Downtown Restaurant
November 23, 8.28 p.m.
Across town, Erin Nash of the New York Daily Echo was sitting in a plush restaurant dining with a deputy editor from a rival paper. Short-haired, slim and wiry, Erin was pure-bred New York stock. Her father was still a barber in Brooklyn. Her favourite colour was gunmetal grey; her favourite drink was a shot and one day she would be an editor. For now, she was intent on just getting up the first few rungs of the ladder. The editor sitting opposite thought she looked cute, like an angry little elf with big brown eyes. The Daily Post had been impressed with her crime coverage. The Echo ’s circulation was up 32 per cent on the basis of her exclusives and this impressed the editor even more.
Jed Brown was leathery-skinned but his hands were soft from daily moisturizer. He looked across at Erin’s fierce concentration. ‘What do you make of the arrest? You got any inside information?’
‘No, just what everyone’s got. Some guy was pulled out of the subway and they’re interrogating.’
‘Could be it’s him.’
‘Could be. We’ll have to wait and see.’
‘If it is, that means your little goldmine comes to an end.’
‘There’s a book in this, if I can get access to the killer.’
‘How will you do that?’
‘Give up my source to the NYPD in exchange for access. If they’ve got the killer, I don’t need my source any more.’
‘You’re quite a determined player,’ Jed said, and smiled. ‘Who is he?’
‘A cop on the homicide team with a liking for reporters.’
‘You’ve got no scruples about that?’
‘I do what I got to do,’ she replied, her spoon about to enter the little bowl of Roquefort and asparagus soup.
‘You want to play a numbers game?’ asked Jed. His blue eyes were clear and attractive, but he was too old for Erin. And she’d never gone for the perma-tan look.
‘No harm playing,’ she replied.
Jed let his top lip crinkle up into a reptile smile and wrote six figures on the linen napkin in blue biro.
‘Want to wipe your mouth on that?’
Erin picked up the napkin and moved it to her mouth. She read the number. ‘My,’ she said. ‘That’s a big one.’
Jed laughed with an overexcited bullet-like rattle and nodded. ‘Is that a yes, Miss Nash?’
‘A yes to what?’ she replied. God, this was so easy.
She didn’t have time to hear his answer. Her cell phone lit up with a flash and she picked it up. She listened to the voice on the line, her face bright and animated as the caller revealed his story. As she listened, her face drained of colour. Jed watched with interest as she wrote down everything in her notebook and ended the call. She looked up at her host. She needed to get back to the office.
‘Sorry, Mr Brown. That was my friend in the NYPD. I’ve just had a real interesting breaking news story on this American Devil and I’ve got some urgent copy to file.’
‘What is it? Everyone’s waiting for confirmation that they’ve caught him.’
‘But I got something extra to offer our readers,’ said Erin.
‘I wish you were mine, Erin.’
She smiled and rose. ‘I’ll consider your offer very carefully.’
‘Which one?’ he asked and let his hand slide down over her dress as he kissed her cheek.
Erin raced back to the Daily Echo and started to write up the story. It was another terrific exclusive, and on the basis of her recent track record her editor took the decision to run it without further verification. It was too late for any detailed checks and Erin’s source had been reliable so far. It was too good to miss. The latest news would sell thousands of papers. Murder was big business.
Erin filed her copy at 9.30 p.m. and then took a moment to think about her future. This was the time she had to make a choice. It might not come again. Which way was she going to go? She smiled. It was nice to have a choice for once; she’d never really had that kind of luxury before.