Jeffery Deaver - Hard News

Where exactly had Hopper died? she wondered. In the dim triangle of light falling into the courtyard from the leaded-glass lamp by the canopied doorway? Or had it been in the negative space – the shadows?

Had he crawled toward the light?

Rune found that this bothered her, not knowing exactly where the man had lain as he died. She thought there should be some kind of marker, some indication of where that moment had occurred – the instant between life and no life. But there was nothing, no reminder at all.

Hopper would have to be content with whatever his gravestone said. He'd been rich; she was sure it was an eloquent sentiment.

Rune led Courtney into the stuccoed lobby. An entryway of a medieval castle. She expected at least a suit of armor, a collection of pikes and broadswords and maces. But she saw only a bulletin board with a faded sign, Co-op News, and a stack of take-out menus from a Chinese restaurant.

She pressed a button.

"What a cute little girl. You're young to be a mother."

Rune said, "You know how it is."

The woman said, "I had Andrew when I was twenty-six; Beth when I was twenty-nine. That was old for then. For that generation. Let me show you the pictures."

The apartment was irritating. It reminded Rune of a movie she'd seen one time about these laser beams that crisscrossed the control room in a spaceship and if you broke one of them you'd set off this alarm.

Here, though, no laser beams, but instead: little china dishes, animal figurines, cups, commemorative plates, a Franklin Mint ceramic thimble collection, vases and a thousand other artifacts, most of them flowery and ugly, all poised on the edges of fake teak shelves and tables, just waiting to fall to the floor and shatter.

Courtney's eyes glinted at these many opportunities for destruction and Rune kept a death grip on the belt of the little girl's jumpsuit.

The woman's name was Miss Breckman. She was handsome. A born salesclerk: reserved, helpful, organized, polite. Rune remembered she was in her late fifties though she looked younger. She was stocky, with a double chin (handsome though it was) and a cylindrical frame. "Have a seat, please."

They maneuvered through the ceramic land mines and sat on doily-covered chairs. Rune tamped down her pride and complimented Miss Breckman on her fine collection of things.

The woman glowed. "I got them mostly from my mother. We had the same thoughts about decoration. Genetic, I suppose."

From there they talked about children, about boyfriends and husbands (Miss Breckman's had left her ten years before; she was, she said, "currently in the market").

Mostly what Miss Breckman wanted to talk about, though, was the news.

"So you're a real reporter?" Her eyes focused on Rune like a scientist discovering a new kind of bug.

"More of a producer, really. Not like a newspaper reporter. It's different in TV news."

"Oh, I know. I watch every news program on the air. I always try to work the day shift so I can be home in time to watchLive at Five. It's a bit gossipy, but aren't we all? I don't care for the sixp.m. report – that's mostly business – so I fix my dinner then, and I watch theWorld News at Seven while I eat." She frowned. "I hope you won't be offended if I tell you your network's nightly news isn't all that good. Jim Eustice, the anchorman, I think he's funny-looking and sometimes doesn't pronounce those Polish and Japanese names right. ButCurrent Events is simply the best. Do you know Piper Sutton? Sure you do, of course. Is she as charming as she seems? Smart… sweet…"

If you only knew, lady…

Rune began steering toward the Boggs story, not quite sure how much to say. If Rune was right about Boggs's innocence, of course, she was pretty much calling Ms Figurine here a liar, and – come to think of it – a perjurer too. She opted for the indirect approach. "I'm doing a follow-up story on the Hopper killing and I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"I'd be happy to help. It was one of the most exciting times of my life. I was in that courtroom and there was this killer right there and he was looking at me." Miss Breckman closed her eyes for a moment. "I was pretty darn scared. But I did my duty. I was kind of hoping that after I came out of the courtroom there'd be all these reporters shoving microphones at me – you know, I love those microphones with the names of the stations on them."

"Uh-huh. Maybe I could set up my equipment?"

While Rune did that, Miss Breckman hoisted Courtney into her lap and rattled on nonstop. Bringing the little girl was a great idea – she was like a pacifier for adults.

When the portable light clicked on and the red dot on the Ikegami flashed, Miss Breckman's eyes took on an intense shine to a degree Rune figured they would never reach ringing up an American Express charge in Junior Sportswear.

Rune said, "Could you move over there." Nodding at a Queen Anne chair upholstered in forest-green needle-point.

"I'll sit wherever you like, honey." Miss Breckman moved and then composed herself for a moment.

"Now, could you tell me exactly what happened?"

"Sure." She told the camera about the murder. Coming home from shopping, seeing the men argue. The gun appearing. The muffled shot. Hopper falling. Running to the phone. Hesitating…

"You saw him pull the trigger?"

"Well, I saw this flash and the gun was right up against the poor man's body."

"Could you see what kind of gun it was?"

"No, it was too dark."

"And you couldn't hear what they were saying."

"No." Her head turned, eyes gazing into the courtyard. "You can see…"

Beautiful shot! Rune zoomed past her and focused on the cobblestones.

"… it's pretty far away."

Rune dug into her purse and pulled out a piece of paper. She looked at it then said, "The police report said you weren't interviewed until the day after the shooting. Is that right?"

"Uh-huh. The next night, two men showed up. Detectives. But they didn't look like Kojak or anything, though. I was kind of disappointed."

"You didn't contact them right away?"

"No. Like I told you, I was pretty shaken by the whole thing. I was scared. What if it was a drug killing? You know what you see on the news? Practically every day, mothers and children are being murdered because they're witnesses. But the next morning I saw a news report onWake Up With the News that said they'd arrested this drifter. Not a hit man or anything. So when the detectives came to me I didn't hesitate to tell them what I saw."

"It also says that the police asked you if you'd seen anything and you said, Tm sorry I didn't talk to you sooner but Idid see it. I mean, I saw the shooting.' And the detective asked, 'Did you see the man who did it?' And you answered, 'Sure I did. It was Randy Boggs.' Was that pretty much what you said?" "Nope, not pretty much at all. That'sexactly what I said."

Rune just smiled and resisted an urge to say, No further questions.

She suddenly felt a shadow over her didn't like the vibrations. Rune looked sideways to see what angel of death was hovering over her in the newsroom and found she was staring into Piper Sutton's eyes.

"Hi," Rune said.

Sutton didn't answer.

Rune's eyes skipped around the room, wondering why exactly the woman was frowning so intensely.

Rune said, "Guess what I've got." She touched the tape. "I talked to the witness and-"

The flash of anger was like a fast shutter on a camera. And so Fiene and brutal that Rune gasped. Then Piper Sutton regained control though her eyes were still cold. "You've got a little bit to learn about life." She seemed to swallow something at the end of the sentence, probably: young lady.

Rune began, "What did I-?"

Then it hit her – oh, shit. The London assignment.