“No last name.”
“Of course.”
“I’m a reporter. I often get calls from people with information who don’t want to give their last names.”
“And you should also know the first name they give you is bullshit. Keep talking.”
“The guy told me to look the other way regarding Amy Cherny.”
“Look the other way how?”
“You know, emphasize the runaway angle and not dig too deep.”
“That didn’t make you ask questions?” I was disgusted.
He nodded. “It made me more curious. I’m a reporter, after all.”
“Not a very good one.”
He glared at me. “I wanted to do my job, but when I began asking more questions, I got another call. This time telling me there was an incentive for me to look the other way on my doorstep. When I got home from work that night, there was an envelope in my mailbox full of cash. There was also a screenshot of my bank statements.”
He stopped talking.
“Keep going.” I shook him by the shoulder to remind him I still held his life in my hands.
“I’m not a bad guy.”
“I don’t give a shit what kind of guy you are. Keep talking.”
“I … money has been tight, okay? Reporting doesn’t bring in money like you think it would.”
“Nobody thinks reporting brings in any kind of money.”
He pushed out a breath. “To help make ends meet, especially after my divorce, I started receiving money under the table from local businesses to write friendly, puff pieces on their companies.”
I frowned. “You're a crime reporter. Why would businesses pay you off?”
He sighed. “My title is a reporter of crime, but I do all types of reporting. Our paper is barely able to keep the two reporters it has on staff. Hence, we do everything from crime and disappearances to reporting on local business openings, or reviews of restaurants. Everything.”
“And these businesses have no problem paying you for some reviews?”
He tilted his head, looking ashamed. “It might not seem like much, but a few thousand here and there adds up. I write great reviews, and they get customers showing up from hours away. It’s a win-win.”
I took a step back. “Whoever sent you that money and picture knew about this scheme of yours. Paid you off and gave you some incentive to keep quiet about the missing girl.”
“They threatened to send those screenshots along with some communications I had with the business owners to law enforcement. I was in the middle of a divorce and a custody battle. I didn’t need that kind of heat.”
I glared at him, knowing that he had been going through a divorce during the time of Amy’s disappearance. The payoff money he’d been receiving explains how he was able to keep the house and property after said divorce from his ex, who was a general surgeon in the next town over. She’d been the breadwinner of the family. He retained primary custody of the children they shared.
“Have you received any more notes from whoever sent you the envelope in the first place?”
“Another envelope full of money after I wrote the second article and note along with it telling me to let that case die. Not to ask any more questions or do any followups on it.”
I started to finally understand why he hadn’t responded to Leona’s calls. “When my office called you asking about the Amy Cherny case, you thought I’d just go away.”
“Your office? You’re from LS Investigations?”
I nodded, recalling that I hadn’t formally introduced myself before I held a gun to his face and started demanding answers.
