'Good job,' Rich said after she hung up.
'That didn't sound like a story to me. I thought maybe we should just refer him to the Forest Service or the Department of Agriculture or someone who could help
'This is one of the most important things you need to learn about the newspaper biz. In a town this size, you never turn down stories. No matter how dumb they might be. We have a tough enough time finding new things to write about each week. Sometimes we have to resort to rewriting press releases; sometimes even when we do find a legitimate story, the people involved won't talk. So when you get a guy offering you an interview, you jump on it.' He pointed to a handwritten list on top of a pile of papers on the right side of his desk. 'That's what you'll be responsible for this week. I'll still be doing all of the layout and most of the paste up I'll write most of the articles, but you'll have to take over the columns for me.'
Sue licked her lips, wanting, needing to say something, but not knowing what. She felt flustered, thrust into some thing for which she was totally unprepared.
Rich smiled. 'Relax. It's easy. The columns almost write themselves.
All you have to do is collect the information when the sources call.'
He shifted the camera strap over his shoulder. 'I'd better be going.
You can sit at my desk if you want, use my VDT, but be careful that you don't erase anything. Use your own diskette'
'Wait. Where are you going? When will you be back?' 'The police station. I don't know when.' 'What about when I go to the interview?
What do I do about the office?'
'Carole will be here.' He waved, walked around the partition, and out the front door.
Carole walked back into the newsroom a moment later. 'Don't worry, dear.' The secretary smiled warmly. 'He lives for things like this, and despite what he says, he'll be in here more this week than he usually is. He'sjust hyper right now.' .
'But I'm not sure what he wants me to do.'
'Just do what you always do. If you have any questions, ask him when he comes back.' She looked at her watch, and her smile widened. 'By my calculations, that should be an hour or two.'
'Are sure?' you
'Positive. Besides, what's he going to do? He'll go out to the scene, talk to some people, talk to his brother, come back and write.'
'It sounded like he was going to be gone all week.'
'If he is, I'll eat this carpet.'
Sue met the old secretary's gaze, and started to laugh. Carole shook her head. 'Don't take him too seriously.' Sue suddenly felt much better. She glanced again at Rich's list, then put it back down on top of his pile of papers. From behind the front partition came the sound of the door opening, and, still smiling, Carole walked back out to her desk to see who it was. '.
Sue sat down in Rich's chair and picked up the phone to call her parents.
Lee Anne was seated behind the receptionist's desk when Rich walked into the police station. He pointed toward Robert's office, she nodded, and he stepped past her through the small gate in the front counter while she pretended to stare down at one of the typewritten pages on her desk.
Rich walked into Robert's office. His brother was on the phone, obviously talking to someone of whom he was not overly fond. He was scowling, trying to speak, but not able to get a word in edgewise.
Finally he said, 'I'm still the police chief here,' and slammed down the phone. 'FBI?' Rich asked.
'That bastard's trying to freeze me out. Pretty soon I won't be able to scratch my own nuts without asking his permission.'
'Talk to his superior.'
Robert paced around the room. 'I can't think of anyone who isn't superior to that fascist fuck wad
'I mean talk to his boss, his supervisor.'
'I've tried. He's supposed to get back to me. When do you think that'll be? The next decade?'
Rich tapped his notebook-on his leg. 'I'd like to sit here and chat, but it's getting late. Are you ready to cruise out to the ranch?'
Robert nodded. 'Yeah, sure. The body's gone, thoughl I think the horses are gone, too.'
'That's okay. I just want to get a few photos of the site and some quotes from you and a couple of employees. Hollis, if he's available.'
'Okay. Just let me make one more phone call, and then we're out of here.'
'I have to take a whiz. I'll meet you out front.'
Robert picked up the phone receiver, gave the 'OK' sign, and started dialing.
Rich walked down the hall, past the tiny locker room, and into the bathroom. He stepped up to the first urinal and, a second later, heard the door open behind him.
Steve Hinkley stepped up to the adjoining urinal. 'Nice day,' he said.
What was it about cops, Rich wondered, that made them want to talk to you while you were taking a leak? He never had any desire to chat while he was relieving himself, but it seemed that every time he'd been in here and a policeman had walked into the bathroom, the policeman had stepped up to the urinal, unzipped, whipped it out, and started a conversation.
I don't want to talk, he wanted to say, I'm taking a piss. But instead he nodded, smiled, and said nothing.
'You're a writer. Did you ever think about writing for TV or the movies?'
Rich shook his head as he flushed, zipped up, and walked over to the sink .... ::!
'I bet you could get a TV movie out of all this vampire shit. You'd make a fortune.'
Rich smiled as he wiped his hands on a paper towel and walked out of the bathroom. 'I'll keep it in mind.'
I Robert was already waiting. He straightened up as Rich arrived, and the two of them headed out of the office.
I'll drive,' Robert said.
Five minutes later, they were there.
The Rocking DID.
Has they drove by the entrance, Rich looked at the logo--the letter DID resting in the curve of a semi
ClrcleIt had been carved into the sign above? the road in
Udr a way that it appeared burned into the wood, like a ; brand. He shook his head. The idea of a dude ranch in
Rio Verde, or, more precisely, a dude resort, since, no ranch work was done at the Rocking DID, still seemed stupid
-and inappropriate to him, its artificial extravagance a mockery of the very real accomplishments of the town.
As teenagers, he and his friends had referred to. the place as the Walking Dick Ranch and to Hollis as the Walking Dick. ' It was a sobriquet still used by a lot of those friends as adults.
Robert bypassed the ranch's paved guest road and turned off on the dirt service trail. The cruiser bumped over ruts and chuckholes, and turned off on a side trail that led down to the stables. A brown state police vehicle was already parked in front of the long building, as was a Rio Verde car. Someone was taking photographs inside one of the horse stalls, the flashes, like baby lightning, brightening the interior shadows at irregular intervals.
Robert grimaced as he pulled to a stop. 'There may be fireworks. The state ad the FBI are pissed that I authorized Woods to take the body before they'd had time to see it.'
'You think that was such a good idea? Maybe---' 'Whose side are you on? ...... Rich got out of the car, held up his hands. 'I'm Staying out of it.' He walked around the front of the cruiser and started toward the stall with the flashes.
A state policeman he hadn't seen emerged from behind an open stall door. 'Stop right there. Where do you think you're going?' ......
Rich held up his camera. 'Press.'
'I'm sorry. This is a--'
