Social Death: A Clyde Shaw Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page A

the topic.
    “Updates from the crime scene at 4 and 6,” Diskin said.
    “I’ll obviously want to cover this on Topical Tonight at 9,” Georgia said, staking her show’s claim.
    Georgia was a former district prosecutor, a Southern spitfire who had risen to fame as a legal commentator back when there was just one cable news network. The show was best known for missing-person cases, especially those involving children or attractive young women, but just about any criminal investigation that had the potential to garner national attention would do, anything from unwanted sexual advances from a politician to a particularly grisly murder. Topical Tonight was FirstNews’s highest-rated hour, and as such, got to call more than its fair share of shots around the network.
    Although I had been tapped to handle this morning’s breaking news at the Haverford, that wasn’t my usual gig. Technically speaking, I was one of Topical ’s segment producers, a Jill-of-all trades role that had me flying off to cover a shooting spree in Mobile, Alabama, one day, and a Boston College hazing prank gone fatally wrong the next. I also kept my eye on the tabs and newspapers for breaking news, scoured regional publications for unsolved cases we could blow up into media feeding frenzies, and pitched in from time to time with guest booking.
    “Up to you what you do with your airtime,” Diskin said, responding to Georgia. “But everything related to the Kravis case gets vetted through legal and standards and practices. Nothing goes to air without their stamp of approval.”
    It wasn’t unusual for my scripts to go through the legal department. Most of what we put on the air did. But I’d rarely had to deal with standards and practices. Their role, as a department, was to make sure everything that happened at the network was in the best interest of the company. If, for example, something Georgia said on air stirred up trouble with Christian Scientist viewers and as a result caused a company-wide boycott by religious groups, it was up to standards and practices to deal with the fallout. They figured out whether to arrange mediation sessions, issue an apology, or stand by Georgia’s right to free speech.
    Diskin pointed his pen at Alex. “Also, he’s taking the lead for us on the case.”
    Georgia and I exchanged looks. I could already tell she wasn’t going to be happy with this arrangement. Not that she would have wanted to do the on-scene reporting herself—that would be like Katie Couric doing a stand-up in front of the White House—but generally speaking the assignment desk let Georgia dictate which correspondents would cover what cases for her hour. She usually called the shots. But apparently not this time.
    “I take this is a done deal.” Georgia hooked her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans. She was wearing her off-air uniform: men’s button-down, jeans, and copious amounts of diamonds and gold.
    Diskin nodded, looked her straight in the eye. “He was first on the scene.”
    “And what about me?” I asked. I was there too. By the same logic, this should be my story.
    “He’s going to need a producer. Alex doesn’t have any experience covering murder cases, and we need him to work with someone who does. You’ve got connections with the PD and I know I can depend on you to employ an extra level of sensitivity in our interactions with the Kravises,” he said.
    Alex turned to me. I could feel his brown eyes on me.
    “It’s still Clyde’s call,” Georgia said, asserting her authority. Technically, she was my immediate boss and Diskin was supposed to clear it with her before assigning me to work with a correspondent.
    Working as Alex’s segment producer meant I would be glued to him for as long as we were covering the story. I’d have to go with him into the field for live shots and on-site interviews, work my sources for information and leads, set up on-camera interviews with law-enforcement officials and homicide