“Remember, we found her obit in the copy ofThirty Pieces of Silvermarking chapter thirteen.”
Nadine pulled out the obit, and they read it again. “It wasn’t the chapter it marked that was important,” said Nadine. “It was the obit itself. Look at her sister’s name.”
“Sarah Owens, née Cohen.” He blinked. “Spencer is her married name.”
They soon found a news story about Abigail Cohen. Although the death notice only spoke of her love for animals and charity work, she had been fired for stealing from John Wilson’s office in the 1980s, which she denied. The reporters had a field day about the role of women in the workplace, vilifying Spencer and using her as proof they weren’t as trustworthy as men.
“Another victim,” said Wes. Wilson was a cold man.
“I bet this story triggered Dot’s keeping tabs on Wilson,” said Nadine. “She saw he hadn’t changed.” She passed over the manuscript for Wes to continue.
The afternoon turned golden as he read the last page out on the patio, his voice scratchy. “She plans to confront him and that’s it,” he said. “There’s a date scrawled at the end of the page. It’s three days before Dot died.”
“Then there’s probably not a hidden final chapter.” Nadine groaned. “I want to know what happened.”
“We know what happened, since this is a thinly veiled autobiography.” He looked at her. “This is enough for me. I want to go to our editors. Tomorrow.”
She moved back into the house without answering. Wes followed her in and saw her put the manuscript down with the rest of their findings before she sat on the couch.
Then he waited for her to speak.
***
Nadine chewed her lip, unsure if she should say what was really bothering her.
“Just say it.” Wes ran his thumb along her lip.
“It might start a fight.”
“It doesn’t need to be a fight, but if we don’t talk, it almost certainly will.”
“This might be unavoidable, talking or not.” She looked up at the ceiling, with the setting sun glinting rainbows through the crystal prisms of the chandelier.
“Say it, Nadine.”
“If I bring this to Daniel, I could be out of a job,” she said quietly. “He’ll tell Majors, who will probably get it spiked. Wilson has been his friend for decades. Knowing I was working with theSpearon my own will make him furious as well. I’m already not Daniel’s favorite,and Irina was taken off reporting when she asked questions. Not to mention it would have to be tight. Not a single thread untied, and we don’t have that.”
“We would do that for any story before publication.” He pointed at the table. “When you take the entirety of what we have, it’s more than enough to get the go-ahead to look into this properly, which we can do after we leave.” He took her hand. “I’m going to ask something that might upset you.”
“I mean, you don’t have to.”
“Did you start thinking this once you found out about John Wilson’s involvement?”
She tried to jerk her hand back. Wes had called her a coward, basically. “It’s reasonable to worry how theHeraldwould react if I came to them with a story that painted John Wilson in an extremely negative light.”
“Everyone likes to pretend they’re above influence, but journalists are still people.”
“The problem is worse when the pressure’s internal,” she said.
Wes laughed. “When it’s not your editor telling you it’s a bad idea to investigate your primary advertiser’s environmental record but a little voice asking,Hey, is that the best thing you can do for your career?”
Nadine brooded over this. “We might not like to think about it that way because we’re in it for the journalism, but media is a business, and businesses have owners.”
“Not to mention they’re usually people the world has treated quite well and who don’t necessarily see the need to make changes that would impact that,” said Wes. “But it’s what we have to work with.”
“Well, what about you?” She remained offended that he’d called her out, even if he was a bit right. “Do you want the story out because you want to serve the public good or because you want leverage to get back on the I-team?”
“Both,” he said, more calmly than she expected. “I hate the fact that he screwed Dot over and others for personal gain and got away with it.And is likely still doing it. It doesn’t matter that she made the experience art. The fact that she wanted the truth known, that she carried it with her for this long, means it was heavy on her mind.”
