Now she pointed at the photo TMZ had just released. “She had that mole removed two years ago.” She turned to grin at Matt and Dasha. “That means this photo is either old or doctored.”

“Shit, that’s amazing.” Matt said as Natalie eyed him to make sure there wasn’t a but coming.

“What did the White House say?” she asked.

“No response. Which means something’s up,” he said, pulling his phone out. “And now I am going to produce the hell out of this piece. Let’s get you on air.”

Natalie glanced at the television where Ryan, looking a little flustered, was wrapping his interview with Rigo. Already other stations had gone wall-to-wall FLOTUS.

My turn, Natalie thought. My chance.

8

The Rights of Management

Despite the breaking news on air—a panel of pundits in boxes engaged in a shoutfest over FLOTUS’s photograph with BamBam—the wattle of What Girls didn’t seem to be doing anything more than ignoring Matt and researching the calories in toothpaste. “I had no idea it could make you fat but GMA did a whole segment on it,” one of them announced.

Fifteen minutes earlier Matt had marched over to the desk, declaring he was going to personally track down an executive producer and get Natalie on the air pronto. That had been long enough for her to fix her hair and freshen up her makeup. Now she was getting restless.

After checking her eyelashes one last time, Natalie put down the mirror and walked over to the desk. “I still don’t get it.” One of the What Girls who had been squinting at Matt shifted the squint to her. “A mole? Who else is reporting that? Does, like, the New York Times or, um, Beltway have it?”

Natalie frowned and looked at Matt who looked back at her with an expression of humility she wouldn’t have guessed he possessed. “You try,” he said. “I am completely defeated,” and walked off, leaving Natalie on her own.

With a deep breath, she steeled herself and explained, no. No one else was reporting the mole. “We have it first,” she said, flooding her voice with enthusiasm.

The What Girl frowned, unmoved. “I don’t understand. If no one else is reporting it, how do you know it’s true?”

Patience, must exercise patience, she told herself.

“Because I’ve confirmed it myself. With my own eyes.” Natalie inhaled again and tried for an approach with less logic. “Can you help me get it on air before the other networks do?”