Page 72 of Precise Justice

“Hey, I spoke to Philo. I was right, he wants it. He’ll be calling you in a few minutes. Now, listen, I told him that he will not use anyone’s name without written permission. We’ll see where this goes if I say that’s okay.”

“Thanks, Marc. This is great. Something needs to be done.”

“I told him to keep me informed. Call me after you talk to him,” Marc said then ended the call.

“What?” Connie asked.

Marc gave her a quick version of what that was about.

“They’re not doing anything?” Connie asked.

“So far, nothing. Maybe we can light a fire.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Philo took two days doing phone interviews and lining up his story. The first day, Thursday, he went to his editor with it. He, along with Philo tagging along, went to the managing editor. Philo had hopes for an A section, front page, above the fold column. Instead, the bosses went even better, except, before they would report it at all, Philo had to contact the authorities; the detectives who brushed off Holly, their boss, then the police chief. Of course, all Philo received were denials and no comments.

The Hennepin County Attorney, having no prior knowledge of any of this, at first denied. Then, after confusing him with a couple of follow up questions, he became flustered, then angry. On her best day, the elected county attorney should not deal with the press on her own.

When she became angry, she threatened Philo with prosecution. Nothing would fire up Philo faster than that. Five more minutes then she finally hung up on him. Ten minutes later, Philo received a call from Steve Gondeck, the head of felony litigation. Gondeck was able to calmly let Philo know there would be an investigation.

Finally, the mayor’s office called back. The mayor’s P.R. head had received a call from the Chief of Police. She was ready with, “We’re looking into it.”

By now it was Friday. It was also becoming more difficult to keep this story from leaking out to other media. Philo had received two phone calls from TV reporters asking about it. Of course, being a professional liar, Philo was able to shut down the inquiries. Then he received a call from Marc Kadella.

“Are you going to print a story or not?” Kadella asked.

“Yes, it’s my Pulitzer,” Philo answered. “I just want to do my normal due diligence…”

“Your what? Since when?” Marc mockingly asked.

“Very funny. Hey,” Philo said starting to whisper, “the upstairs is hot for it. But they want to give their poker buddies with the city and the cops a chance to rebut it.”

“I’m gonna hang up now and call Gabriella,” Marc said. “She’ll be mad at me for giving this to you anyway so, I might as well make it up to her.”

Gabriella Shriqui was the host ofThe Court Reporter,a local TV show dealing with both local, national and other interesting legal matters. She was also Maddy’s best friend.

“Don’t do that, don’t do that, its front page, above the fold A section for the Sunday paper.

“I’ll be here until midnight if I have to and finish it. You’ll love it.

“How’s Maddy?” Philo asked to change the subject.

“I don’t know. A couple weeks ago, she woke up, looked at me and said, I agreed to marry you? What was I thinking? Haven’t seen her since,” Marc answered.

“You’re just saying that to make me start believing in God,” Philo replied.

“I’m going to call Gabriella and go on her show, Monday…”

“Noooo!” Philo howled.

“Yesss!” Marc howled back. “I won’t tell her why and what. You’ll get first crack at it. If you miss it, don’t blame me. Later, Philo.”

“What do you have for me?” Mark heard Gabriella say when she answered his call.

“You could say hello,” Marc said.

“Hello, what do you have for me?”