Chapter 109: Scoop

 There was a message waiting for her the moment she entered the press room of The Glass Muse. According to one of her colleagues, it was brought by a very suspicious looking male messenger with a very strict instruction to give it to her personally, and to her alone and nobody else. Inside the hallowed halls of The Glass Muse, this kind of cryptic messaging is evidently understood to be major news sources.

"I think this comes from a precious tipster," her co-worker said as soon as he handed the manila envelope to her. "What story are you following these days? I think this is something big. A big scoop."

"Thank you very much, Ransard," Rosary said, flashing a weak smile. "I have a couple of stories from my political beat that I am following right now. How was that developing story from your column being received so far? It has produced quite a stir."

"It did. The Rectory should try harder in explaining its business to the public. Well, I'll see you later, Rosary. The Opinion Editor wanted to see me. You well know how difficult he can be," Ransard said while quickly escaping from the press room.

"See you later," Rosary said goodbye in return. Now that she was alone, she took a seat behind her massive desk while staring at the mysterious manila envelope she was handed with moments ago. She is honestly blank as to its contents, and there is a certain feeling of fear like a lump forming at the back of her throat. Her heart started to race.

"I hope this better not it," she murmured to herself. "I don't think I am quite ready for this at this time."

But she already knew what the contents of this manila envelope will be, and she is just delaying to see what the truth might say as the investigation leads into her own presence. This story will create an unnecessary ruckus, and will incriminate some government officials of the realm within the Commission on Appointments.

She wanted to deny all the facts she had uncovered so far as she accidentally picked up this story regarding the bizarre death of the Most Loyal Executive Secretary, but this is going to be a great disservice to the public. Her probe is now developing into a syndicated cover-up that points to an almost perfect corruption scheme with a magnitude so shocking that it will defy all logical defense to escape responsibility to its shortcomings.

But she did not have any other evidence to the conclusion she had been speculating for weeks now, and this manila envelope will shed light to some of the premises that this story had been holding on; although she was intending to use logic and her attempt to ultimately scribble this story as prudent as possible, just like a worthy scribe, it is still not easy to answer, write a neutral report, and stand up to political oppressors.

Her fears are trying to tell her to abandon this story lead and then live a normal life, but no journalist will back down from a certain call of duty. She may be feeling afraid for now, but she will try relying mostly on her strength and perseverance to gather enough courage to be able to competently do this part.

The people have the right to know; this has always been the mantra of her career, which translates quite thoroughly to what she holds true as the ultimate purpose in life.

It is now time to open the manila envelope. There is no turning back. She stared at it for a moment, took a deep breath, and gave out a huge sigh.

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