Scoop (32 page)

And then there was the fact that he practically had one ear glued to his phone, waiting for the Electric Horseman to call. He’d set up a recorder to tape any additional calls that came in, but his phone had been eerily silent all day.

Ray tried to concentrate on his notes. He had a lot to say in a short amount of time. This was his shot at a really big, important story, and he didn’t want to blow it. They had thirty minutes until they were on.

“Ray?”

Sam stood next to him. He hadn’t even heard him walk up.

“Oh, hi, Sam.”

“I know what you’re thinking about me,” Sam said. “I probably deserve it. But I wanted to thank you for not telling Mr. Talley about my, um, condition on Friday.”

Ray nodded. He wasn’t sure he’d made the best call, but it looked like Sam had his act together today. “I’m glad you’re feeling better,” he said with a smile, one that said he was genuinely happy but there was a better time to talk about it. Sam didn’t get the hint.

“You know,” Sam began, and it was the kind of “you know” that indicated someone was about to do some heavy reflecting. “I don’t know why I did it. I guess I haven’t been feeling really happy lately. And maybe I was a little bummed that I didn’t get the girl. Hayden Hazard, I mean. That girl’s a real winner, if you know what I mean. The kind of winner you’d want to take home to mom and dad, not the kind you end up going home with from the bar.”

Ray nodded.

“And maybe I’m a little bummed that I’m not the kind of man my
dad was. He was a real hero to this town, you know? People connected with him. I’m just a stupid weatherman with a stupid slogan. I don’t draw people in like he did.”

“Sam, I wouldn’t say that. You’re great…” Ray tried to think up words that affirmed Sam but didn’t keep him sticking around.

“I don’t know, man. I think there’s more to life than this, you know? And more to me than the looks and the fashion sense. So I save thousands of lives a year. So I can make any tie work with any suit. What am I really doing with my life? What difference am I making to the common man?”

Poor Sam was dead serious.

Ray needed to excuse himself to get to his work when he heard shouting. Sam heard it too. They both turned, looking for the source. It came from the anchor desk.

“Where are they?” It was Hugo, flapping his arms, his face beet red.

The person on the receiving end of the shouting was…Hayden?

“I said, where are they?” Hugo shouted again.

Hayden’s mouth hung open, and Tate looked back and forth between them both.

“I don’t know…What are you…?”

“Give me a break!”

“Come on,” Ray said to Sam, and they both rushed toward the set. “Mr. Talley,” Ray said, still a few feet away. “Mr. Talley, what’s going on?”

Hugo hardly seemed to notice them. His eyes were fixed on Hayden. She looked desperately at Ray.

“Mr. Talley.” Ray said, his voice firm as he stepped beside him. Boldness swept over him. “What’s going on?”

Hugo glanced at Ray, then at Sam, as if just now realizing he was making a scene. His posture stiffened, and he focused back on Hayden. “This is between Ms. Hazard and me.”

“Mr. Talley, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hayden said. “What pills?”

“What pills?” Mr. Talley laughed. Everyone else gave nervous chuckles since nobody was used to seeing him do much emoting at all. “Please. Your innocent shtick might work with others, but I see right through you. You know good and well what pills I’m talking about. The pills you told me I needed to get off of. What did you decide to do? Take matters into your own hands and dump the pills yourself? Or were yours in short supply, so you decided to borrow mine?”

“You’re talking about your anxiety medication?” Hayden asked.

The entire newsroom hushed. Hugo’s face grew red with embarrassment. “That’s just
great.
Announce it to the entire world!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…Mr. Talley. I’m so sorry, I just…” Hayden was dissolving to tears, and Ray knew if he didn’t act quickly, there was a huge chance he would punch his boss.

He took Hugo’s arm, which was in and of itself a bold move. Hugo didn’t ever look like he wanted to be touched, under any circumstance. Then, to his own surprise, he said, “Mr. Talley, let’s step over here.”

Hugo yanked his arm away but followed Ray a few feet away and behind a camera.

“Are you okay?” Ray said when they were out of the hearing of others.

Hugo was visibly shaking. He seemed to be trying to calm down, taking deep breaths and closing his eyes. Ray was breathing deeply too, maybe to encourage it or maybe to keep himself from hyperventilating.

“Mr. Talley, I don’t think Hayden is capable of stealing anything. I’m sure this is a misunderstanding.”

Hugo could hardly look Ray in the eye. “I just need those pills.”

“Can you get through the newscast without them?” Ray said, glancing at the wall clock.

“I’m not going to wig out, if that’s what you mean,” Hugo snapped. Then he sighed disconcertedly. “Stop looking at me like that.”

Ray wasn’t exactly sure what kind of expression he was wearing. Not that an expression was going to make or break things at this point, but he tried to comply. Hayden still looked miserably concerned.

“We’re on the air in less than a half an hour, sir.” He nodded in Hayden’s direction. “Maybe you can do some damage control?”

Hugo glanced at her and then away. But then he shook his head. “I’m an idiot.”

“Oh, no…no…don’t say that…”

“Ray, shut up. You know it and I know it. We both know that girl wouldn’t take anything. I just jumped to conclusions because she’d told me I didn’t need to depend on those pills, and, well, I thought maybe she was trying to help me along. But it’s fairly obvious that I’m the one who made the mistake.” He left Ray and walked over to Hayden, who stood as he approached. “I’m sorry, Ms. Hazard. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

“It’s no big deal, Mr. Talley,” Hayden said, touching his arm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He turned to the group. “We need to focus. Can everyone just forget this happened?”

The entire newsroom nodded eagerly. Ray smiled. That was one way to get everyone on the same page.

“Good. Now, from this point on,
no more distractions.
Okay?”

Ray’s smile faded as he spotted Roarke, who was walking fast, pumping one arm while flailing the other. Ray stepped out from around the camera as Roarke approached the anchor desk.

“Roarke?” Hugo asked. “What’s wrong?”

Roarke caught his breath and stood up. “I don’t know what this means, but…but…”

Everyone waited impatiently as Roarke caught another breath.

He pointed toward the front door. “News Channel 10 just rolled up. And they’re setting up a camera in front of our station.”

Heather Lewis, Channel 10’s ace reporter, famous for her loud attire and even louder voice, didn’t look surprised to see Hugo walk out the front doors. In fact, she looked pleased to see him.

“Hello, Hugo,” she said, offering a red-gloved hand.

“Ms. Lewis.” Hugo tried to smile appropriately. “What exactly are you doing?”

“We’re going with a live shot in front of your station,” Heather said. “What does it look like?”

“And why would you do that?” Hugo asked.

Whether it was feigned or not, Heather looked surprised. “Our lead story is Gilda’s disappearance.”

“What?”

“You’re surprised by that?”

“Well, I mean…yes, I suppose.” Hugo tried to gather his thoughts and words. “It surprises me that you would give our station any unneeded attention.”

Heather’s carefully lined lips curved like a satisfied cat’s. “It is the big story.”

“It’s not that big,” Hugo said. “After all, there’s no evidence that anything bad has happened to Gilda.”

“Right. Sure.”

“You know something?”

“Hugo, you must be insane if you think I’m going to divulge that kind of information. Besides, you are the station with the missing anchor-woman. Surely you have the scoop on it.” A raised eyebrow showed she questioned her own statement.

“Morty must be desperate,” Hugo said, referring to Channel 10’s ten o’clock producer, who always made it a point to one-up Hugo at every awards banquet they attended. It didn’t matter if it was the news or the
brand of clothing he wore, Morty was one of the worst one-uppers Hugo had ever known. “Well, carry on. And be sure and get a nice shot of that seven right there.”

Hugo walked back inside, chilled from the cold and hot from the conversation. He spotted Ray practicing. “You’re sure you got all the pertinent information on Gilda’s case?”

“I told you everything the police officer told me,” Ray said.

“Because it’s Channel 10’s lead story, and we’ve got ours buried five minutes into the newscast.”

Ray shrugged. “I don’t know, Mr. Talley. The officer I talked to seemed unconcerned.”

“You didn’t speak to Wynn, though.”

“No. Like I said, he was leaving.”

Hugo rubbed his temples. They had fifteen minutes to go. “Maybe we should move this up to our lead story.”

“With what? A few quotes from an officer about nothing? Mr. Talley, with all due respect, I really think the sewage plant is the big story.”

“Of course you do,” Hugo said. “I’ve got to go to my office and think.” Hugo walked into his office and closed the door. This was a total judgment call. Maybe Heather was bluffing, but it sounded like they had enough of a scoop to make this story tantalizing. All Channel 7 had was enough to sound like they were exploiting themselves. And if Ray was right, and this sewage story unfolded like they thought it would, the tables could turn, and Channel 7 could be on top.

He was going to have to go with his gut.

His gut.

It was strange, but all those emotions that the Blue Pill canceled out, when working properly, seemed like the very thing that might lead him in the right direction. Yes, he was full of angst, which stood in front of a long line of other emotions that wanted his attention. But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe he needed to
feel
again.

His mind instantly turned to Jane and her declaration of divorce. Did he really want to feel that? What good would that do? Still, something told him that he needed to feel even that. Maybe then, and only then, he would begin to understand it.

But how could he think about it all now? He had a newscast to run and a job on the line. He had to make the call. And he had to make it now.

T
he electricity hovered over everyone in the newsroom. Even in the silence, there was a soft hum of energy. Hugo had never seen the newsroom so focused. Why weren’t they this alive all the time?

With his pills gone, Hugo nearly trembled inside, but he decided to embrace it rather than fear it. He’d been numb far too long. Everyone had already found out he was an above-average emotional guy. There was nothing left to hide now. And it felt good to feel a little fear again. It felt good to have his heart flutter with anticipation.

He decided not to focus on Channel 10. It was unnerving to have a rival television station outside, and there was nothing more he wanted to do than stand out there and see what they said. But he had a news show to run. So he assigned the task to Roarke, who tuned one of his televisions to Channel 10.

He’d made the call to run the wastewater treatment plant story. If Ray had his information right, they were going to break one of the biggest stories of the year. Of course, if Ray was wrong, they were going to get flushed.

With two minutes until airtime, Hugo decided to give the anchors a pep talk. “Hayden,” he said through her IFB.

“Yes, Mr. Talley?”

“Tate, can you hear me too?”

“Yes.”

“Listen, I know there’s a lot going on. We’re all curious about why Channel 10 is out there. But we need to put that aside right now. I want you both to be upbeat, okay? We don’t want to show any signs that we’re stressed over the fact that another news station has decided to make us its
focus. So I want to see smiles—not smirks, Tate—and complete professionalism. As you know, were going to touch on Gilda’s story, but we’re not going to linger on it. So report it as you would any other story. The emphasis tonight is going to be on the wastewater treatment plant, as you know. All right, then. Let’s do our best. Everyone up for the challenge?”

They both nodded, and Hayden shot her thumbs-up. Hugo smiled. That girl was something else.

Willis was counting down. “And we’ve got seven…six…five…four…”

Hugo held his breath.

“Good evening. I’m Tate Franklin.”

“And I’m Hayden Hazard. Thanks for joining us. Breaking news tonight in the investigation into the wastewater treatment plant explosion last week. News Channel 7’s Ray Duffey has uncovered new and disturbing information. Ray?”

“That’s right, Hayden,” Ray said, sitting tall on the edge of a desk with the newsroom as his back drop. He looked determined and focused. Hugo smiled, remembering a time when he, too, tackled every news story with that kind of zeal. And then he let out a breath, because he knew Ray was going to handle it. He’d viewed the tape Ray put together, and it gave a lot of information without making broad statements they couldn’t back up with proof or sources.