Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry(72)
He thought of the catch and kill idea Sherman had suggested. What would happen if money, lots of it, were offered to Kane to walk away from this story? Carter asked himself. She was only thirty-two. A couple million bucks could make a big difference at that stage of life. There was an outside chance she would accept it, pocket the cash, and bury the story. But that was a long shot and a risky one at that. Millennials were notoriously “me-oriented,” he thought, recalling the younger soldiers he’d served with. At the same time they were also oddly idealistic. They hadn’t had the life experience that teaches some hills aren’t worth dying on.
Was there more than one way to kill this story or at least delay it for a while? Intrigued by the possibility, Carter called up the Empire Review website and searched for the name of the editor in chief. After finding the name, he checked into the background. “Maybe Geoffrey Whitehurst is a bloke I can do business with,” he said aloud in an attempt to mimic a British accent.
78
Gina stretched as she sat at the desk in her room, her laptop open in front of her. She had welcomed the opportunity to eat alone at an Irish bar and grill that was walking distance from her hotel. The handful of notes she had scribbled on a pad while eating had expanded to three typed pages on her computer.
She had texted Geoff, who had agreed to meet with her the next morning. Again she would go straight from the airport to the Empire offices.
In addition to Geoff, there was someone else she needed to update on what she had learned in Durham. That was Meg Williamson’s contact who had suggested she look into Paula Stephenson’s death. “Deep Throat” was the nickname Gina had assigned to her mystery source, borrowing the moniker of the FBI agent who had secretly aided the two young Washington Post reporters in the early stages of the Watergate investigation. After opening Deep Throat’s previous email, she hit REPLY.
Found strong evidence that Paula Stephenson’s death may have been a homicide. Will continue efforts to get Durham police to reopen the case. Am concerned that I still don’t have enough to convince my publisher to confront REL. Need names of other victims.
Gina searched for the right words to encourage Deep Throat to come out of hiding.
Victims may be in grave danger. If we meet, I can go faster. I guarantee your identity will be kept confidential.
Unsure what else to add, Gina tapped SEND.
79
Pulling her wheeled suitcase behind her, Gina stepped off the elevator at Empire Review. As usual Jane Patwell was waiting to greet her. “I’ll take that for you,” Jane said, taking hold of Gina’s suitcase. “Pick it up at my desk on your way out.”
While riding in the cab from the airport, Gina had read that one of the magazine’s largest advertisers, Friedman’s, a department store chain, had just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Jane knocked on the editor’s door and pushed it open slightly. When he saw Gina, Geoff gave her a quick smile and directed her to the familiar conference table. Jane closed the door behind them and pulled the suitcase down the hallway.
Geoff sat down opposite her and opened a manila folder he had brought to the table. He glanced at it for a few moments and then said, “So tell me, Gina, was it a good decision for me to pay for you to go to Durham?”
Gina was taken aback by the question. A round-trip to Durham and one night in a hotel was hardly a budget buster. Had the loss of Friedman’s really put that big a chill in the air? So much for the editorial being separate from the business side of the magazine. I’m glad I’m not here today pitching the Aruba trip, she thought, wondering if that would come up later in the conversation.
“As far as the REL News investigation goes, yes, it was an excellent decision.” Gina recounted her interviews of the neighbors at Paula Stephenson’s apartment complex. He listened, but then began what Gina felt was an interrogation.
“So Paula told the other neighbor she’d found ‘a way to get back on track financially.’ How do you know that wasn’t a new boyfriend with another foolish investment?”
“I seriously doubt that,” Gina said evenly. “Somebody who just lost most of her money in investment number one is hardly in a good position to back investment number two.”
“A fair point,” Geoff conceded. “When Stephenson said, ‘they’re going to pay up,’ why are you so convinced that the ‘they’ she was referencing was REL News? How do you know she wasn’t planning to sue her former boyfriend and the other members of his company? Is it possible that’s who she was referring to when she said, ‘they’?”
“Possible, but unlikely,” Gina said, her frustration building.
“Oh, and I once choked on a cucumber. According to you, that’s good news. I’m an unlikely candidate to hang myself.”
He laughed loudly at his own joke. Laughter is often contagious, but not this time. When he settled down, Gina said evenly, “Should I continue?”
Geoff’s hand gesture suggested the affirmative.
Occasionally glancing at her notes, Gina walked him through what had been discussed when she met with the detective and the mortician at the funeral home. Even as she was talking, she found herself mentally preparing for the zingers that would be fired at her when she concluded. When she was a teenager, her mother often said, “Gina, when you’re stuck and no one will help you, you always find a way to blow into your own sail to keep going.”