A reporter interrupted him with a shouted question asking for new information. I held my breath. Vanderputz shouldn’t know about Brian, but…
“Ah…”
I could see he was aching to say something that’d get him more airtime. I squeezed the towel between my hands, wishing it was his neck. He continued.
“There is nothing more I can tell you at this time. But I believe in the public’s right to know, and the moment we have any new development…”
They let him finish the sentence, barely, before cutting away to tease sports and weather. I hurried back to the shower, light-headed with relief. Crisis averted. This one, anyway. I still needed to check the Internet.
I dressed and did my hair and makeup in record time, but just as I opened my laptop, Bailey called to say she was downstairs. Damn. I grabbed a cold bottle of water, wrapped half of my toasted bagel in a napkin, and sprinted for the elevator.
“You checked the Web for leaks?” I asked as I got into the car.
Bailey nodded. “So far, so good.”
We went back to Brian’s past jobs and asked more questions. All of his bosses and co-workers said the same thing: he was a good worker, a nice guy, but he didn’t hang out with anyone on a social basis and they didn’t know of any friends. The only person he’d ever mentioned was his aunt, Janice.
As we walked back to the car after the last stop, we passed an outdoor newsstand set under an awning against the wall of a building. I glanced at the newspapers displayed on the middle shelf. Every single paper had some mention of Hayley’s murder on the front page. Most featured a color reproduction of a particularly winsome pose above the fold. Not just one but three different tabloids carried a full story. Though I shuddered to think what was in those stories, I bought them all. I had to know what kind of misinformation was already being spread. We’d asked our respective offices to keep a tight lid on the details of how and where Hayley’d been found, but we knew that wouldn’t stop the lower-echelon workers at either the police station or the DA’s office from leaking stories-true or false-to reporters for fun, attention, and profit. I didn’t know whether we’d ever have a suspect to take to trial, but if we did, I would need a jury that hadn’t been tainted with lies and spin.
We got into the car and Bailey pulled out. I opened one of the papers to start reading, then realized it’d probably make me nauseated-and I don’t just mean from motion sickness. I folded it back up. It could wait till I got back to my office or the station.
