Miranda Dickinson - I’ll Take New York

This was getting him nowhere. He decided he would call it a day and go and find somewhere to eat, his empty stomach not helping his mood at all today. He screwed up the unsuccessful candidate list, tossed it in the wire waste paper basket and prepared to leave.

‘Am I late?’

Jake turned to see a smartly dressed black woman standing in the doorway. She made direct eye contact with him as she waited for his reply. That was a first today …

‘Uh – no … Please come in.’

‘The agency gave me the wrong address,’ she stated, offering her hand. ‘Desiree Jackson.’

‘I’m Jake Steinmann. Dr Jake Steinmann.’

‘Good to meet you. Finally . I swear the personnel agency is staffed by high school kids.’ She pulled a chair from the line that Jake had set around the wall of the reception area and settled opposite Jake, who sat quickly in the leather chair behind the desk. ‘I doubt very much you have my résumé, if their sense of direction indicates anything.’ She opened a leather document case and handed him a couple of neatly stapled pages. ‘Here.’

Jake accepted it, his mind whirring. She had taken a chair from the line. Without waiting to be asked to sit It was a small detail, but it showed initiative. And, having been denied anything to be impressed by all day, Jake was taken aback by this. He skimmed over the details on her résumé, but there was something about the confident woman’s attitude that made him like her immensely from the outset.

‘You’ll see from my employment history that I had a break of two years to raise my son,’ Desiree continued. ‘During that time I raised him alone, working nights preparing accounts and paperwork for friends. For the last year I have worked at a law firm on the Lower East Side.’

‘And your reason for leaving?’ Jake asked, trying to regain the initiative in this conversation.

Desiree nodded at her résumé. ‘It’s all there. They’re downsizing. Which, translated, means they’re letting me go.’

‘Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘Don’t be. I walked out and I won’t be looking back.’

I really like you , Jake thought, his spirits beginning to lift. ‘I see. What attracted you to this position?’ Please don’t say ‘because it’s a job’ …

‘The mind is fascinating. What makes people act the way they do; why they make the choices they make. I know a little about psychology. Mostly serial killers.’ She smiled when she saw Jake’s surprise. ‘I like real-life police cases. My kid thinks I’m crazy. But I want to know what turns a regular person into a killer.’

Jake coughed to disguise his laugh. ‘Well, I have to tell you we do very little work with psychopaths here. Most of my clients will be dealing with wrong attitudes and learned behaviours, perhaps stemming from trauma in early childhood. The FBI rarely asks for my assistance.’

Desiree shrugged. ‘It’s all from the same place, isn’t it? The mind.’

If you don’t want this job I will beg you to take it …

‘I guess it is. Did the agency brief you on the required duties of the job?’

‘They mentioned you were a young, single doctor,’ she answered, grinning at Jake’s groan. ‘Beyond that, I kinda figured out what you’d need.’

Jake could believe that. Desiree Jackson was a breath of fresh air, her chutzpah and no-nonsense attitude exactly what Jake was looking for. It was as if Pam had sent her especially for this new role and Jake would be crazy if he didn’t appoint her immediately.

‘Then I only have one more question: when can you start?’

Desiree smiled broadly. ‘Right now, if you want.’

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