Lucas checked Virgil, who lifted his hands, palms up, in a “why not?” gesture, and Lucas said, “I can see problems. But it sounds interesting. For a while anyway. I don’t want to plow through acres of made-up nonsense, but I’ll look at anything that might be real. If a guy starts talking about UFOs, we’re outa there.”
Boone didn’t care: “You can do anything you want. Totally up to you. If you need to travel, keep the receipts. There’s an expenses fund. That will also pay for any legal support you need.”
Virgil asked, “Is there a time limit on the award?”
Grandfelt said, “Yes. One year. After that, it goes to a range of animal welfare groups.”
“I’m not going to investigate for a year, not with no possibility…” Lucas began.
Boone interrupted, “We expect most of the action to happen in the first month, perhaps in the first couple of weeks. If the killer isn’t caught, we expect the attention will begin to dry up.”
Lucas turned to Grandfelt. “You should know that we’re not only gonna get true crime people, we’ll get treasure hunters and scam artists and nutjobs and probably a few lawsuits. People could get hurt.”
“Yes, Ms. Boone and I have talked about that. Extensively. We think the risk is small, and there’s a sound basis behind what we’re doing here,” Grandfelt said. “It’s called crowdsourcing. We’ll not only have the true crime people working on it, but they have a network of volunteer researchers who know how to use the resources of the Internet, and artificial intelligence, and have extensive connections inside law enforcement. At all levels. A large group of intelligent, motivated people, thinking out of all the correct boxes, often find solutions to problems that so-called experts would never consider.”
“And we’ll take care of the lawsuits,” Boone said. She’d been sitting, but now stood up and looked at Benucci, the former reporter.
“I think it’s time for you to step in, Carla,” she said. To Lucas and Virgil, she said, “Carla is our director of communications.”
Lucas: “Why am I not surprised that you have one?”
“We’re a large organization. She stays busy,” Boone said.
“Her job would be to spread the news about this…bequest?” Virgil asked.
“Exactly. We figure to be coast-to-coast by tomorrow night,” Boone said.
—
In the nextfive minutes, Benucci laid out what she planned to do. She had links to several of the most-used true crime sites, and would drop the information releases, and the reward notice, that evening.
She’d been in touch with most of the major network morning shows, she said, and two had already agreed to do interviews. She was hoping for two or three more. “We think CNN, Fox, or MSNBC will bite for the evening round. Haven’t heard back yet.”
She said the five million, the unsolved murder, the rich twin, the online photos, they all made for great hooks.
“Lara and Tricia will sit for the interviews. I’ve laid out several talking points.” She turned to the two women: “You, Lara and Tricia, should familiarize yourself with them. I’ve got files for both of you to review. Good stuff that will yank the talking heads straight into the story. Tomorrow morning we’ll put you at Senator Henderson’s media center. We’ll bring in Gloria Martinez to do your hair and makeup.”
“Why am I not surprised that you have a media center?” Lucas asked Henderson.
Henderson said, “Hey. Agree to do this and move on.”
“How much did Lara contribute to the reelection fund?” Virgil asked.
“She has been quite generous, and we are looking forward to an even closer relationship in the future,” Mitford said.
Benucci said to Boone and Grandfelt, “You’ll need to get there early for the New York shows. The files contain the address of Senator Henderson’s office and a complete timetable, which may change tomorrow if we make some of the evening shows. The media center isn’t a big deal. A back room with a walnut desk, bunch of books, picture of Senator Henderson shaking hands with the President, and an American flag. A painting of something. Not sure what, abstract landscape, won’t offend anyone. Good lights. We’ll lose the President and the flag.”
Boone smiled and said, “I’ll do it, but I’m a little nervous. I don’t do this kind of TV thing…”
“John Mason said you do. Good publicity for the firm and you’rethe best-looking partner we got. Some of the others…” Benucci faked a shudder. “All you and Lara have to do is say what I write and not audibly fart.” To Lucas: “John Mason’s the managing partner.”
“I got that,” Lucas said. “I actually know him a little. Unlikeable guy.”
“Well, he’s a lawyer,” Benucci said. “He’s the co-inventor of the pop-tort. Made a lot of money with it.”
Lucas stood up, walked once around his bright red Eero Saarinen womb chair, looked from Henderson to Grandfelt to Boone: “Okay. I’m in.” He turned to Virgil. “Where are you at?”
“I have my doubts, but I’ll take a shot at it,” Virgil said. “I’ll probably have to move into a hotel up here, at least temporarily. Gonna be expensive.”
