Hacking up Jason’s package made Sally cringe, even though they left in a couple good mentions of him and a few seconds of air time. She was just as sure as she could be that he would be ready to kill at the staff meeting Monday morning. But, as Dave had said, in this case the reporter wasn’t the news, though Jason obviously seemed to think he was.

The six o’clock went off fairly smoothly, with nothing much to complain about, and Brett had pizza waiting just as soon as the critique was over with. Facing a slow evening with a short staff, everyone, including the group from the control room, settled down to pizza and sodas in the lunchroom, while the national news was rambling on a nearby TV set. Nobody was paying much attention to it. It was a Sunday, so not a great news day, and it was as soft as soft could be. Dave usually had a pretty good fund of stories about places he had worked, and there was laughter.

Things were wrapping up when the trailer to the national news came on. “Finally tonight,” the anchor said, “The spirit of the comic book seems to be alive and well in Toledo.” That caught everybody’s attention, and they swung around to watch.

It proved to be the tape from the package, but cut even more severely than had been done in Channel 5’s own editing room—there was no mention of Jason at all, just a clip of Hippolyta escorting Mrs. Cordero onto the porch. Worse was the voice-over: “When a hostage standoff in Toledo last night became too much to handle, the police called on Toledo’s superheroine, a woman who calls herself ‘Hippolyta’ after the mythical Amazon warrior. Hippolyta discovered that there was more than the police bargained for.” Then came a few words of Mrs. Cordero’s statement, and a brief voice-over about Rodriguez attacking her with Hippolyta standing him off as a foreshortened video rolled. Hippolyta’s statement about returning to the shadows followed. The scene shifted back to the network anchor. “Evildoers of Toledo, beware,” he intoned. “Somewhere in the shadows, Hippolyta could be watching.”

“Ohhhhhh, boy,” Kevin shook his head. “They played it for laughs. That’s going to piss some people off.”

“Jason for one,” Hank agreed. “There isn’t a hint of him anywhere in it.”

“It’s going to piss the cops off for sure,” Sally agreed, thinking that Jason couldn’t scream too loud at what his channel 5 cohorts had done to his package after they’d seen the network version. She’d bet any amount of money she had that Jason was watching—at least, unless Andrea had him too busy. “They went out of their way to make them look like incompetents.”

“Same old shit,” Dave snorted. “They took the ax to it in New York. This is Toledo, the heart of flyover country, so nothing important can ever happen here. I’ve never seen a package shipped up to them that they didn’t screw up somehow.”

“Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio,” Rachel agreed. Nobody needed any explanation.

They heard the phone ring. “Anybody want to bet that’s not Jason?” Carl asked.

They all glanced at each other. No, nobody was willing to bet. Brett stood up, and turned to the phone on the wall. Really, at this point it was his responsibility to answer the phone. “No, Brett, I’ll take it,” Dave said. “He’s a little less likely to crawl all over my ass than he would be anyone else’s.”

Toledo was a rarity in this day and age, in that it had two daily newspapers—the morning Blade, and the afternoon Daily News. The former was much the larger newspaper, and it had a lock on a lot of things in the town, with staff to give the coverage to things the Daily couldn’t reach. About all the smaller paper had to fight back with was aggressiveness and flexibility. They were hungrier, so they tried harder. The Blade billed itself pompously as “One of America’s Great Newspapers.” In fact, it was stodgy and gray by today’s standards, and especially compared to its smaller competitor, which prided itself on good writing, flashiness, and being in the middle of what’s happening—much like all the TV stations in town.

Police and crime news was very important to the Daily. The Blade had a staff of five assigned to police and court news, and could draw on more help from the rest of the newsroom if needed. The Daily only had Charlie Parker and his assistant, Ernie Kimmel—and they took great pleasure in beating the Blade around the ears, which they did routinely enough that police and courts weren’t a popular beat at the Blade. That actually made things a little easier for Charlie and Ernie—they’d both been doing the job for a long time, they had lots of friends in high and low places, and they knew where the bodies were buried in each of them. They couldn’t cover everything the Blade had on its pages, but the items they selected could be covered in much more depth.

It was just as well that both Charlie and Ernie were morning people, for they were often up very early, pulling the day’s news together for the midmorning deadline. But once the deadline had passed it was time to lean back, put their feet on their spectacularly cluttered desks, sip on coffee from the machine, and plan out what the two would be doing for the next day. On this particular morning, which happened to be Halloween, Ernie had the big story of the day, a rather gory domestic-violence murder over on the east side. The cops had the perp, and he was talking, so Ernie had been able to come up with a lot of detail. It was a nasty one, but realistically, there was maybe one more story left before it came down to just covering the trial. Of course, reporters don’t usually get to make plans in police coverage; stuff happens.

“You gotta wonder,” Ernie said, “with today being Halloween, what the chances are of Hippolyta coming out of the woodwork? Nobody’s heard anything out of her since the Cordero thing, and that was almost two weeks ago.”

“Hard to say,” Charlie said with a shrug. For about a month there, the Daily had beaten the Blade badly on the Hippolyta stories. Charlie was still the only person to have had interviews with the Amazon, in fact he was the only known contact for her, which did give the Daily a distinct advantage—even better than Channel 5. “I haven’t heard anything out of her since then.”

In fact, Charlie had heard quite a bit, but he wasn’t about to tell Ernie anything. He and Sally had held a long talk out at Sluggy’s a couple days after the Cordero thing broke, and Sally had pretty much told him again that she hoped that would be Hippolyta’s last appearance. At least, if the Amazon did appear again, it’d have to be for a damn good reason. Charlie agreed that the risk was a little ridiculous. If he hadn’t already known, he liked to think that he’d have eventually made the connection between the Amazon and his sister. It wasn’t as if the trail was that hard to follow, at least looking at it from the inside.

“She still has everybody’s imagination,” Ernie reported. “I was talking to a gal over in the feature section, and she says that Hippolyta is the most asked-for Halloween costume for kids around town. Of course, nobody has anything even close.”

“Yeah, tough. Makes people work some.”

“I still can’t believe you got sucked into that deal at Franklin Park tonight.”

Right after the Cordero incident, the manager of the Franklin Park Mall on the west side of town got a brilliant idea: because of the elevated interest in the Amazon, how about a Hippolyta look-alike contest as part of the mall’s Halloween promotion? It seemed like a natural—especially when he strong-armed the publisher of the Daily with negotiations over an ad contract to get Charlie over to judge the contest. He was, after all, known throughout the community as the person who more than anyone else knew what Hippolyta looked like. It was a pain in the butt, but it was a promo, something else to shove down the Blade’s throat.

“You know how it is,” Charlie shrugged. “Tom said, ‘Hey Charlie.’ And about all I could say was, ‘Yes, sir.’ Besides, it might be kind of fun.” In fact, Sally was not real enthused about it, wanting the public to forget about the Amazon as much as possible, but it was Halloween after all. Maybe after the holiday, things could die down a little.

“You going to do a story on it?”

“No, I managed to beg out of that. They’re sending over a photographer and someone from the city desk,” he smiled as the phone rang. “All I have to do is go over and stir things up a little.” He picked up the phone. “Police desk, Parker.”

“Hi, Charlie,” Sally’s voice came to his ear. There was a fuzzy sound to it, like she might be on a speakerphone. “What’s happening over at your shop today?”

Although Sally was technically Charlie’s competitor, the difference was night and day, and both of them knew it. Channel 5 and the other TV stations, like the Daily, could only cover selected items, also with considerably less depth. Though Ernie didn’t know it, Charlie felt he owed his sister big time on the Hippolyta stories. So Charlie wasn’t above sneaking an item over to Sally in payback—especially if it was something that happened after the Daily’s midmorning deadline, where the TV station could beat the Blade to the punch with its late-night deadline.

“Not a lot,” he said. “Made deadline, and that’s all that counts. Something bothering you today?”

“Well, yeah, we’ve got a crew here from the network Newsmagazine, and they’re looking to do a story on Hippolyta. They want to interview her. I’ve already told them it’s not your policy to give out information on her or do interviews about her, but they said that was then and wanted me to ask you again now. They said this isn’t just a local thing, it’s now a national story.”

This was not the first time they’d had this phone call. Several people had figured that Sally might have an inside track to him, and, of course, there could be no discussion of revealing anything. “Not interested, Sis. You know the reasons. I promised her that I’d keep her anonymous. I’m not going to break my word on something like this, and that’s final.”

“I understand, Charlie. Thanks for listening and not just slamming the phone in my ear.”

“No problem. Catch you around, Sis.” He hung up the phone, gently but firmly.

“Sally again?” Ernie nodded. “Same thing?”

“Same thing. I promised Hippolyta anonymity, and I’m not going to blow it just because some asshole from New York wants to score off a local yokel, even if he burns someone pretty bad. After all, it’s not in New York, so it doesn’t really matter, does it? Sally understands that, but she can’t get it through some of the thick skulls over there.”

“That’s what, about the third or fourth time it’s happened?”

“Yeah, and they’re on her ass about it all the time over at Channel 5 too. The last time we actually talked about something, she was thinking about putting out résumés. Panty Raid has turned into a real asshole, and she’s damn near ready to walk. I talked to Tom to see if he’d like her to walk over here. He would, but she wants to stay in TV, God knows why.”

“It’s not like Panty Raid isn’t an asshole anyway. Christ, he wouldn’t know a story if it bit him in the ass.”

“Not that we haven’t had a few like him in the ink side of things,” Charlie said with a snort. “But assholes like him seem to gravitate more to local television. Usually they get recognized as assholes early on and don’t get kicked upstairs. But enough of that. If we get to telling stories about how big of an asshole Panty Raid is, we’re never going to get anything done. We got anything on the hook we can go with tomorrow, or do we have to wait for something to happen?”

Over the next several minutes, they discussed the possibilities they could think of, none of which seemed very earth shattering. Sometimes things happen, and sometimes they don’t. Charlie did have a couple people he wanted to talk to who said they knew things that might turn into something soon, and he was pulling himself together to get ready to go when the phone rang again.

It was Sally again—this time her voice had some static in it, like she was calling from a cell phone. “I’m on my way over to the Health Department. They stuck me with Restaurant Roundup again.”

“Too bad about that.” They both knew the junior person gets stuck with the shit details.

“Yeah. Metheny is with the Newsmagazine crew, and they’re headed over to your shop. They want to talk to you directly, maybe go over your head. Thought you might like to know.”

“Thanks for the tip,” he said, knowing Ernie was still there to overhear. “I’ll take care of it. You like to do lunch?”

“I’d love to, but it’ll have to be about one,” she agreed.

“Works for me,” he agreed. “If you’re headed downtown, we could do the same place as the last time.” That meant the downtown Tony Packo’s—they had gotten together for lunch there several times in the last couple months.

“Look, they want to talk to our little friend’s parents too. I thought maybe you could tip them off, since they know you.” Given the context, that had to mean the Spanglers, Charlie knew. He also knew she was being evasive on the cell phone. People did have scanners and listened into cell phone conversations—there’d been a big story about a crime ring that got busted by happenstance that way a while back, the perps thinking that cell conversations were secure.

“I can do that. Catch you later.”

“See yuh,” she said, and the hiss of static clicked off.

Some people just won’t take no for an answer, he thought. And Panty Raid with them! That offered possibilities …

“Something interesting?” Ernie asked.

“Could be,” Charlie said. “I’m going to head over to the PD, hit a couple contacts elsewhere, then have lunch. I’ll be back eventually if not sooner.”

Charlie headed right out of the building and drove off in his sport-ute. Probably cut it close, he thought. They probably left a few minutes before Sally, and she would have at least gotten out of the Channel 5 parking lot before she called. It was about a fifteen-minute trip, and that would have cost six or seven. Actually, there was no reason it couldn’t be done up front, but he decided to let Panty Raid and the Newsmagazine crew stew for a while. There were a couple other irons in his fire too, and Charlie wasn’t above killing two birds with one stone. Or more, if he could get them.

He actually used his time productively, stopping to talk with a sergeant in homicide who’d been a rookie with him, and who gave him a couple of tips, including the fact that a particular cold case was on the verge of turning hot. It wasn’t something to print yet, but to be ready for when it happened, which would most likely be soon. That gave him some time to dig in the files and do some research. That was worth the trip, right there, but he made a point of talking to a few other people, and stopping by an out-of-the-way phone booth where he could make some quiet phone calls without the risk of using a cell phone.

About one, he strolled into the downtown Tony Packo’s and found an isolated booth in the back. He’d no more than sat down when Sally came in, looking a bit frayed. “You look like you’re not having a good day,” Charlie observed.

“No, I’m not. That damn crew from Newsmagazine showed up, and they’ve been thick as thieves with Metheny all morning. He clocked out so he could ride around with them and suck up to them some more. It’s really getting to be a pain in the ass. They almost had my resignation this morning.”

“Metheny?”

“Yeah. God, I don’t know how he can get away with being such an arrogant asshole all the time. It’s like he’s got Ben wrapped around his little finger. Then the four of them got me in Ben’s office and Ben ordered me to call you.”

“That was the speakerphone call, right?” Charlie nodded. “Didn’t sound right.”

“Yeah, I mean I told them what you would say, but they still wanted to hear it from you, like my word isn’t good enough.”

“So you called me to warn me.”

“Yeah, I got out of the office as soon as I could,” she said. “I didn’t want to give them the idea of bringing me along. Charlie, what happens if they go over your head? I mean, my job is one thing, I’m about ready to dump it anyway, but yours, that’s another.”

“Won’t happen. Tom and I have been around that block too many times in the past, and we understand each other. Besides, he knows that if I tell him to jam it, the word will get around in a hurry, and there’d be someone from the Blade meeting me as I go out the door. Not that I’d want to work for that bunch of turkeys, but he doesn’t have to know that. As far as that goes, there’s a sergeant position open out in Waterville that I think I could have for the asking. It’d be a damn sight more peaceful than what I’m doing now.”

“Yeah, but not as much fun. You like this conspiracy stuff; you live for it. Me, I’m in way over my head.”

“So that’s what you’ve got me for, to help you out. Hey, I did talk to Bob Spangler. It’s too late, they already set up an interview. He said he’d try not to tell them anything, even though he doesn’t know much, anyway.”

“How are they getting along?” Sally asked.

“If I had to use a word, it’d be ‘gun shy.’ They’re very, very protective of Missy. I mean, I can’t say as I blame them, but I think they’re overdoing it.”

“How do you mean?”

“It’s like tonight. I mean, it’s Halloween, right? Missy wants to go out and do the normal kid thing, go trick or treating like her friends get to do. Bob said they even made a little Hippolyta costume for her. But even after spending the time working on that Maureen is still scared to let her out of the house, even if they’re with her. He figures this interview at least gives them the excuse to not go out.”

“That’s sad. You only get so many Halloweens when you’re a little kid, and then most of the special fun goes out of it.”

“Yeah. Jeez, I wish there was a way we could tell them to lighten up a little.”

Sally nodded, with a sad look on her face. “Maybe sometime I ought to put on the Hippolyta outfit and tell them to give her a little room to grow up.”

“Might be an idea. Do it right, and it’s not like anyone has to know. You doing anything special for tonight?”

“No,. At least I’m not working this evening. I thought I was going to get sucked into it, but I’m already way bad for overtime. Liz wanted me to go with Shane, out to this house where the owners really do up the decorations—it’s near the Spangler’s—and help him get footage of kids out trick or treating, but I was able to get out of that. I’ve got a tournament coming up this weekend, so I’m getting together with Rick and Justin and Emily at the salle so Stan can give us a few more pointers. You know, if it weren’t for that, I think I’d have told Channel 5 to bag it by now.”

“Well, have fun, try to get your mind off it,” Charlie counseled. “Concentrate on the fencing. Think of me out at Franklin Park with all the Hippolyta lookalikes running around. When this first came up, I thought about asking Hippolyta herself to show up to be the surprise judge, but I’m sure you’re not up for it now.”

“No, I really don’t want to put the outfit on again, unless it’s for a good reason, like maybe making Metheny look bad in front of that crew from Newsmagazine.”

“Now that would be a public service.” He grinned as a light bulb began to glow in his mind. “Hey, what time does your session at the salle start?”

“Seven-thirty.”

“It is Halloween. Maybe we could have some fun if you were to show up there a little late.”

“I’ve seen that evil look in your eye before. And right now, I could stand for a little fun, especially if it’s at Metheny’s expense, but I’m really reluctant to put the outfit on again for too many reasons.”

“Look at it this way,” Charlie said with a smile. “This is one time you don’t have to worry about it. How many Hippolyta clones are going to be out and around tonight?”

“Hey, you might have a point! What’s on your mind?”

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