The Tower

He pulled the entertainment section from his back pocket and smoothed it on the table. Camera 9 and The Cutting Floor were both small theaters, which didn't surprise him. He had figured the Atlasias would enjoy older, more intimate theaters rather than the huge movie houses off Highway 280. He had been banking on it, in fact. There were two movies playing at Camera 9 and only one at The Cutting Floor, a revival of Orson Welles's Othello.

"We're sending you to Camera 9 tonight," he said. He looked up and saw Thomas's startled expression. "Not really," he said. "Just in spirit. What do you want to see? Peril or Chances Are?"

"Peril?" Darby asked.

"Sylvester Stallone."

She snorted and then covered her mouth in embarrassment. "I'm afraid to say he doesn't do much for me," she said. "All the grunting and what not. I'll take Paul Newman any day." She looked over at Thomas and smiled. "Sorry, dear."

He chuckled. "She's not big on action movies, son," he said apologetically. "Never has been."

Perfect, Jade thought. The choices were narrowing.

He had Alissa Anvers on the phone in less than five minutes. He had heard her speak on TV, but she sounded different over the phone. Her voice, as haunting as her dark eyes, had a deep feminine roughness to it, as if it would be sharp if rubbed the wrong way.

McGuire had said that Anvers's mother was on the force. Jade noted in her personality the unforced candor typical of someone raised in a police family. They spoke for a little while, then she agreed to meet him to discuss his plan.

"Not promising anything, of course," she said.

"That's fine," Jade replied. "Neither am I."

Alissa pulled up to the curb in a red Mazda and strolled up the walkway. She was dressed like someone used to being on camera, in a black skirt, black high heels and stockings, and a maroon silk blouse that accented the curves of her breasts.

"Mr. Atlasia," she said, taking Thomas's hand at the door. She smiled at Jade and Darby. "You must be Jade and Mrs. Atlasia," she said, her eyes lingering on Jade for an extra beat.

"You must be very bright," Darby said. When Alissa looked at her, Darby smiled and Alissa decided she was sincere.

Jade and Alissa went into the living room to talk while the Atlasias ate their dinner. Jade had brought a file in from his car, and it sat on the antique wooden table between them. They argued for a while, going back and forth over how they would exchange information for help. He tapped the file nervously as they spoke; time was running out.

"Is there any way you can get on the air tonight?"

"I could," she answered coyly. "If I needed to."

"Look, Ms. Anvers-"

"Alissa," she said. "Please call me Alissa."

"Whatever. For this to work, I need it on the air as quickly as possible. Your channel has had by far the most extensive coverage of this case. I think he'll be watching, and if he is, I think it'll work."

"Mr. Marlow. As I said, there are a number of professional and ethical considerations. I can't just run any story you want."

"I said it's not just 'any story' I want." Jade's voice was rising and he felt the anger and frustration coming to the surface. "It's essential to this case."

"There are important considerations at hand here."

Jade stood up and opened the file. "You want considerations?!" He yanked out a photo of Janice Weiter's body and slammed it on the table. He followed it with a photo of Henry Weiter's body. Then Theodore Johnson's.

Alissa brought the back of one hand across her eyes, shielding her view. She turned sharply in her seat, her head angled away from the pictures, her eyes lowered.

After a few seconds, Jade realized she was crying. He had forgotten how upsetting seeing corpses could be for people who weren't used to them, when they weren't part of their lives.

"Ms. Anvers, I'm tired of hearing you regurgitate your junior year Ethics in Journalism textbook. We need to do this if we're going to stop him."

She turned around slowly. "All right," she said. "What do we have to do? Run a story on where they're going at a certain time?"

Jade shook his head. "No way. Too obvious. We have to give him a knot to untie."

Alissa pursed her lips. "For it to be realistic, we can't have it as a main segment. It's a people piece. Maybe I'll see if they'll run it as the orphan story to wrap things up."

Jade went to check on the Atlasias as Alissa called her crew.

Darby and Thomas sat on either side of Jade that night as they watched the news, all three of them showing signs of nervousness and irritation. There was the usual update on Allander, followed by a story on an earthquake in China. Then they suffered through the sports and weather.

Jade was worried that Alissa had changed her mind and canceled the story. He had pushed her pretty hard.