Page 24 of Head Room

To my right, a woman stood in the doorway leading from what I took to be the office down two steps into the bay.

My angle made it look like the top of her head touched the doorframe.

I knew it didn’t, but it bothered me visually.

In TV, there’s a concept called head room.It’s leaving space between the top of the frame and the top of the head of whoever is on camera.Rule of thumb is to have the subject’s eyes one-third of the way down the frame.

It’s one of those unconscious things that feel right to humans.Seeing her like this felt out of sync.

My eyes adjusted to reveal a guy in his early thirties, about the same age as the woman, and directly ahead of me.He appeared to be attaching portable lights to a multi-port charger on a workbench at the back.

He hadn’t seen or heard me yet, but he could at any moment, then I’d be caught eavesdropping.

“Hi,” I called out as I advanced.

He turned at my greeting, smiled, but didn’t move toward me.From the corner of my eye, I saw the woman stiffen.

Without her presence, I’d have started talking to him sooner — softening him up.Instead, I had to start cold when I reached him.

“Hi, I’m E.M.Danniher from KWMT-TV.”

He took my outstretched hand, with no sign of noticing the smoke odor.Maybe he was used to it.“I’ve seen you.Nice to meet you.I’m Miles Stevens.”

Not a name Hannah listed, darn it.

“I’m hoping to get some information — strictly background.”I opened my hands to show they were camera- and microphone-free.“Such a tragedy that fire on Wednesday.And I understand the cabin owner volunteered with you?”

“Frank, yes.”

“Sergeant Frank Jardos,” I elaborated, leaving a short gap for him to dispute the full name and title if he chose to.He said nothing.“Did you fight fires with him?”

He smiled again.“Not really.I guess he was on minor fires early on when he moved here and he was younger.As long as I’ve been around, he was on support duty—”

“Duty like charging lights.”The woman’s words were not full volume, but meant to be heard.Also possibly meant to blunt the guy’s faint I’m-better-than-him self-satisfaction.

He gave no sign of hearing her.I pretended deafness, too.

“—him and his wife.Sure do miss her cookies and cakes.She’d bring them for all our meetings, even when we were wrapping up calls, sometimes.”

“You were out at the fire at his cabin?”

“Yeah.We got there fast, but Ned Irvin from the Red Sail Rock substation got there faster.He ran it.”

In other words, that’s who I should talk to.I would.But that wasn’t who was in front of me.

“Great.That’s helpful.I’ll get with him, though it’s not anything official.Nola Choi is our reporter who’s on the story.”

His eyes almost flicked toward the woman, confirming he knew she was there.His voice also dropped.“Oh, yeah, I saw her.”

The way he said it introduced a new element.

He had decent hair, was in good shape, showed white teeth in his smile.

But, either way, I would not stoop to encourage, much less take advantage of, his interest in Nola.He was too old for her.Not to mention the potential jealous woman lurking over there.

“Did anything strike you as notable about the scene, Miles?”

“You mean other than seeing a dead body the second day?”