that I started to think he knew exactly what I had been going to say, that he had known all along that I was going to suggest the new deal.
“But one thing, Jack,” Backus said. “Let’s agree on holding back one line from the fax. If we start getting confessions, we’ll be able to use the hold-back line to weed out the phonies.”
“No problem,” I said.
“I’ll be here. I’ll tell the front that your calls can come through. No one else from the press.”
“There will be a lot of those calls.”
“My intention was to let public affairs handle it anyway.”
“If the statement they put out includes the origination of the case, tell them not to use my name. Just say inquiries from the Rocky Mountain News started it rolling.”
Backus nodded.
“One last thing,” I said and then paused a moment. “I’m still concerned about the leak. If I find out the L.A. Times or any other media outlet also got the Poet fax today, then I’ll put everything I know into the next story. The profile, everything. Okay?”
“Understood.”
“You weasel,” Thorson said angrily. “You think you can just come in here and dictate what—”
“Fuck you, Thorson,” I said. “I’ve been wanting to say that to you since Quantico. Fuck you, okay? If I was betting, I’d say you were the leak, so don’t tell me anything about being a weas—”
“FUCK YOU!” Thorson roared as he stood up to challenge me.
But quickly Backus was up and putting a hand on his shoulder. He gently pushed him back down into his seat. Rachel watched the whole thing, a small, thin smile on her face.
“Easy, Gordon,” Backus soothed. “Easy. Nobody’s accusing anyone of anything. Let’s keep things cool. Everybody’s a little hot and bothered today but it’s no reason why we can’t cool down. Jack, that’s a dangerous accusation. If you have something to back it up, let’s hear it. If not, you’d best leave things like that unsaid.”
I said nothing. I only had my gut instinct that Thorson had leaked the story to fuck me over because of some paranoia about reporters in general and my relationship with Rachel in particular. It wasn’t the kind of thing to bring up for discussion. Everybody eventually took their seats and just stared at each other.
“That was entertaining as hell, fellas, but I’d like to do some work today,” Rachel finally said.
“And I have to go,” I said. “What line do you want to hold back on the fax?”
“The riddle,” Backus answered. “Don’t mention Best Pals.”
I thought a moment. It was one of the better lines.
“Fine. No problem.”
I stood up and so did Rachel.
“I’ll give you a ride back to the hotel.”
“Is it that bad, getting scooped like that?” she asked as we were headed back to the hotel.
“It’s bad. I guess it’s like with you guys, the ones that get away. I hope Backus busts Thorson for this. The asshole.”
“It will be hard for him to prove anything. It’s just going to be suspicion.”
“If you told Backus about us and told him that Thorson knew, then he’d believe it.”
“I can’t. If I told Backus about us I’d be the one who’d go down.”
After some silence she changed the subject back to the story.
“You’ll have so much more than he had.”
“What? Who?”
“I’m talking about Warren. You’ll have a better story.”
“First with the story, first with the glory. That’s an old newspaper saying. But it’s true. In most stories, the one that’s there first is always the one who gets the credit, even if the first story is full of holes and bullshit. Even if it’s a stolen story.”
“Is that what it’s about? Getting credit? Just being first, even if you don’t have it right?”
I looked over at her and tried to smile.
“Yeah, sometimes. Most times. Pretty noble job, huh?”
She didn’t answer. We drove in silence for a while. I wished that she would say something about us and what we had or didn’t have but she didn’t. We were getting close to the hotel now.
“What if I can’t convince him to let me stay here and I have to go back to Denver? What happens to us?”
She didn’t answer for a while.
“I don’t know, Jack. What do you want to happen?”
“I don’t know but I don’t want it to just end like this. I thought . . .”
I didn’t know how to say what I wanted to tell her.
“I don’t want it to end like this, either.”
She drove to the front of the hotel to drop me