Free Roadside Crosses: A Kathryn Dance Novel by Jeffery Deaver Page A

something.”
    “What?”
    “Tammy posted a comment on a blog a few daysago. Her screen name is TamF1399.” Boling spun the computer around for Dance to look at.
    Reply to Chilton, posted by TamF1399.
    [The driver] is effing weird, i mean dangerous. 1 time after cheerleader practice he was hanging out outside our locker room, like he was trying to look inside and get pictures on his phone. I go up to him and I’m like, what’re you doing here, and he looks at me like he was going to kill me. He’s a total fr33k. i know a girl who goes to [deleted] with us and she told me [the driver] grabbed her boobs, only she’s afraid to say anything because she thinks he’ll come get her or start shooting people, like in Virginia Tech.
    Boling added, “What’s interesting is that she posted that in a part of the blog called ‘Roadside Crosses.’ ”
    Dance’s heart rate pumped up a bit. She asked, “Who’s ‘the driver’?”
    “Don’t know. The name’s deleted in all the posts.”
    “A blog, hmm?”
    “Right.” Boling gave a brief laugh and said, “Mushrooms.”
    “What?”
    “Blogs are the mushrooms of the Internet. They’re sprouting up everywhere. A few years ago everybody in Silicon Valley was wondering what would be the next big thing in the dot-com world. Well, it turned out to be not a revolutionary new type of hardware or software, but online content: games, social networking sites . . . and blogs. You can’t write about computers now without studying them. The one Tammy posted to was The Chilton Report. ”
    Dance shrugged. “Never heard of it.”
    “I have. It’s local but it’s well known in blogging circles. It’s like a California-based Matt Drudge, only more fringe. Jim Chilton’s a bit of a character.” He continued to read. “Let’s go online and check it out.”
    Dance got her own laptop from her desk. “What’s the URL?” she asked.
    Boling gave it to her.
    Http://www.thechiltonreport.com
    The professor tugged his chair closer and together they read the homepage.
THE CHILTON REPORT™
    T HE MORAL VOICE OF A MERICA . A COLLECTION OF MUSINGS ABOUT WHERE THIS COUNTRY’S GOING WRONG . . . AND WHERE IT’S GOING RIGHT .
    Dance chuckled. “ ‘Where it’s going right. ’ Clever. He’s Moral Majority, conservative, I take it.”
    Boling shook his head. “From what I know he’s more cut-and-paste.”
    She lifted an eyebrow.
    “I mean that he picks and chooses his causes. He’s more right than left but he’ll take on anybody who falls short of his standards of morality or judgment or intelligence. That’s one of the points of blogs, of course: to stir things up. Controversy sells.”
    Below was a greeting to the readers.
    Dear Reader . . .
    Whether you’ve ended up here because you’re a subscriber or a fan or simply because you happened to be browsing the Web and stumbled across The Report, welcome.
    Whatever your positions on political and social issues, I hope you’ll find something in my reflections here that, at the very least, makes you question, makes you doubt, makes you want to know more.
    For that is what journalism is all about.
    —James Chilton
    Below that was: “Mission Statement.”
Our Mission Statement
    We can’t make judgments in a vacuum. Will business, will government, will corrupt politicians and criminal and debauched individuals be honest about what they’re up to? Of course not. It’s our job in The Report to shine the light of truth into the shadows of deceit and greed—to give you the facts you need to make informed decisions about the pressing issues of the day.
    Dance also found a brief biography of Chilton, then a section about personal news. She glanced over the listings.
On the Home Front
    G O T EAM !
    I’m happy to say that after this weekend’s game the Older Boy’s team is 4–0! Go, Jayhawks! Now, parents: listen to me. Your youngsters should give up baseball and football for soccer, which is the safest and healthiest team