FM for Murder by Patricia Rockwell Read Free Book Online

forgive himself. She couldn’t have that happen. Some things could be kept secret from Daniel’s father. But finding David and revealing his location to Daniel’s father—or even bringing him to Daniel’s father—that was a dangerous step. After all, David left under very unpleasant circumstances and had made no attempts to contact Daniel or Charles over the years. Trying to find him might not be the positive move that Daniel assumed it would be. It might backfire in ways that Daniel might not be able to anticipate at the moment. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do about any of it, except support Daniel—and she would. And wait—and she would. But not forever.

    Chapter 7

    Present time--Sunday evening, December 16

    “Local disc jockey murdered on air. Our top story on Channel Three News Tonight—your earliest and best news of everything happening in Reardon.”
    “Rocky!” yelled Pamela into the kitchen as she stood in the couple’s living room staring at the photograph that filled the television screen. “Rocky! Come here! They’re talking about that disc jockey!”
    Rocky’s head popped out the kitchen door. He held a large wooden spoon in one hand and a dish towel in the other.
    The television screen cut to a close-up of a young anchor woman.
    “Local disc jockey Theodore Ballard of radio station KRDN was shot and killed on air early this morning—shortly after midnight, according to local authorities.”
    Rocky moved into the living room, closer to his wife as they both stared at the screen, which now showed an outside shot of the small radio station, standing alone in a field of grass, its call letters on a sign almost larger than the station itself.
    “Ballard was working alone at the KRDN studio on Highway 27, south of Reardon, when an unknown assailant entered the studio and shot him in the head,” continued the anchor in voice-over mode. The screen changed to a poor quality shot of Ballard, obviously cropped from a group picture. “Ballard’s body was discovered this morning around 12:30 a.m. when station manager Roger Gallagher and local police entered the unlocked studio.”
    “That photograph is probably pretty old,” said Rocky, “he doesn’t look very goth there.”
    “No,” said Pamela, “no eye liner or weird hair.” In truth, Pamela was amazed with how totally ordinary Theodore Ballard looked. A bland, sort of round face. No particularly striking features. Certainly, he wasn’t ugly—just not very memorable.
    The anchor then cut to a field reporter standing outside the radio station who reported on police efforts to solve the baffling crime, then conducted a quick interview with the aforesaid station manager Roger Gallagher.
    “Mr. Gallagher, you found Ballard’s body?”
    “Yes, I was asleep. The police called me shortly after midnight and asked me to meet them at the station. When I got here, the studio was unlocked. When we went inside, we found Ted lying on the floor beside the mike.”
    “Mr. Gallagher, do you have any idea who might have done this?
    “None, but it’s very scary. I always thought, we always thought our dj’s were perfectly safe working here alone—at night. We’re obviously going to have to rethink our policy now.” The camera panned to Gallagher’s distraught face.
    The story ended with a plea to viewers to call the Reardon police if they had any information that might lead to the apprehension of the killer or killers of Theodore Ballard.
    When the story was over, Rocky flipped off the TV and headed back to the kitchen, followed by his wife. As he worked preparing their Sunday evening meal, she assisted by setting the table.
    “So,” she said to him, “after everything we’ve learned today from Trudi, and from that TV report, do you have any thoughts?”
    “What about?” he said, turning to her as he continued to stir a mixture on the stove. “You mean, am I trying to ferret out the killer? I leave that to you, my