was to follow up with articles punching holes in your every statement, every report, day by day.”

“I didn’t know that, but I guessed it.”

“Walter March had begun a smear campaign against you. Frankly, Mister Wisham, I didn’t know such things happen nowadays.”

“Call me Rolly.”

“I think of that kind of smear campaign as being from back in the old days. Dirty journalism. Yellow journalism. What do you call it?”

“It still happens.”

“On this assignment,” Captain Neale said, “I’m learning a lot of things I didn’t particularly want to know.”

“Is the campaign against me going to continue? Are the March newspapers going to continue to smear me now that Walter March is dead?”

“I understand it’s been called off. Mister Williams—Jake Williams—has called it off.”

“Good.”

“Not for your sake. He thinks it might hurt the image of the recently departed. Leave a bad taste in the mouths of people regarding Walter March.”

“If that’s their reasoning, I wish they’d continue with it. Walter March tasted like piss and vinegar.”

“Interesting to see how decisions are made in the media. You people are feeding a thousand facts and ideas into human minds a day and, I see, sometimes for some pretty wrong reasons.”

“Very seldom. It’s just that in every woodpile there’s a Walter March.”

“Anyway, Mister Wisham, Walter March had begun a campaign to destroy you; he was murdered; the campaign was called off.”

“Captain Neale, who tipped you?”

“I don’t get you.”

“Who told you about the editorial, and the campaign?”

“I’m not a journalist, Mister Wisham. I don’t have to give my sources—except in a court of law.”

“I’ll have to wait, uh?”

“I intend to bring this case into court, Mister Wisham. And get a conviction.”

“Why did you say that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Seems a funny thing for you to say. I mean, of course you intend to bring it into court. There was a murder. You’re a cop.”

“Well.…”

“Could it be that you’ve heard some not-very-nice things about Walter March?”

“I’ve been on the case only twenty-four hours.”

“Twenty-four hours investigating Walter March would be enough to make anyone puke.”

“Mrs. March assures me he hadn’t an enemy in the world. And there is the fact that Walter March was the elected President of the American Journalism Alliance.”

“Yeah. And Attila led the Huns.”

“Mister Wisham, any man with that much power.…”

“… has to have a few enemies. Right. Everyone loved Walter March except anyone who ever had anything to do with him.”

“Mister Wisham.…”

“I have one more question.”

“Mister Wisham, I.… I’ll ask the questions.”

“Have you ever seen me on television?”

“Of course.”

“Often?”

“Yes, I guess so. My working hours.… I don’t have any regular television-viewing hours.”

“What do you think of me? What do you think of my work?”

“Well. I’m not a journalist.”

“I don’t work for journalists. I work for people. You’re a people.”

“I’m not a critic.”

“I don’t work for critics, either.”

“I find your work very good.”

“‘Very good’?”

“Well, I haven’t made a study of it, of course. Somehow or other I never thought I’d be asked by Rolly Wisham what I think of his television reporting. Mostly, of course, I look at the sports.…”

“Nevertheless. Tell me what you think of my work.”

“I think it’s very good. I like it. What you do is different from what the others do. Let me see. I have more of a sense of people from your stories. You don’t just sit back in a studio and report something. You’re in your shirtsleeves, and you’re in the street. Whatever you’re talking about, dope addicts, petty criminals, you make us see them as people—with their own problems, and fears. I don’t know how to judge it as journalism.…”

“I wish you were a critic. You just gave me a good review.”

“Well, I have no way to judge such things.”

“Next question is.…”

“No more questions, Mister Wisham.”

“If I’m good enough at my job to please you, the network, and a hell of a lot of viewers—how come Walter March was out to screw me?”

“That’s a question.”

“Got an answer?”

“No. But I’ve got some questions.”

“I’m asking them for you.”

“Okay, Mister Wisham. You’re more experienced at asking questions than I am. I’ve got the point.”

“That’s not the point. I’m not trying to put you down, Captain Neale. I’m trying to tell you something.”

“What? What are you trying to tell me?”

“You look at television. There are a lot of television reporters. Most of us have our own style. What’s the difference between me and the others? I’m younger than most of them. My hair is a little longer. I don’t work in a studio in a jacket and tie. My reports are usually feature