“No, I want to keep them all to myself!” I smiled and offered her the basket.
“I bet you do. You didn’t happen to catch the name of the bakery, did you? These are wonderful.” Shelby munched blissfully. “What brought Arabella here?”
“There was an unfortunate incident yesterday, while I was at Let’s Play-something went wrong with one of the exhibits they’re installing, a worker got a bad shock, and they took him off to the hospital. Arabella came by to tell me he’s going to be fine. The cookies were compensation for whatever upset I might have suffered from witnessing what happened. I’m just glad it wasn’t any worse.”
“Amen to that! That was nice of her. And I like that idea for a joint project-collaborative efforts sell well to funders, don’t you think?”
“I do. And it would be an interesting alliance, given how different our audiences are. Great crossover potential. I was surprised, though, that you knew Arabella, and Let’s Play. You weren’t just being polite, were you?”
“Not at all! I do remember it, from years back. It was always a little shabby, but my daughter loved it.”
“Still true. So do your in-laws still live around here? Would I know them?”
Shelby laughed. “I doubt it-they don’t like to part with a nickel, so they wouldn’t be on your fundraising radar. So help me, they had a stick up their you-know-whats, one and all. We visited for holidays when Melissa was young, but after a while even she didn’t want to come. They retired to Florida several years ago, and I don’t see much of them these days, at least since Melissa left home. Doesn’t exactly break my heart.” Shelby helped herself to another cookie.
“Did you need me for something?” I prompted her, before she ate all my goodies.
“Oh-yes. I’ve got someone I’d like you to talk to about your assistant position.”
“That was fast. Does Melanie approve?”
“Sure does. I gave her his résumé this morning.”
“His?”
Shelby arched one eyebrow at me. “You’re not going to go all sexist about this?”
“Of course not. If he can do the job, I’ll be happy to talk to him. When can he come in?”
“Would this afternoon work for you? He’s temping at the moment, but he’s between jobs.”
“Bring him on in-I’ll make time for him.”
“OK, I’ll give him a call.” She stood up. “I’ll let you go back to work now-if you’ll bribe me with one more cookie.”
“Done.” Regretfully I handed her one, refusing to count how many-or how few-remained. “Now shoo.”
CHAPTER 6
Fortified by the cookies, I decided to work through the lunch hour. Unfortunately, fifteen minutes later Front Desk Bob called up to say that there was a Caitlin Treacy to see me. “Send her up,” I told Bob. “I’ll meet her at the elevator.”
I’d only seen Caitlin as she had rushed to Jason’s side the day before, and I wouldn’t have recognized the slender young woman who emerged from the elevator. She was taller than Arabella, and I wondered briefly what her father had looked like, since she bore little resemblance to her smaller, rounder mother. “Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Ms. Pratt.”
“Nell, please,” I said absently. “No problem. As your mother may have told you, I know a bit about the situation you’re in, and I’m happy to help. How’s Jason?” I asked as I led her down the hall to my office.
“He’s good, or so the doctors say. They wouldn’t let me stay overnight at the hospital, so I spent the night at Mother’s.”
We walked in silence until reaching my office, where I gestured her toward a chair. “She mentioned that. So you and Jason live in Camden?”
Caitlin was studying my office, taking in the details-or avoiding my eyes? “Yes. We live together. He’s a graduate student so he doesn’t have a lot of money, and rents are cheap there compared to here. I could live with my mother, but I’d rather live with Jason.”
Well, that was direct, at least. “Does he remember much about what happened?”
“No.” She didn’t elaborate.
It seemed to me that I was doing a lot of the work to keep this conversation going, which was annoying because she was the one who wanted something from me. “What can I do for you? Do you have questions?”
“Mother thought I should talk to you. Look, my job is exhibits management, not public relations, so I don’t really know what to do. Mother said you had something awful happen here, so she thought you could help me with what to say. Or not say. If the press comes around.”
Based on her awkwardness, I could see why Caitlin wasn’t up to handling public relations. I wondered if she was capable of talking to people at all. She was an attractive young woman but definitely short on charm.
“There’s no one else at your place who handles the press?” I hoped there was someone who could bail her out.
“Nope, the person who usually would is out on maternity leave. Bad timing, with the exhibit happening just now.” She said abruptly, “You know it takes years to put together an exhibit, right?”
“Yes,” I said. I’d been involved in raising money for more than one at the Society, although luckily we had nothing in the works at the moment.
“And now it’s just a couple of weeks before we’re supposed to open. It’s all set up, and the publicity for it went out long ago. And now this thing with Jason happened. So far nobody’s paid it any attention, and he’s not going to stir anything up, that’s for sure. I mean, like suing or anything. But say somebody at the hospital talks-what do I do then?”
I felt for her. I’d learned the hard way how fragile an institution’s reputation was, and one wrong step could do a lot of harm to it. Of course, identifying the cause would go a long way toward easing visitors’ minds. “The most important thing you can do is reassure the public that Let’s Play is safe for their children. That what happened to Jason was a simple accident, and that you’ve had everything checked out by experts who have assured you that the wiring is safe. That is, only if this leaks out.”
“But it was an accident. The wiring is fine.”
I was a bit surprised at her almost flippant attitude. “Caitlin, you may know that, but what you have to do is make sure the public does, too-and believes it. Forgive me for saying so, but I think your mother’s a much better spokesperson than you are, if it comes to that.”
“I know,” Caitlin said. “I’m not good with people, and I hate sucking up. I’m a lot happier dealing with paperwork and planning. I think the exhibit is great. Don’t you?”
“It looked charming, though I didn’t really get to see it working before the accident. I imagine that children will love it. But to get back to the point, do you have any connections in city government? A friend at the Inquirer, maybe? Can you invite the mayor to the opening? How about a buddy at a local radio or television station who can help you get the word out?”
Caitlin shrugged-again. I couldn’t believe how uninterested she appeared in this conversation. “I don’t know. I’ll have to check the files, when I get time.”
“Make the time,” I said firmly. “It’s important to keep the press on your side, just in case things like this happen. That means you have to cultivate relationships with them-all the time, not just when you need them. You have to manage all your relationships in this town. People can really pull together and help you, but only if you’ve laid the groundwork first. And right now, if I were you, I’d brainstorm with the rest of your staff and try to figure out what your strongest contact is and use that.” I stared at her. She stared back, her expression blank. Was I getting through to her? I doubted it. I thought for another moment. “Be prepared for quick turnaround-keep ahead of the story. Could Hadley Eastman and her publicity people pull any strings?”