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featured previous magazine covers and Southwest art pieces and sculptures. Rick
noted that the sculptures could either be expensive originals or very good
duplicates.
    “Morning. My name is Rick Devins and I need to speak to the
managing editor. I believe her name is Lily?”
    “Yes. She’s on the phone at the moment. Do you have some time to
wait?”
    “Yes, I do. Thank you.”
    “What’s the reason for your visit? This way, I can let Lily
know.”
    “Certainly. I’m Morgan Adams’ attorney and I need to speak to her
about John Mack’s allegations of outsourcing.”
    The receptionist shot him a sharp look. “You know who made the
allegations? She’s suing him?”
    “Yes, but beyond that, I can’t say anything,” said Rick.
    Fifteen minutes later, he was sitting across from Lily,
explaining the reason for his visit.
    “Morgan got my name from Kevin Scott, a business professor at
NMSU. She says she has never outsourced any of her work, other than her
research. I believe that’s allowed, per her contract.”
    “Yes, it is. What information do you need from me? I’d love to
have Morgan back and actively writing for Lifestyles .”
    “Ms. Adams believes you received the outsourcing allegations from
John Mack, her old boss at Mack’s Country Clothes. What can you tell me about
that call?”
    “It was an . . . odd call, to say the least. I don’t really know
who called me . . . all I can say is he had a heavy southern or Texas accent
and he didn’t really seem to know about what he was saying, other than that
Morgan had outsourced her actual writing, not her research. That goes directly
against her contract, so I put her on reserve status here and started reviewing
her previous work.”
    “So, beyond knowing what outsourcing is, he didn’t know about
what Ms. Adams does?”
    “No.”
    “Have you been able to develop any conclusions about her work?
Whether she’s outsourced?”
    “Yes, I have – the voice and writing style of each article is
consistent. You see, different writers have different styles and voices. Some
are more formal, while others are less so. A writer generally writes in the
same style from assignment to assignment and it’s not very hard to pick out
when someone has asked someone else to write something for them. I’ve
determined that she hasn’t violated her contract with us, so I’m planning to
call her and put her back on two assignments per month. I had been planning to
increase her to four assignments per month. I’ll move ahead with that plan
within three months.”
    “You know, the loss of three assignments a month has caused a
real financial crunch for her. She’s grading assignments for a professor friend
of hers, getting ready to put in hours at the Writing Center on campus and take
on private clients.”
    “My God, that’s a lot of work!”
    “Well, she told me you pay her well for each assignment, so
that’s a significant loss for her.”
    “Do you know Mr. Mack’s motivation for making these false
allegations – if it was him?”
    “Oh, it was. I spoke to him yesterday and he was proud to admit
he’d done it – until I told him that Ms. Adams is suing him. His motivation? He
hates seeing her financially independent – for whatever reason – and thought he
could force her back into the store if he destroyed her writing reputation and
business.”
    “She never said anything about her years of working there. She
kept that pretty close to the chest, actually.”
    “Well, from what I observed, his store is slowly dying. He’s
desperate. He talked to a writer, who was more than happy to explain
‘outsourcing’ to him. With that little bit of knowledge, he was able to
potentially destroy her writing career. I have a question for you – when you
heard his allegations, what was your opinion of Ms. Adams?”
    “At first, I was very disappointed in what she’d supposedly done.
My immediate reaction was, ‘If she’s done this, what other ethical