The Cost of Commitment - KJ2 (14 page)

Jay tried to smile reassuringly. “I know that, Kate. I trust you to navigate us through this.” She grasped Kate’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Whatever happens, I know you’ll do your best. That’s good enough for me.”

“Have I told you lately how much I love you?”

Before Jay could answer, Kate pulled the door open. The flashes from dozens of still cameras, combined with the brightness of the TV klieg lights, blinded them both for an instant before they were able to get their bearings.

Kate led Jay to the front of the room where a podium was set up. On it were more than twenty microphones and handheld tape recorders. The mics all bore the colorful logos, or “flags,” of their respective news outfits; looking at them, Kate recognized every major radio and television station in the Albany area, plus a few from other nearby media markets and one from New York City. There was one unmarked mic, and Kate pitied the reporter who had forgotten to attach the appropriate flag.

News directors and general managers lived to see their logos splashed all over the competition’s newscasts—it was a form of free subliminal advertising. It was the reason why reporters tried to time putting their mics up so carefully: put it up too early and it was bound to get shoved aside by others; arrive too late and run the risk of not having any space left on which to place the mic.

Kate looked out over the throng of people. There were many familiar faces—some who covered prison issues, others who had been colleagues and acquaintances from her days with WCAP.

She smiled, held out her hands in a gesture encompassing them all, and said, “What? Was it a slow news day today?”

Her comment broke the ice, and the room erupted in laughter.

“I’d like to say I’m surprised to see you all here, but given the number of you who’ve taken up residence in my back pocket in the last five or six months, I can’t.”

“Who’s the beautiful blonde, Kate?”

“You never did have any patience, Walt, did you? If you wait a second, I’ll get to that. First, I want to set a few ground rules.” She glared at the tabloid reporters in the front row. “We’ll be happy to entertain appropriate questions after I’ve made a statement. Anything of a purely voyeuristic nature will be ignored. Do we understand each other?”

There were generally grudging murmurs of agreement.

Lynn Ames

“Okay, then. I’d like you all to meet Ms. Jamison Parker. Jay is my partner, my better half, and, in my humble opinion, one of the brightest, most talented, most beautiful women in the world.”

Jay blushed crimson as she looked on, watching Kate exercise complete command over the room while working without any notes whatsoever.

“Although this may seem a bit odd to you, Ms. Parker and I have decided to come forward with her identity at this time because we value our privacy.” She favored the reporters from some of the more aggressive tabloids with a glacial stare. “For nearly six months we have been subjected to intense media scrutiny, so-called journalists shadowing me at all hours of the day and night, grilling my colleagues and friends, even paying purported ‘informed sources’ for ‘inside scoops.’”

A reporter for the
National Enquirer
piped up, “If you had just answered my questions, I wouldn’t have had to get so inventive.”

Kate glared daggers at him.

“It is our fervent hope that after standing here together today, answering questions about our personal lives that are so clearly beyond the realm of anything resembling news, you all will find the common decency to let us live our lives in peace.” Kate looked over to her left at Jay, who looked for all the world as if she was listening to an interesting lecture. The bunching of her jaw muscles, however, told Kate a different story.

“We’ll take appropriate questions now.”

“Ms. Parker, you can talk for yourself, can’t you?”

Jay stepped up closer to Kate at the podium and smiled engagingly as a new wave of flashes and whirring camera shutters went off. “I’d like to think so.”

“How did you and Ms. Kyle meet?”

“We met initially in college.”

“Have you been lovers since then?”

“No, as luck would have it, we reconnected earlier this year.”

“Ms. Parker, haven’t I seen your name before somewhere? Are you the same Jamison Parker whose byline I’ve seen in
Time
magazine?”

Kate muttered under her breath, “Well, that took all of four questions.”

Jay squeezed her lover’s hand behind the podium, out of sight of prying eyes and cameras. “Yes, I am a writer for
Time
and have been for several years.”

“When you say you met in college, what does that mean? Can you elaborate on that a little?”

The Cost of Commitment

Jay, who had been expecting a follow-up question regarding her cover story on Kate, smiled. “Sure. We met for the first time when I was badly injured skiing. Kate was the ski patroller who rescued me.”

“Did she steal your heart then?”

“Let’s just say she made quite an impression on me.”

“How about you, Kate? Were you smitten all the way back then?”

“What’s not to love?” She winked.

There were nods of agreement among the male journalists.

Before anyone could ask any more questions, Kate said, “Thanks, folks, but you all have deadlines, and we have work to do ourselves.”

She led Jay away from the podium and hustled her out the door.

When they were safely away from the microphones and cameras, Jay leaned close. “That was an interesting turn of events. What happened there?”

Kate, knowing she was referring to the abrupt change in lines of questioning, laughed. “Marcia happened, that’s what.”

“And who, exactly, is Marcia?”

“Marcia, love, is an old friend of mine from my WCAP days. She’s the station’s top street reporter.”

“So she did that on purpose—to help us out?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Jay looked incredulous.

Kate said, “Did you get a look at who her photographer was?”

“No, I couldn’t see anything with all those flashes going off.”

“Do you remember Gene, my cameraman?”

“Of course, I got to spend an entire afternoon with him looking at old footage of you when I was working on the story. How could I forget?”

“He was the photog today. He remembers you, too.”

Realization dawned on Jay. “Ah. As soon as he saw that it was me, he knew where the questions were going to go.”

“Sure did. And he tipped his reporter off.”

“Great guy.”

“Yeah,” Kate sighed wistfully, thinking about the way she had been forced to leave her television family behind. “I miss him. Gene is a good man, and a loyal friend.”

Jay rubbed shoulders with her. “Maybe we could have him over to the house sometime?”

“Maybe,” Kate said vaguely.

“You don’t think he’ll be all right with us?”

“I don’t know, love. My sexuality is not something we ever discussed. Plus, he had a pretty big crush on you when he met you.”

“No way.” Jay gaped at Kate.

“Way. He wanted to ask you out.”

Lynn Ames

“You never told me that.”

“I didn’t think it was relevant at the time. And I was a little focused on my own attempts to win your heart.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet.”

“Anyway,” Kate went on, “I’m not sure how accepting he’d be.”

“If he’s important to you, Kate, maybe it’s worth the risk to find out.”

“Perhaps. Oh, and for the record?”

“Yes?”

“Marcia is gay.”

“Who?”

“Marcia. The reporter who changed the subject for us.”

“Oh.” Jay was quiet for a beat, recalling the attractive redhead in the third row. “She is?”

“Yep. I’m sure glad she doesn’t hold a grudge.”

“What do you mean?”

Kate took her lover by the hand. “I can’t count the number of times I turned her down for dates.”

Jay chuckled. “Poor girl.”

“Nah, she’s better off without me.”

“Lucky for me.”

“There’s no contest, sweetheart.” Kate looked at Jay lovingly. “By the way, I was very impressed with the way you handled yourself in there.”

“Nice change of subject. I’ll let you get away with it this time, Stretch.”

“I appreciate your generosity.”

“How long do you think it will take before the cover piece becomes the story?”

“Two news cycles.”

“Well, that gives us at least until this afternoon, anyway.”

“Nah, I mean two
newspaper
cycles.”

Jay looked at Kate inquiringly.

“Think about it, Jay—this story isn’t really geared for radio and television—it would take too much in-depth research and it’s not important enough to their audience.”

“That’s your area of expertise, honey, so I’ll defer to you.

Considering the newspapers, then, we’ve got until at least day after tomorrow for the cover article to become the focus. Tomorrow’s editions will be all about my identity and the fact that we came forward.”

“Exactly.”

Jay stopped walking for a moment and turned to her lover. “If it’s not a radio-and-television kind of story, why were they all there?”

The Cost of Commitment

“Curiosity, mostly,” Kate answered. “And because they couldn’t very well ignore the press conference altogether if their print compatriots were covering it.”

“Will they run the story?”

“Oh, sure. But it will be old news by noon for the radio folks. The TV

guys will air it at noon and again repackaged at six, and that will be the end of it for them.”

“Even after round two?”

“Yeah, I’m betting that only the print folks’ll latch on to the follow-up story.”

“That’s some consolation, then.”

They had reached Kate’s car, which was parked in the visitors’ lot underneath the complex of government buildings.

Kate said, “We’ll see about that.” She kissed Jay on the mouth, lingering long enough to taste her lips and explore a bit, enjoying the freedom of no longer having to care who saw them.

“Mm,” Jay hummed. “What was that for?”

Kate smiled at the slightly dreamy expression on her face. “Just because I could. And because I love you so very much. You really did great today, Jay.”

“You did all the hard work, love. I just came along for the ride.”

“And what a ride it’s going to be.”

At precisely 10:01 a.m. Breathwaite began making phone calls. After the third attempt netted him an answering machine instead of a reporter, he called the general number for the Legislative Correspondents’

Association room, where all press releases, advisories, and notices of press conferences got dropped off for reporters to collect. The LCA room was normally located on the third floor of the capitol. However, while construction workers continued putting the pieces of the capitol back together following its destruction by the bombing the preceding spring, the LCA room was being housed temporarily on the ground floor of the Legislative Office Building.

“LCA room,” a bored-sounding voice intoned.

“Hazel? David Breathwaite here.” Hazel had been running the LCA room for more than twenty-five years, and Breathwaite knew her from his days as a newspaperman covering the capital beat. She always sounded uninterested, but he knew that she had her finger on everything that went on with the journalists who worked within the bustle of her domain.

“Yeah, what can I do for you on this fine morning?”

Lynn Ames

“I’ve tried a few of the guys and I can’t seem to get anybody. Where is everyone? Sleeping in this morning?”

“Nope. Out on the job hustling already, as a matter of fact.”

“You’re kidding. This early? Something big come in?”

“If you like the gossipy side of news, then yeah.”

Breathwaite, who was only half paying attention, said dismissively, “I could give a rat’s you-know-what, Hazel, but some people like that sort of thing, I suppose.”

“This was a big one, smart guy.”

“Okay, I can see you’re dying to tell, so let’s have it.”

“Press conference got called all of a sudden-like for 9:30 this morning. Probably still going on. Friend of yours, I think.”

Breathwaite stopped reading the document he had in his hand and gave the conversation his full attention. “Really?”

“Yeah. Katherine Kyle. I figure you two run in the same circles, no?”

There was a roaring in his ears that was so loud he thought it might consume him. “Sure. What was the topic of the press conference, Hazel?”

“Got the advisory right here. Want me to fax you a copy?”

“Yes, please.”

“Okay, it’ll be there in a little bit. Hey, what’s a seven letter word for

‘one who changes allegiances’?”

It was all he could do not to go through the phone line. “Traitor,” he ground out. “Hazel? Could you send my fax,
then
finish your crossword puzzle? I’m kind of in a hurry.”

“Aren’t we all these days, David? See you around sometime. Don’t be a stranger.” She hung the phone up in his ear.

By the time the fax arrived twenty minutes later, Breathwaite had already summoned Kirk.

“The bitch went out ahead of us. What the hell?” He rounded on his investigator. “I thought you said you tapped her office phone last night.

How could we not have known she was up to this?”

“Probably because there were no outgoing or incoming calls to her line at DOCS before 9:35 a.m., and that was some yahoo reporter up in Malone, New York looking for some information on a new inmate.”

“How did she set it up, then?”

“I suspect she left the building shortly after you did, but I don’t know for sure, since you didn’t tell me to tail her.”

“Do I have to tell you everything? Damn it all to hell!”

Kirk, as usual, seemed completely unfazed by the tirade.

“Okay. All right.” Breathwaite paced as he tried to calm himself down. “We monitor all the news outlets to see how the story is playing, then we go ahead with part two of the plan.”

The Cost of Commitment

“Which is,what?”

“Outing her girlfriend isn’t enough. I want Kyle to suffer. We’re going to ruin Parker’s career and make sure she never gets a job with another magazine as long as she lives.”