Free The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker Page B

talked about this last month when the court set his execution date. We agreed a story would be a good idea. I’ve already made plans, set up some interviews.”
    “Cancel them.”
    Because she felt like squealing, she lowered her voice even more. “Why have you changed your mind?”
    “I don’t remember ever thinking it was a good idea. Anyway, I don’t think so now and we’ve got better stories waiting for your attention. At the last staff meeting, which you missed, Molly, there was general agreement that we should do something on the S & L indictments.” His mouth was set in a hard, thin line she didn’t like the looks of.
    Molly took a deep breath to push the anger down. Usually they saw eye to eye on what made a good story. When they disagreed, it was over the best approach or angle to take. And on those rare occasions, he usually turned out to be right, so she trusted his instincts. She was willing to acknowledge that she sometimes got carried away with something. Yes, sometimes she did go too far. But now she knew he was wrong, knew it for certain.
    “Richard, Lone Star Monthly has covered the Bronk case intensively. We need to finish it with a flourish; our readers expect it.” She tried to stop her voice from rising, but it defied her control. “Just give me one good reason, Richard.”
    “I already have. It’s a vein we’ve mined out. Ancient history. Everyone’s tired of it. Except you.”
    She looked at the smug set of his mouth and felt her anger surge; she couldn’t contain it another second. “I just can’t believe this, Richard! There’s more to this than you’re saying. It has something to do with Charlie McFarland, I bet. Yeah, that’s it. He says the two of you are real good friends. McFarland’s gotten to you, hasn’t he?”
    Richard rolled his eyes upward. “What is this, Molly?” he asked the ceiling. “You know these good ol’ bubba types who talk like they just dropped off the back of a turnip truck. Sound dumb as dog shit. But everything Charlie says is calculated. He knows I’m your boss, so he tells you we’re great friends to impress you.”
    Molly was quiet for a moment, thinking. Then she slapped the palm of her hand against her forehead. “Oh, God. I’m so slow. I know what it is. He’s head of the Builder’s Association and they buy all that advertising from us. You’ve been bought!” She all but barked the words out.
    He snapped his head upright. His eyes were blazing amber pits.“Come off it, Molly. You know I have nothing to do with that part of the magazine.”
    Her fists clenched themselves into balls and she gave voice to the suspicions which had just flooded through her bloodstream. “But the publisher sure does. If you haven’t been bought, then he has, and he’s leaning on you. That’s it, isn’t it?” She was on a roll now. “McFarland’s a man with some powerful connections. Don’t deny it, Richard.”
    “Why would I want to? McFarland’s an old crony of the governor, one of her major campaign contributors, friend of all the fallen wheeler-dealers, one of the few who was canny enough to pull in his horns just before the crash. Now he’s back bigger than ever. Sure, he’s rich and powerful, but that has nothing to do with my editorial decision that Louie Bronk is stale news.”
    “McFarland tried to bribe me, Richard.”
    Richard looked back at her with raised eyebrows and bright, amused eyes. “ Bribe you? How?”
    “He said he wanted to endow an award for worthy crime writers and make me the first recipient—one hundred thousand dollars not to write anything more about his wife’s murder.”
    Richard threw his head back and laughed. “Worthy crime writers!” he said when he caught his breath. “That’s marvelous. I hope you snapped it up, Molly, since you aren’t going to do the story anyway. God knows you could use the money.”
    “But, Richard, I am going to do the story.”
    He stood up. “Not for Lone Star Monthly