Free First Time Killer by Alan Orloff, Zak Allen

stopped and straightened his tie. Regrouped. “Ted Danzler. He was an intern here what, about six months ago?” Marty looked to Celia for confirmation, although he must have already known. She nodded back somberly. “Let’s all bow our heads in a moment of silence to remember Ted.”
    After thirty seconds, Marty cleared his throat into the mic, and the sound rumbled through the theater. “This madman, this monster calling himself First Time, is responsible.” He gazed out over the crowd. “To make things worse, if that were possible, First Time phoned in to the Circus . Got us involved in his terrible actions. As you know, at the end of his call, he told us where we would find something. Fortunately, Rick was on the ball and dumped out the location.” Marty squinted, shading his eyes with his hands as he scanned the crowd. When he found Rick, he stopped panning and pointed into the back. “Nice job, Rick. If that information had made it out on-air, no telling what might have happened to Ted’s arm. The cops never might have been able to make the identification. And then his poor parents…” Marty trailed off.
    Rick didn’t need any special kudos for doing his job. And more importantly, he didn’t want to be associated with this tragedy.
    Again, Marty fiddled with his tie before speaking. “I spoke with his parents. Told them what a fine addition to the show Ted had been. Offered to do what I could—what the station could—in their time of need. May God bless him.” Marty bowed his head, gripped the podium with both hands.
    Celia leaned over and grabbed one arm, whispering into his ear. Marty raised his head and leaned forward to speak into the mic. “Ted was a team player. And he would have wanted what was best for us. All of us. So I don’t think it’s a stretch to think he’d want us to take advantage of every opportunity—this opportunity included—to maximize our potential. To try to broadcast our show to the largest possible audience. I truly believe that’s what would have made Ted happiest. And ultimately, life goes on for the living. Celia will outline how we plan to do that. Celia?”
    Marty was a piece of work, all right. Rick felt the nausea grow in his stomach.
    Marty backed away from the podium and Celia filled the void. “What happened to Ted is a tragedy. But there’s nothing we can do to change the past. We must focus on the future. Try to honor Ted’s wishes for us to become a successful radio station.” Celia smiled, but to Rick, it came across as mercenary, not sympathetic. “Let me get to the point here. The day after First Time called, we hired True Data Polling to make some calls. See what our listeners—and our non-listeners—thought of First Time and our handling of the situation.”
    Rick knew how much Celia relied on pollsters and surveys and the press to tell her how she was doing her job. Her obsession wasn’t limited to the ratings.
    Celia went on. “We got an extremely high response. People wanted to hear more about First Time. And they want to talk about it, too. I know it’s only been a very short time, but listeners are up, up, up. And we think they’re insatiable. The more we talk about it, the more they’ll listen.” She looked up, the cold smile still painted on her face. “And then there was the call to Tin Man.” She gestured with her open hand to Tin Man, sitting in the front. He rose part way, faced the crowd, flicked his hand a couple of times, then sat back down.
    “That tells me First Time likes us. Wants to be part of our show. Wants to run away and join the Circus , as it were.” She gripped the podium with both hands. “And we are going to welcome him with open arms.”
    J.T. leaned over and started whispering, but Rick shushed him. He needed to hear what Celia was planning. Sure it would involve him. Sure he wasn’t going to like it.
    “I want all of our Circus segments to concentrate on matters related to the killer. Let’s try to