Chapter 17 - Chapter 16

# Chapter 16
AYANDA

A buzz of excitement greets me when I arrive at work with my travel coffee in one hand and my phone in the other. That can only mean one thing: something buzzworthy happened in the world of media.

"Mabandla," Babalwa calls out to my left as she walks up to me, her heels clicking loudly on the marble floor. Her charcoal pencil skirt looks painfully tight.

Unwinding the scarf from around my neck, I quickly enter my cubicle with her close on my heels.

"Mxolisi wants to see you in his office."

Oh great, what does he want now?

"What's with the gossip?" I ask, placing my bag on the chair by the desk.

Babalwa stares at me for a beat, unaware of the lipstick stain on her front teeth, and then laughter bubbles up in her chest. "For a reporter, you really don't read the news."

I roll my eyes and take a sip of my lukewarm coffee. "I don't need to read the news when I work for a newspaper."

"Well," she starts, following after me when I leave the cubicle. "If you did, you would know that Bergsig has a new serial killer on the loose."

I halt in my step, and she catches up. My nose prickles when her peachy perfume precedes her clicking footsteps in a heady cloud. "A serial killer?"

Beaming, she nods. "Exciting, neh?"

I blink. "Not sure I would call it exciting."

The door to Mxolisi's office opens, and the man himself barks, "Mabandla!"

"Yoh, someone's grumpy this morning," Babalwa leans in conspiratorially.

"I wonder what he wants?"

"Everyone is salivating for the chance to cover this story."

"I'm covering the Hadebe story."

She shrugs. "Only one way to find out."