Killing Kate: A Novel (Riley Spartz Book 4) by Julie Kramer Read Free Book Online Page A

regarding job evaluations was shaky.
    She nodded in agreement and impatience, clearly wanting me to move along so she could begin her real boss business of running the newsroom.
    “I’m getting the feeling there might be something unusual going on with the Kate Warner murder,” I said. “I want to dig around a little more.”
    I didn’t go into the specifics of the chalk fairy, because I generally don’t like getting news directors all fired up over a specific story element unless I know it’s reportable. Especially these days during media struggles. TV managers don’t have much of an attention span. They want things NOW.
    No time for hope; only time for results. And if I bring up an intriguing prospect, but don’t deliver . . . that gets labeled failure fast.
    So Noreen essentially reminded me of her long-held news theory that dead dogs often deliver more viewers than dead people.
    “You show me how that murder will improve our household numbers or demographic ratings and I’m happy to revisit this discussion, but our research shows that viewers are tired of hearing about so much crime. If you find an obvious news development, such as an arrest, then we’ll talk.”
    So I silently counted to three, as in Channel 3, thanked her for her time, and walked down to the Hennepin County Government Center to talk to the county attorney about options for prosecuting Buddy’s owner.
    After a few minutes of predictable chitchat about how the news was going downhill, it was clear that Melissa Kreimer, unlike my boss, definitely cared more about dead people than dead dogs. I didn’t mention that voters and viewers might be more inclined to agree with Noreen, but it was clear the police chief had a better grasp on how to manipulate the media than did the county attorney.
    “The key to the state’s animal cruelty laws are the words ‘intentionally violates,’ “ Kreimer said. “I don’t think for a minute this man intended to kill his dog. That’s why we have a separate law about leaving unattended pets in a motor vehicle. And that’s the law most applicable in this case.”
    She agreed to meet me downstairs in the building atrium for a quick question-answer on camera. Most television interviews in the building were done there rather than having news crews taking all the equipment upstairs through security. Malik had already set up the tripod, and natural light from the overhead windows made artificial lighting unnecessary.
    Kreimer gave me a usable sound bite of how fair laws balance priorities between society and Buddy’s owner.
    “While the monetary fine seems minimal in this case,” she said, “let’s keep in mind the owner also has to pay to repair his vehicle windows, and the cost for transportation and medical care for the animal. Plus, he no longer has a dog.”
    Maybe all that was enough suffering for Keith Avise, but my gut told me the county attorney might be in for a surprise when she heard from the general public. Kreimer didn’t seem familiar with recent world outrage when a British woman dumped a cat in a garbage can explaining, “It’s just a cat.”
    As much as I disagreed with Noreen about many of her newsdecisions, they often proved canny. I imagined her anchor lead-in on my story.
    ((ANCHOR CU))
AUTHORITIES SAY BUDDY WAS
JUST A DOG AND HIS DEATH IS
ONLY A PETTY MISDEMEANOR . . .
BUT OUR PEOPLE-ON-THE-STREET
INTERVIEWS SHOW A DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE.
    Because of staff cuts, the assignment desk was starting to keep closer tabs on those of us who work in the field. They constantly want to know where we are when and who we are doing what with while chasing stories. To be a good news trooper, I called to report that my interview was finished, my photographer clear. Ozzie immediately dispatched Malik to shoot a jackknifed semi that was clogging up traffic on the freeway.
    Then he dropped a whammy and told me that someone had posted my Buddy blubbering episode on YouTube last night.
    “You’ve got