records for a long-gone Philadelphia manufacturer of carousel animals.
“Wouldn’t it be fun to do something with this?” she said wistfully. “Not with the original pieces, of course, but something derived from those wonderful old animals. Something that the children could actually sit on?”
“I’d love to work with you-maybe we could do a joint exhibit? We could showcase the antique images and the carousel company here, and you could do something updated at your place?” I did in fact like the idea, since it wouldn’t take much on our part-we had all the materials on hand.
“Oh, could we?” Arabella clapped her hands with excitement. “It would have to be scheduled for a year or two out, since the
“So I gather, although exhibit planning is not my area of expertise. And it would be nice to find some funding for it. Speaking of which, I just hired a development director. Would you like to meet her?”
“I’d be delighted.”
We wrapped up the tour quickly, and I led her past Shelby’s desk. “Shelby, this is-”
She interrupted me before I could finish. “Arabella Heffernan. Of course! We used to visit Let’s Play years ago, when my daughter, Melissa, was young and we were visiting my husband John’s family. I’ve always had a soft spot for your museum.”
“Well, isn’t that nice? I take it your daughter is grown now? Any grandbabies?”
“Not yet, but she is getting married next summer, so I can hope.”
I broke in, “We were just kicking around ideas for some sort of joint exhibit on carousel animals, and were wondering about finding some grant support for it. Maybe you could do a little digging?”
“Happy to! I can see that would be a lot of fun to plan.”
“No rush, but it would be good to know what resources are available. Can I see you out, Arabella?”
“You mean you want to get some work done, dear. Of course. I’m so glad we had a chance to talk, and let’s keep in touch. Shelby, nice to meet you.”
“You, too, Arabella.”
I took Arabella back downstairs. In the elevator she turned to me. “Nell, could I ask one more favor?”
“Sure. What is it?”
“I know you must be swamped, with your new position, but would you mind talking to Caitlin? We’re short- staffed, and she’s been handling PR for Let’s Play. Jason will be fine, but I thought maybe you could walk Caitlin through how to handle… difficult situations with the press and donors.”
Because I had so much experience dealing with rather public institutional crises? Sadly it was true. “Sure, I can give her some pointers.”
“Oh, thank you! Could I send her over this afternoon? Just in case there’s any leak about Jason’s mishap, I want her to be ready.”
Apparently I wasn’t going to get much paperwork done today. “Of course, send her over.”
“I really do appreciate it, Nell, and I’m sure Caitlin will, too.”
The elevator reached the ground floor and I saw Arabella off, then wandered back to my desk. Was it lunchtime yet? Could I skip lunch and just eat those lovely cookies? I had barely settled myself when Shelby appeared and dropped into the chair in front of me. “Aren’t you going to offer me a cookie?”
“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 resume 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.
