be revealed.
To make a judgment call that disagreed with the wishes of a large number of our readers was not easy, and our editorial board did not arrive at this decision lightly. But our final assessment was that T H E B A B Y S I T T E R M U R D E R S
curiosity does not equal the right to know. Those who disagree should consider that some of our callers and correspondents also insisted on being told the names of both the five-year-old child and the child’s mother. The identities of both parties, of course, are protected due to the minor status of the child involved.
During the past forty-eight hours the Beacon-Times and its editors have been accused of yielding to the undue influence of family connections. Some readers have insisted that if the girl in question were from a poor family rather than a prosperous one, or were new in town rather than socially well connected, her name would have appeared in the paper immediately. But the Beacon-Times has established guidelines for revealing the identities of people in the community, and we have hewn to those guidelines in this case as we have in every case since 1995.
We hope that readers who are angry or disappointed at our decision keep in mind that someday they could be at the fringe—or even the center—of a newswor-thy event, and the Beacon-Times would be equally judicious in deciding how much to reveal about that story.
Comments:
Beavis wrote:
The Beacon-Times is worried about getting sued, 157
JANET RUTH YOUNG
and that is the whole reason behind their journalistic imperative, period.
waster wrote:
Youre right its money period.
Dani hears Beth’s key in the door. She smells Chinese food.
“Who wants kung pao chicken?” Beth asks. When Dani doesn’t answer, Beth comes to the couch and reads over Dani’s shoulder.
“All right,” Beth says when she reaches the end of the comments. “I’m calling Boston to see if we can go in earlier.”
She goes to her office, then comes back in a few minutes to say the lawyer can’t see them on Sunday because he’s playing golf.
“I could speak to someone in town,” Beth says while they’re eating. “I could get some local advice to tide us over. But given all that’s going around”—she points at Dani’s laptop—”I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Beth gives Dani five minutes with her phone. Dani hears Gordon asking her to go for a run this morning.
“That boy?” Beth asks. “You really like him?”
Dani nods, handing the phone back. Her eyes feel teary.
“When this is over, honey,” Beth says. “All in good time.”
“He said his dad met you and thinks you’re nice.”
“When did he say that?” Beth asks.
Oops, Dani thinks. “Last time I talked to him,” she says, which is true.
“Dani,” Beth says that night at bedtime, “is there anything 158
T H E B A B Y S I T T E R M U R D E R S
you’ve been telling Dr. Kumar that I should know? Anything I should hear that would help me understand?”
Dani shakes her head no. “Thanks for looking after me, Mom,” she says.
Beth goes into her room and locks the door.
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Sunday morning Beth makes pancakes and bacon.
“Gotta keep our strength up, right?” she says. She’s going to work today, because Sunday is the biggest day in real-estate sales and because, clearly, she wants to. “I want to look as normal as possible. And I hope people have found something else to talk about by now,” Beth says.
Dani wishes she could get out and do something too.
“You’ll be all right, won’t you?” Beth asks Dani. “Can you avoid getting bored?”
“I’ll poke around online,” Dani says. “And there’s always homework.”
Beth gives Dani five minutes on the phone.
A message came in from Gordy last night:
“Look, I’m sorry to call so soon after you sent me away. I just want to be sure you’re all right.”
And another one this morning: “I completely missed what you tried to say yesterday. Is this why you stopped babysitting?
Please can you call me?”
“I’ll check in this afternoon,” Beth says. “You can pick up the phone when I call.”
It’s a warm day in the middle of May, so Dani puts on a sun-dress and flip-flops. She pours more coffee and gives herself a pedicure. While her toes are drying, she opens her laptop. Maybe T H E B A B Y S I T T E R M U R D E R S
Beth is right, and people found something else to talk about. The