Read Parker 02 - The Guilty for Free Online

mouse, eyes narrowing as he read.
    "Mayor Perez called a news conference for noon today.
    Costas Paradis will be in attendance."
    I looked at Jack, who was staring at the screen, thinking.
    The fire was just starting to burn, and I felt it, too.
    "I want you both there," Wallace said. "And I don't care
    The Guilty
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    what you do or how you do it, get something different to run
    with tomorrow. I need angles here that won't be covered by
    the other papers."
    "Angle is my middle name," Jack said.
    "Yesterday you told me it was Glenfiddich," replied Wallace.
    "Mine is Shane," I said proudly. They both looked at me.
    I wasn't proud anymore. "I mean it's Angle, too."
    Jack shook his head. "Wine cooler. That's your middle
    name. Get a good story and I'll promote you to Zima."
    "And Henry," Wallace said, "if anyone asks about the quote
    the killer used, you have your 'no comments' at the ready. Am
    I correct in assuming you're not hiding anything? That you have
    no reason to think this is anything but an awful coincidence?"
    "I swear I have no idea," I said honestly. "Trust me, after last
    year I'd just as soon stay out of the spotlight as much as
    possible."
    "Then let's keep it that way. We have to assume the suspect
    used it simply because the quote was relevant, or that he has
    some serious bats flying around in his belfry."
    "That might work better than a 'no comment,'" Jack said.
    "Now get a move on," Wallace continued. "I have no doubt
    there'll be some fireworks at this conference. You won't want
    to watch from the back row."
    6
    Paulina Cole sat at her desk, holding a warm cup in her
    hands. She took a sip. Coffee and Xanax. Better than toast and
    a runny omelet. She'd squeezed Dr. Shepberg's name into an
    article naming the best psychiatrists in NYC and ever since
    then the prescriptions arrived in her mailbox once a month.
    Behind Paulina's desk were half a dozen picture frames
    containing front pages pulled from the New York Dispatch.
    Stories she'd broken, papers so hot they'd sold out their print
    runs and been dissected on blogs around the world. Since
    she'd joined the Dispatch, the paper's circulation had grown
    1.5 percent, a number many tried to attribute to a new marketing campaign, but those in the know knew it was solely
    because of her. Ted Allen, the Dispatch' s publisher, had said
    as much during the last shareholders meeting, and promptly
    given her a ten percent raise. He said Paulina Cole represented
    the bold new direction the Dispatch would be taking into the
    twenty-first century, that despite all the perils facing the print
    industry, technology simply couldn't compete with an oldfashioned nose for news. According to Allen, the Dispatch
    was tired of being the number two newspaper in New York.
    And come hell or high water (possibly both) they would even- The Guilty
    47
    tually best their number one enemy. Even if it meant simply
    hiring away their top reporters.
    That's how he phrased it. Their enemy. This wasn't business, this was war. The longer you stayed satisfied being
    number two the more likely you'd fall out of the race completely. Nobody remembered the guy who lost the election,
    the ex before meeting your soul mate. The second-best were
    forgotten, pulped. If you weren't willing to kill to grab the
    lead, you deserved to get trampled.
    That was Paulina's job; to do the trampling, to sell newspapers.
    And for all the battles waged between the two newspapers,
    the coverage of Athena Paradis's murder could be the Dis-
    patch' s Gettysburg. Athena was the most recognizable
    woman in the world, more than the president's wife, more
    than Princess Diana (hell, most of Athena's fans were too
    young to have even heard of Lady Di), even more than that
    lucky gal who scribbled the words Harry Potter on a notepad.
    The battles lines had been drawn. More newspapers were
    going to be moved during the Paradis investigation than any
    event save a terrorist attack. Of course Paulina could argue
    that more