What We Once Were

Chapter 5.

The next morning Bridget changed into a soft grey sweater, a white shirt and dark blue jeans for her first day of work. She figured she could dress down since the small town norm wasn't pencil skirts and business attire.

On her way out, she kissed Juliet goodbye on the cheek and left the house. On the way to work she listened to the morning talk show hosts babble about the latest celebrity and how ridiculous they thought their outfit was. Bridget didn't care at all, eventually she shut off the radio in annoyance with their mindless chatter and drove in silence the whole way to work.

She'd been so exhausted for the last two days she'd barely gotten to look over the case files, let alone figure out who she was assigned to work with. She hoped it wasn't someone she used to be super close with. She wasn't sure if she'd rather partner with someone who knew nothing about her or an old acquaintance from her youth.

She parked her car in the lot and walked through the doors to the Woodland Tribune. When Bridget entered the newsroom, she wasn't surprised to see that it looked almost exactly the same as it did the last time she was here. The same old computers and files lined the old oak shelves, overflowing with books, files and papers. It smelled like old paper, ink and coffee. Nothing had changed about this place in five years, she'd spent many long afternoons after school and summer days volunteering in the newsroom as soon as she'd turned sixteen. She'd always loved this job.

She knocked on the door with a strip of glass lined with wire squares. The man behind the desk let her in and Bridget sat awkwardly in the old green chair by his desk.

The man, Glenn Gleeson was balding with big, round, black glasses. He had to be around fifty years old and was twice the size, (both width and height wise) than Bridget was. But to the people she'd met in New York, he looked like a chubby bunny in comparison.

"Mr. Gleeson, it's a pleasure to meet you." She greeted and shook his hand firmly.

"Bridget Carter, I'm so glad you are able to work with us. I was hoping our town wouldn't make national news again, but here we are." His voice was deeper than she thought it would've been. Bridget recalled back to her sophomore year when Jayden Bailey had been murdered. That had made national news, no one in the state of New York could believe a murder like that would happen in a small town like Woodland.

Then the next year when Harold had been the serial killer nicknamed The Masked Murderer, her junior year of high school had not been easy for a number of reasons. Then her senior year, a group of boys had turned up dead in the Black Woods and had strange markings on their arms and had overdosed on a drug no one in town had heard of. Each month, the number of teens dead in the woods increased. There had been detectives from Washington camping out in Woodland that year. Somehow, Bridget, Viviana, Greyson and Austin had figured out what was happening and ended up working together with some of the detectives to solve the case. That had been an eventful year.

"Stuff always seems to happen here doesn't it?" Bridget gave him a knowing look.

"It always does, it's good to see you again Bridget." He lightened the mood between them.

"Wait, Glenn, you're the official editor now? When I left you were a columnist, wow, congratulations on the promotion! I'm sorry I didn't recognize you earlier." Bridget apologized.

Glenn chuckled warmly, "No worries, I've lost a lot of hair since you've last seen me." They both laughed before he continued, "Still, you've done pretty well for yourself. I read from your publisher that you're one of the top investigative journalists they have. He says you're not afraid to stick your nose into other people's business." Glenn said with a smile, "I guess not too much has changed about you, Carter."