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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 of The 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?”

“An invitation to come on your show. How about Monday, live?” Marc said.

“About what?” Gabriella asked.

“You’ll know by then and you won’t be disappointed,” Marc said.

The call went silent between them for a moment, then Gabriella yelled at him. “Whatever it is, and it’s hot, you gave it first to that snake at the Strib, Philo Anson, didn’t you? Didn’t you? Well, answer me!”

“Ah, well ah, you’ll see. It’s um, now, don’t be that way,” Marc replied trying to placate her. “Besides, I was following a client’s instructions. ”

“That’s it. I’m calling Maddy. She’ll tell me what it is,” Gabriella said.

“Is she in town? Ask her to call me. Tell her I’m sorry and I miss her terribly,” Marc said.

“Why? What did you do this time?”

“Why do women always assume the man is the one who did something?”

“Well, duh! Because it’s true.”

“No, it isn’t and what do you mean, this time?”

While he was talking to Gabriella about this, Marc was using his personal phone to call Maddy.

“What time do you want me there on Monday?” Marc asked before dialing Maddy.

“Three o’clock and this better be good. I’m calling Maddy and she’ll tell me,” Gabriella said.

Marc pushed the button on his phone to dial Maddy while he said, “See you Monday, darling. Bye.”

Maddy answered Marc’s call on the first ring.

“Did you have your phone in your hand?” Marc asked.

“In fact, yes, I did. What’s up?”

“Gabriella is going to call you. I’m going on her show Monday, Philo’s article is in the Sunday paper, Section A page one. Please do not tell her what it’s about.”

“Okay, no problem,” Maddy said.

“Seriously, no problem?”

“Yes. You asked me to keep quiet, so I will. Why?”

“At the last meeting of the stupid things men do committee, we agreed women tell each other everything.”

“Wait, you have meetings and a committee for the stupid things you do?”

“Didn’t you know that? You think we come up with these things by ourselves?”

“Everything about men is finally starting to make sense,” Maddy said.

“Love you, baby. I’ll pick up take out Chinese for supper.”

“Love you, too. Gabriella’s calling. Wait until I tell her about your committee. ”

By ten o’clock Sunday morning, there were over a thousand people in downtown Minneapolis. Even though it was a Sunday, they gathered around the Government Center along Fifth Street. The sidewalk along Fifth across from the Government Center at City Hall, was full. All of them were protesting the alarming treatment of trans girl rapes. Philo’s article had kicked a hornet’s nest.

By noon, thanks to the local TV news mobile units broadcasting the story live, the number of protestors had swollen to over ten thousand. On a sunny, pleasant spring day, the Government Center plaza being in close proximity to the University of Minnesota, the college kids were arriving en mass.

The mayor was called out of church. By the time she was back downtown, the chief of police was waiting, as was the city attorney and county attorney.

Outrage was the word of the day. Fortunately, this mob was made up mostly of students and suburban activists. It took until after four o’clock that afternoon to satisfy them. It also satisfied the politicians. The crowd was promised the appointment of a commission to investigate. The mayor assured everyone this would be no ordinary whitewash. The commission’s findings and recommendations would be taken with the utmost seriousness. A standard way for a politician to lie and avoid doing anything. Procrastinate by appointing a commission.

Marc and Maddy, home alone, watched on their living room TV. When it was over and the crowd was disbursed, Maddy asked Marc what he thought.

They were on the living room couch. She turned the TV off. Marc looked at her with his best faux serious expression.

“The utmost seriousness. Utmost I tell you. This will not be an ordinary commission to whitewash this outrage,” Marc said. “This will be an exceptional commission to do the coverup, er, um I mean, the ah thorough investigation whitewash.”

Maddy took over with the same look, pointed an index finger at the ceiling and said, “No siree, this will be an extraordinary whitewash job. And when it’s over, all of you outraged protestors will have moved on to your next outraged protest event. ”

“That should do it,” Marc said.

“Can I come with you and do Gabriella’s show?”

“Sure, it’s okay with me,” Marc answered.

“The article in yesterday’s Star Tribune concerning transgender girls and women being assaulted and raped has almost set off riots in downtown Minneapolis. The article alleged the Minneapolis police department, the mayor’s office and the city council have not taken this seriously or done anything about it, at least until now,” Gabriella started her show, The Court Reporter by reading this statement off a teleprompter.

“I have with me today, a good, personal friend of mine, Madeline Rivers. Maddy is a licensed private investigator who has been instrumental in uncovering this,” Gabriella continued introducing Maddy.

They, Marc, Maddy and Gabriella, decided to have Maddy interviewed without Marc. The entire MPD police force knew her and would be less likely to be mad at her than Marc for being on TV about this. Plus, she had been the one to interview victims.

“Good afternoon,” Gabriella said, turning to Maddy.

They were seated in two comfortable armchairs on a set resembling a living room. Gabriella on the right side of a coffee table, Maddy on the left.

“Hi, Gabriella. Thanks for having me,” Maddy replied.

“What’s going on here?”

By that question, previously rehearsed, Gabriella opened the door. A half-hour TV show is, in reality, twenty-two minutes because of commercials. Gabriella and Maddy were like a well-trained tag team. Before the half-hour was over, no stone, so to speak, had been left unturned.

“This is outrageous. These people go through enough without the authorities protecting them,” Gabriella said at the end.

“I suppose we should acknowledge that the mayor, police chief and county attorney all promised a complete, thorough and transparent investigation,” Gabriella said.

“Actually, what they promised was a commission to look into it,” Maddy replied. “These things aren’t always taken seriously by appointing a commission to study them. That’s usually a way to put off doing anything. We’ll see,” Maddy said.

Gabriella looked at camera number 1 and said, “That wraps up our show for today. A special thanks to Maddy Rivers for bringing us up to date. Be assured, we will be keeping an eye on this story.”

While Maddy waited for a crew member to remove the earpiece equipment, Marc approached her. He had held her phone during the interview.

“Some guy named Philip Caldwell has called six times. Should I be concerned?” Marc said, handing her phone to her.

“Phil? Phil is a lieutenant in sex crimes with the MPD,” Maddy said.

“I wonder what he wants?” Marc asked.

“Relax, he stopped asking me for a date after we got engaged,” Maddy said.

“Hi Phil. I see you called, what…”

“Stop yelling and watch your language,” Maddy calmly replied.

“Why didn’t you come to me with this?” Caldwell asked.

“Why should I? These people came to you and St. Paul and your guys brushed it off… if you don’t stop yelling and swearing…”

“Goddamnit, Maddy! I gotta go see the chief, again, about this,” Caldwell tried to calmly say.

“Say, hi for me, Phil.”

“I won’t forget this, Maddy,” Caldwell said.

“I’m sorry, what’s your wife’s name, again? Oh, I remember, it’s Chloe. I think I met her once at some police department function. I’ve been meaning to catch up with her,” Maddy coyly replied.

“Damnit, Maddy.”

“Don’t threaten me. Now, go see the chief, kiss her firmly on her fat ass then clean up your mess. Bye Phil.”

“Please do not call…”

“Don’t make me,” Maddy said .

Marc and Gabriella had both stood by and listened to Maddy’s end of the phone call.

“Do you have like a notebook on every married guy that hit on you?” Marc asked her.

“I have a good memory. I always shot them down by telling them my knight in shining armor was going to pull his head out of his ass any day,” Maddy said.

“Did he?” Marc asked.

“Yes, and I’m very happy now,” Maddy said.

“I don’t know whether to cry or vomit,” Gabriella said wiping a fake tear from her eye.

Portions of Gabriella’s interview of Maddy were shown at the 6:00 and 10:00 o’clock news. The next day, the angry crowd of semi-professional protestors was back downtown. It would be a week before things calmed down. The newspaper would nominate Philo for a Pulitzer. He would not win.