The interview and the present

James

It was 5PM already, and just as promised, I sat in Amber's bedroom alongside Ms. Steiner. We both faced each other, in the middle was a folding table Amber had hastily set up to house our drinks and a device Ms. Steiner had placed there.

"As you might know, Mr. Goodman, this is a voice recorder. It will record the interview so it can be transcribed later with greater accuracy."

"I understand." She pushed a button on the recorder and started with the interview.

"Now Mr. Goodman, I'm glad you sat down for an interview with me, since it's your first in your month of owning GRC during a scandal-ridden time. Could you go into more detail about why you stayed silent for so long?"

"Well, for starters, a big part was the reason that I was never meant to inherit this company. After my brother's divorce, my father went with him on vacation to get his mind off of things, but my brother discovered that my father liked that town because he could cheat on my mother freely there. A brawl ensued and both are in jail there. Hence I received the, initially temporary, position of caretaker. As it was originally thought to be a short period in which I wouldn't have to make any major decisions, I decided not to make much public." She looked a little stern.

"And then what?"

"At first I thought it would stay an internal family matter. It was only later that my mother discovered the hidden cameras that have caused a huge scandal for the company. Coincidentally, the apartment my father had organized for me on a whim was such an apartment. Throughout the internal investigations done by the company itself and by the police, I learned that the previous tenant had fled upon being advanced on by my father." Her looks changed from stern and condemning to a more pitying, yet horrified look.

"GRC had announced out-of-court settlements with the affected tenants. Why is that?"

"For one, we run on tight profit margins, thus we wanted to avoid further costs from lawsuits. Secondly, we do want to properly apologize and show that we are sorry for what had happened. I decided the best thing to do was to cooperate with the police investigation, footing the bill to remove all cameras, and offering the victims a compensation that's similar to what they would have gotten during a lawsuit. It seemed the most sensible to me, as it saves the victims from having to relive traumatic events in a year-long court battle."

"Will your tenants be expected to pay the bill for the settlement?"

"In a way, yes, it is kind of unavoidable. The payments amount to 42,000 bucks per month after all, which is over four times the salary I earn as the owner of GRC. My father set the salary so high because my mother is a housewife, so that money is still needed. My tenants don't need to be worried, however, as there will not be a rise in rent."

"How are you able to achieve that?"

"I'm not so sure how much I am allowed to reveal as of yet, since this part is under police investigation. I will write you back after I inquire how much you are allowed to publish, okay?" She nodded and turned the recorder off for a moment. "To make a long story short, my father had been blackmailed by people that had learned of his cameras. He used various tricks to pay them 40,000 a month to keep them quiet. The other 2,000 that go to paying the victims come from my own salary as owner of GRC." She turned the recorder back on, taking a few notes.

"Back to the main question - why avoid the public light?"

"During the reveal of the fact that my father had been spying on some of his tenants, his legal troubles kept escalating. We all know the draconian punishments over there, and the trial seems increasingly unwinnable. During that time I was given temporary ownership, that has now become now permanent. The other reasons for avoiding the public light are pretty simple. My mom needed someone to cheer her up after learning that she had been cheated on, I still had my normal job as a journalist where I had my different moment of fame, we are both normal people." Her facial expressions turned more neutral.

"The revelations of your father's activities have also had consequences for local politics. What do you hope changes in Trinton's future?"

"I hope we get more honest and well-intentioned mayors, haha. All cynical commentary aside, I do believe we need a mayor that everyone in Trinton can trust not to be awful. As I've only just returned to Trinton after six years of absence, I'm not very well informed about the intricacies of local politics. Whether and whom I will support in the July mayoral election, I do not know yet."

She followed up with some more generic questions about my plans as GRC owner and tacked on a few questions about my job as a journalist at the end. Nevertheless, I was initially happy about the interview. When we were done with the interview at 7PM I decided to check my phone again. Some generic emails from sites I had long since forgotten about were wishing me a happy birthday alongside extra special deals... Sigh. My mind wandered back to the app. The app... Hold up. I have a trait that deals with mistrust, right? Judging by the fact that Ms. Steiner started off at -51SP she's likely someone who has had plenty of mistrust for me before the interview. But the fact that her points weren't increasing probably means that she still doesn't trust me. As she started to pack her things, Amber left the room. I tried to strike up a conversation.

"Do you think I should have done things differently?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I feel like you're still pretty suspicious of me. So I wondered if there was something I could have done better."

"You're sharp enough to understand that I don't trust you but not sharp enough to guess why?"

"Well, if I had to take a wager, I'd say you don't think I have good intentions with any of this, but intentions are hard to prove. Not to mention I do find it difficult to express them more."

"It's just... Leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling, you know?"

"Hm... I mean, I know the optics are bad, that's out of the question. Have you thought about interviewing some of the victims? You'd probably have to publish what they say anonymously, but it might help you get a clearer picture."

"Oh, so have you gotten an NDA too? No wonder the pay was so generous."

"No, why would I? I don't want to silence this story, as much as it will hurt our company image. There's a police investigation anyway, plus the blackmailers already have some evidence. I couldn't keep this story secret if I wanted to and, as the police said themselves, I cooperated fully with the investigation. I had to take in my mother for a while as well. She was already devastated and then she found out her husband did even worse stuff. Don't get me wrong, this is peanuts compared to what the victims went through, but it hasn't been an easy month for me. I have no business experience and a lot of other things to worry about at the same time. I'm really lucky that everything worked out rather smoothly. I wasn't really sure what to do if the compensation payments were bigger, they would ultimately end up coming from the pockets of our tenants who are obviously innocent."

"Wouldn't it be better to have bigger profit margins then?"

"I don't think so. I mean, stuff like this shouldn't happen or be billed into our financial planning. Of course I'm sad that our tenants will be expected to bear the burden, but this would be the case with any other company, whether it's this or because I would have given myself a bonus, regardless of actual results. I wish I could just **** my father to pay the compensation for the crimes he committed, but at the end of the day I felt like someone had to step up and take the responsibility. If he doesn't or cant, at the moment, the company must." Natalie +1SP (-50SP) Finally a crack in her shell. She unpacked her notebook again and wrote down a few lines.

"I think I have a better grasp of your mentality aboutthese events now, thanks."

"If you want, I can give you the number of the police officer responsible for the investigation." Amber entered the room with a self-satisfactory grin on her face. "Oh that's right, I do know some victims personally, so I could ask them as well if you want to interview them."

Amber interrupted my talk: "James, you know two. And I don't think Laura will be all too useful considering that she tried to hit on you the first time you met her during the investigation and even objected to removing the camera."

I groaned: "Yeah okay, maybe she isn't the best interview partner for Ms. Steiner. What about Floria? I don't know if she'd like to talk about everything, given how much it traumatized her."

Amber answered: "No harm in trying, you know? I'll give you her number, Nat, okay?"

Ms. Steiner was taken aback by the events: "Uhm sure, but I'll do my own research too. And how do you have her number, Amber?"

I jumped back into the conversation: "Floria's a colleague, she was the one who fled from her apartment that I received afterwards. Officer Miller has a full list with all the victims and ways to contact them, so you can probably as her for further research help." Natalie +2SP (-48SP)

Ms. Steiner put all her items back into her rather large bag. "Well thank you Mr. Goodman and Amber for your cooperation today. I'm glad we could schedule the interview so soon." She shook my hands. "Amber, we two have something else to do for now, right? Wouldn't want to keep anyone waiting..."

Amber replied: "No need to worry, I'm sure he'll understand. Anyway, I prepared everything, look." Amber showed off a box filled with a wide variety of sex toys. I'm pretty sure it's Donna's box, but not like I care. Ms. Steiner was flustered and began to stammer as she pointed into my general direction. Yet Amber kept going. "Oh, since I hadn't had the chance to say this in person yet, happy birthday. My present to you is... her!"

Ms. Steiner and I just stared at each other in disbelief. She was the first to break the awkward silence: "So he... was the guy you were talking about?"

Amber nodded. "I guess I should explain it to you, master. Recently I've been going back to a site I liked to watch before you and Klara came into my life a few weeks ago. I had made a friend on the platform that was a journalist just like me, and in her desperation to find you as an interview partner she remembered that the girl that used to dom her was a fashion journalist like the guy she wanted to interview. And then she suggested your birthday as an interview date and I figured I could give you the perfect present. A BDSM slut, tied up in your basement, ready to endure whatever you throw at her. In any case, I need to grab her quickly. I'll tie you up while master has dinner, okay?"

The two left the room in a hurry, leaving me behind in a daze. I had expected Ms. Steiner to put up more of a resistance to Amber's suggestions, but it seems like she was just as confused as I was.