'Makes you wonder just what happened to Daniel-
Danny-during the past few years,' Wallace said. 'Speaking of memory lapses, have you spoken to Jack today?'
'Not in person, but he left me a message about grabbing a drink after work.'
Wallace's faced showed a mixture of anger and concern. 'You're going to politely decline that offer,' he said.
I was about to ask why, but didn't need to. Over the past year I'd noticed a change in Jack's drinking habits. Onemartini lunches had turned into three shots of Jim Beam.
Drinks after work turned into drinks during work. Veins began popping up where I hadn't seen them before, the old newsman's equilibrium always seeming a little off. It was clear Jack was developing a problem. Either that, or the problem was already here and we'd just been enabling him, turning a blind eye for months.
'Anytime Jack requests your company for a drink,'
Wallace continued, 'make it clear you don't approve and you're more than aware. A little humiliation goes a long way for a proud man. That's all we can do short of sending him to rehab.'
'Would that be such a terrible thing?' I asked.
'Actually, yes. Our circulation has been flat since your reporting on William Henry Roberts last year. Paulina Cole has the Dispatch breathing down our necks, and Ted Allen is using every dirty trick in the book to up their numbers.
Giving out more free newspapers than high schools give out condoms, dropping thousands of copies in Dumpsters and recording them as part of their circulation.'
'But if the numbers are inflated,' I said, 'who cares?'
'Advertisers,' Wallace said. 'Not to mention subjects who, unlike Shelly Linwood, truly care about maximizing their publicity. If our top writer goes into the detox, it's one less leg for us to stand on, one more piece of ammo for
Paulina's slime cannon.'
'I'll ease off with Jack,' I said. 'I need to cut back on my own extracurriculars as it is.'
'Glad to hear you say that, Henry. Don't think I'm unaware that you seemed to have mistakenly thought your desk came from 1-800-MATTRESS. Speaking of social lives, how's that girlfriend of yours? Amanda, right?'
I toed the floor. Looked away.
'We aren't seeing each other anymore,' I said. 'Haven't talked in a while, actually.'
'That's a shame. Remember you talking about her from time to time. In a good way.'
She was worth talking about, I wanted to say. Instead,
I let my silence speak for me. It was an issue I couldn't talk about with Wallace. Or Jack. Or anyone. I wasn't fully ready to face it myself. Knowing the woman I loved was out there in the same city walking the same streets, it was enough to tear me apart if I thought about it too much.
Knowing what I'd let-what I'd forced away.
'Not to get too parental, but you'll meet someone nice,'
Wallace said. 'All these bylines, your name in the paper, lots of girls would probably kill to go out with a hotshot journalist.'
'Yeah, nothing sexier than a guy with half a dozen cartons of half-eaten Chinese food, who makes less money than a public school teacher and doesn't own a mattress cover.'
I could tell Wallace didn't find that funny. I decided to change the subject.
'Hey, know who showed up at the Linwoods' place today? Gray Talbot.'
'No kidding?'
'In the flesh. Or suit.'
'The savior of suburbia checking on his constituents.'
'What do you mean, savior?'
'After Daniel Linwood disappeared, Gray Talbot came in and rattled the cage until someone changed the lining.
Made a big stink about how the town was becoming a cesspool, how the crime rate was simply unacceptable. He got state and federal funding to rebuild Hobbs County pretty much from the ground up. Nearly doubled the police force, turned a hellhole of a town into a damn fine place to raise a family. There's still work to be done, but that place is pretty unrecognizable compared to what it was.'
I thought about what Wallace said, and agreed with him. Even Stavros, the driver, had said the same thing.
'Daniel Linwood's kidnapping was a terrible thing, but the silver lining is he forced change,' he continued. 'That boy basically returned to a brand-new, safer home and community. That's all Gray Talbot. Rumor has it he contributed close to a million from his own coffers to aid the effort.'
'I thought his suits looked nice. Guess he's got enough money for them.'
'I have Gray's home phone number. It'd be great to get him on record for this story as well. He's got a lot invested in Hobbs County, both in time and money, and I'm sure he's expecting a heck of a story from you as well. You don't construct a house and then not care how it's decorated. Get to it,' Wallace said. 'All story, all the time. I want to see ink on your eyeballs. If I hear you had a single drink with Jack, you'll be reporting on the passing of venereal diseases in the champagne room. Show me the copy before you send it to Evelyn.'
'No problem,' I said.
'Then tomorrow morning, I'll send over a copy of the paper with a fruit basket to Ted Allen and Paulina Cole.'
'Do me a favor, leave my name off the card,' I said.
'Enough people in this town hate me.'
'If they hate you it's because you're doing a good job.
You're getting the scoops they want. So go make some enemies. Just make sure they're the right enemies.'
'Operation Piss People Off to commence immediately, sir.'
I gave Wallace a halfhearted salute and returned to my desk. I sent Jack a quick e-mail declining drinks.
I pushed all that aside and got to work. Punching keys.
Making enemies of the right people. Something still didn't sit right with me about the interview. I needed to pinpoint it. To do justice to the story. To give justice to Danny Linwood.
6
'It's called 'declared dead in absentia,'' Amanda said.
'It's when a person is presumed dead, yet there is insufficient evidence to prove such a death occurred.'
Darcy Lapore chewed her gum thoughtfully. At least
Amanda assumed it was thoughtful, because her brows were furrowed as if creating space for a gopher to hibernate. Regardless, she continued. Amanda Davies had been working at the New York Legal Aid Society for several years. In that time, she'd witnessed some of the most horrific cases of neglect and abuse. And she'd seen children taken from the depths of hell and given hope. Yet, as she sat there with Darcy Lapore, Amanda couldn't recall ever working on a case as bizarre as that of Daniel
Linwood.
'However, if a person has either been missing for a significant amount of time-for adults it's usually seven years-or has disappeared under unusual circumstances, the death certificate can be sped up. It's a way to both give the family some closure, and to make sure they get any benefits they're entitled to, like life insurance.'
'So…the Linwoods have been collecting their son's life insurance?' Darcy asked. Amanda mentally slapped her head, then for fun mentally slapped Darcy's head. Then she reminded herself that no matter how often she wanted to strangle the stupid out of the girl, she couldn't get mad at Darcy. Kind of the same way you couldn't really be upset with a puppy who peed on the rug. Though most puppies did eventually learn to hold their
