Thread: The Point of No Return (The_PG&Malicious Lullaby)

Sometimes it took a woman to do a woman's job. Pratt had seen it before and even after confusing Miss Martin's name he knew that there was very little he could do at the moment. There was a place for him though, to speak to the officers and make sure that Miss Martin was not on the suspects list. She was, of course, everyone was at the beginning of a case like this, but the officers and detectives present were good men. Detective Ferguson's special interests notwithstanding. All of them said the same thing individually, they were quite sure that Miss Martin had nothing to do with her friends death, but like good police officers they would check up each and every lead to make sure that Miss Martin was proven completely innocent. That was only done because of Pratt's presence and interest of the case of course, most times they simply would have allowed the lead to dangle until they had nothing else to check, but in this case they were going to make absolutely sure she was innocent before chasing the real clues. In this case, what had the reporter been working on? Most reporter's made enemies, quite a few them in fact, and that was the highest probability. After thanking the officers Pratt headed down until he was standing within the doorway to the building, watching as Mallory and Miss Martin talked and loaded up the latter's car. When Mallory approached him he listened carefully. Contrary to the secretary and most underlings understanding Pratt did take a mild interest in the goings on underneath him. It was prudent to avoid many things, most of them annoyances, but occasionally they could be serious. The workers did not always grasp how everything mattered. An intern dating a secretary could turn into a legal headache, or if they were from two different firms it could give one side the leg up if one of the two 'conspirators' let something slip during an intimate conversation. It was all quite innocent, sure, but those sitting atop their world could use even the most innocent saying, gesture, or thought to change the political landscape. Very strange was the fact that such power could be swung by the tiniest of details, yet that was the world Pratt lived and thrived in. Of Mallory, he knew that she was dating a man and it was getting rather serious. Luckily he had little if no connection to anyone who had any connection with the powerful and influential in the city, but it still mattered. Should she go through a serious breakup or find out the man was cheating on him she would be given a few days off to collect herself, because she was an important secretary who needed to be one hundred percent focused on her work, and emotions made for horrible companions during the work hours. Second, he also knew of her love for discussing his love life. Thankfully she respected him enough not to want to be involved, but her gossip with the other secretaries and other workers within the office invariably got out to the other powerful men of the city, sometimes even the tabloids. The knowledge was a two edged sword on the one hand it could bite Pratt rather painfully if he slept with the wrong woman, and in this case it would certainly be remembered that he dated the now deceased journalist. A minor bit of news that would quickly be cleared up with two separate statements, one from the police that told that Mr. Pratt was not a suspect whatsoever in the case, and a more emotional one from the public relations office of Pratt's firm. First showing how horrible he felt the incident was, and saying the exact same the police said. Later one of the PR people would leak that the relationship had ended a few weeks before her untimely death, and that would be the end. The other edge of the place was rather dull, but it swung repeatedly and gave his love life the solid image of being a man of many different tastes, and the ability to procure women without resorting to less legal means. All of this passed through Pratt's mind in the brief time that Mallory tried to ask him to help, and then decided it was not her place to do so. Mallory, He said, raising a hand and smiling pleasantly, Don'tcha cancel yer plans. I'll head over ta that bar, twas what I was plannin on anyways fer the night, but den if'n I need ya I'll ring once Miss Martin is finished'er shift. Ya'lready workin hard'nough. I'm particular ta havin a good secretary, and it seems yer a great friend too. She'll preciate it soon enough. What's the address of'n this place? He got the address from her, and went directly to his car. The door closed just as the press showed up, thankfully, he watched for a few moments with amusement as they clucked and flustered around before settling down and waiting for the official statement. With a sigh he plugged in the numbers to his vehicles built in navigation system. Glancing around and it seemed Miss Martin had already fled the scene. A small grin popped across his face at the choice of words before he too did the same. Only for him it was a little closer to the truth. Arriving at the bar a few minutes later Pratt took a seat at the bar after undoing his tie and stuffing it into his back pocket. He observed the atmosphere before ordering a gin tonic, extra dry, on the rocks, with a lime. He left a tenner as a tip and twisted on his stool to the nearest television. Surprisingly it was one of the games he had left a bet on with George. Now with some interest he watched the game and joined into the bars roller coaster of enjoyment at the game. Quite'in a few o'heavy betters in'ere eh? He looked around, hoping to find someone he might know, and wondering how big of a gambler that person might be. It was just another way power could turn on a dime. Unfortunately there was no one quite as high up the totem pole present, so he went back to watching the game and keeping an eye on the door whenever he could spare it. He was not entirely sure what he might do if anything happened to Miss Martin, perhaps simply calling Mallory would be enough, he hoped so. This was certainly the job for either a friend or a woman, he had very little place here, but he would help as best he could. He felt rather bad for the woman, not because of the influence he had in her friends death, that guilt had passed away early this morning. But just in the sense of human frailty. The tears she'd shed, trying to be such a brave and independent woman had given Pratt feelings he could not easily wash away as much as everyone wanted to believe he was a cold-hearted bastard, it simply was not true. That impression was one he was extremely good at cultivating, and it served him well during his power climbing, but the few people that really knew him knew he cared about those less fortunate who did not know how power corrupted. The little guys, so to speak, had a place in his heart. It was small place, but the pro-bono cases he took were not simply for a PR boost. Anyone that was innocent, and behind bars or looking to go behind bars would often get the entire power of Pratt, Whitney, and Zeigler behind them. Just as that those thoughts were crossing his mind, and the game went to commercial, he spotted Miss Martin entering the doorway. Taking a sip of his gin, he watched with experienced eyes to see if she had managed to get herself back under control.