball cap.

  It was a woman. A young woman.

  I don’t believe this.

  She kept her face looking out across the river as I approached.

  “Lucy?” I smoothly asked.

  “Hello, detective,” she flatly replied.

  “It was you, wasn’t it?”

  I took a seat next to her and stared across to Long Island City. She was wearing a yellow cotton Jersey dress and a lime green Titleist cap.

  “So, spill it, why were you helping me?”

  I didn’t push her, but let her respond at her own pace. I was eager to hear her response. It took her a few minutes to gather her thoughts.

  “He’s been hiding me and Devin...”

  Devin? Your son?

  “…for way too long and the thought of it continuing even after child number two comes along…”

  Child two? I thought she looked a little round in the belly.

  “…I just couldn’t accept it. If he weren’t going to man up, I’d do it for him. He can be such a pussy sometimes,” she said, gently rubbing her stomach. “He has spent enough time with Victoria and Piper. The little brat is so ungrateful anyway. She’d always tell me how much she hated her dad. She probably still says it. It is my…our turn now,” she argued, if actually believing everything that just happened was fair. “I love him. I don’t want him to be the mayor anymore. I want to get out of this city and live on a ranch in Texas, like he promised me years ago. Instead, he keeps me caged up in the Hamptons like Rapunzel. I have to pretend to be with Richard, who is so gay, by the way, and in love with Jimmy. My life’s been hell.”

  She sounded delusional and almost psychotic.

  “Does anyone else know about you calling me? How did you get my number…and Adam’s?”

  Lucy turned to me, finally revealing her face. She looked me straight in the eyes. Though she was still cute with the big brown eyes, olive skin, and plump lips, up close, I could see the stress in her face.

  “I had some help,” she confessed and turned back out to look at the water. “Jimmy gave me your number and fed me the clues. He wanted Walter found out just as bad as me so he could carry on his relationship with Richard.”

  “Yeah, but now he’s facing jail time,” I stated.

  Lucy divulged that Jimmy hated his job so much, he contemplated running away. He feared ending up like Henry Parker if he quit. Jimmy knew too much; there was no way the administration would let him leave knowing what he knew. It was like the mayoral mafia.

  “Tell me,” I started. “How do you know about…what I do for a living?” I hesitantly asked, as I was worried it had gotten out that Victoria had hired me.

  “Please, Paige. Everyone knows about you.”

  What?! Who is EVERYONE?

  I swallowed hard.

  “You don’t have to be so modest. You’re like the best reporter in New York City. Jimmy had followed your reporting career more than me. He knew you’d be the only one who could sniff out what was going on. That’s why he sent you that “kryptonite tiger” text. It was almost fate that soon after, you were showing up at Walter’s press conferences. Why do you think Jimmy got so lenient with you?” she explained.

  Her recount made perfect sense. And, little did they know that the whole time, I was really working for Victoria. I was relieved, most of all. I didn’t even realize that my name was still floating around as being one of the best reporters in the city.

  Lucy and I sat for another ten minutes. As the sun beat down on my shoulders, Lucy continued to fill me in on why she joined the sleazy website and her love for Walter. She felt he “saved” her by helping her and her father avoid student loan debt. I cringed when she mentioned feeling like Walter’s daughter at times. When her town car pulled up, she rapidly stood to not make the driver wait. She bent down to give me a hug.

  “Thank you, Paige Turner. Now I can live the life I always wanted and deserve,” she softly said into my ear.

  I hugged her back with deep concern. Concern for the welfare of her two children. She cocked the lid of the hat down more over her eyes and hurried to the car that pulled up
alongside the bike path. She hopped in and that was that. I stayed sitting on the bench to think.

  The heat on my face felt good. I could feel my nose getting burned. The humming of the cars speeding by was therapeutic. It’s been a while since I really listened to my surroundings. At that moment, for the first time in a long time, my head cleared and I entered a perfect meditative state. I enjoyed it until my cell phone started buzzing. With a smile, I answered.

  “Nice job on the mayor story,” Liam said.

  It was the first time I had heard his voice, and not to mention, the first nice thing he’s said to me, since finding out about my private eye business.

  “I’ll kill you if you tell anybody,” I joked. “It just kind of exploded into this massive mayoral scandal. I had no idea what was going on until I started peeling back the layers.”

  “Ha. His administration does stink…I’m sorry I got so heated. I shouldn’t have flipped out like that,” Liam confessed.

  “It’s understandable. I wasn’t honest with you and you were nothing but open to me. I’m sorry, too,” I admitted.

  A moment of silence.

  “I don’t want to keep pushing, but why couldn’t you just tell me? Why the secrets?” Liam asked.

  “Liam…my investigations aren’t your typical ‘Nancy Drew mysteries.’ How would you have felt if I told you I sought out cheaters and investigated white-collar infidelity? You would’ve run without even hearing what I am all about. It’s not something I put out there right away. When I realized I really liked you, I guess I got concerned that you would…well…act the way you did when you found out,” I tried to explain.

  My words still felt like they were coming out wrong.

  “You’ve been surrounding yourself with the wrong men for a long time,” was all Liam said.

  I smiled on the other end of the phone. I hoped he could sense my content.

  Following the explanations of our actions, we caught up more on other life events like his work, the heat, and the new boardwalk going up in Asbury Park.