by Bill Evans
Barry nodded, taking the gloves from Tracy as he headed outside to have his people move the live truck. He wasn’t about to piss off his police buddies. He had worked too long and hard to build these relationships. As Tim, the live truck driver and photographer on this story, moved the truck, Barry talked to Todd. “This is what we have. Steve Johnson was found dead at the station this morning when our morning crew arrived. He had a rope around his neck but was seated in the anchor chair on the news set. A few minutes ago Detective Tracy and I found Steve’s wife. She was in bed and dead. We don’t know what caused the deaths of either of the victims.”
Todd interrupted his news director. “I thought you said Steve had a rope around his neck?”
“He did have a rope around his neck, but it doesn’t appear that he was hung or choked. We don’t know if it is one murder or two murders or a murder-slash-suicide or a double suicide. Hell, it might be two people who died of natural causes. The point is we don’t know.”
Todd was taking notes as fast as he could while listening to his frantic news director rehearse talking points. It was interesting to the reporter that Barry had gone from talking about an employee to now talking in terms of “victims.” The reporter kept thinking, Stay cool. This could be the story of a lifetime. This could be my break.
Every reporter thought that on any big story. They always believed it would be the story to launch their career and land them some national network time where they would be seen and discovered. No one ever tried to burst their bubbles by telling them that rarely, if ever, does that happen. The reporters who worried about the “next big, breaking story” never seemed to go anywhere. The reporters who did a strong, consistent job on every story all the time were the ones landing in the bigger markets. Todd was good, and this story, if he handled it right, would certainly look good on his resume reel.
Barry took a call from Tom Bryson, the director. They were ready to go live as soon as the live truck was operating. The plan was to break into the CBS Morning Show. You never break into a network news program, but this was different. The news directors figured that local stories of this magnitude took precedence over anything else.
Todd had his IFB earpiece in place so he could hear the director count him down. “Three, two, one . . .” Todd stood on the sidewalk in front of the Johnson house, listening to the morning anchor and his partner, Jake Thomas, talking on the air and setting up the live shot everyone was going to see in only seconds.
“Jake, I can tell you right behind me, police are investigating the scene where a second body has been discovered this morning. Steve Johnson, our main news anchor, was found dead in our studio very early this morning and now we are in front of his home where only minutes ago the police discovered Janet Johnson dead inside. We don’t have any details as to what caused her death or how it ties into Steve Johnson’s death earlier this morning. Police are only beginning their investigation, and we’ve actually beat their investigators to the scene.” Todd thought it was a nice touch to point that fact out so the promotional people could use it in a sound bite. “We’ll be here all day and will keep you updated as we get more details in what appears to be a double homicide. I’m Todd Evans for your local news leader CBS 2.”
Within seconds of getting off camera Barry was in Todd’s face. “Why did you say double homicide? We don’t know what this is yet. This is exactly what I covered with you minutes ago. What if it’s not a double homicide? Shit. This is the kind of mistake we don’t need.”
Back at the station the general manager was trying to calm the panicked employees. Her cell phone rang, and not with a number she knew. “This is Lisa.”
“Lisa, this is Janet Johnson. You left me a message to call you as soon as I could and I just got your message. Is everything alright?” Lisa was shocked. Her TV station had just reported that Janet was dead.
“Janet, can I ask you where you are? And are the kids with you?” Her voice was so serious that it was haunting to Janet.
“Lisa, what’s this about? Has something happened to Steve? What’s going on?” Janet wanted answers.
Lisa stayed quiet a few moments as she tried to gather her thoughts. She had to tell Steve’s wife about his death, but what did she say about the woman found in her bed?
3
“BARRY, WHO IS THE woman you found dead in the house?” Lisa’s question stunned her news director.
“What do you mean, who is the woman? It’s Janet Johnson, Steve’s wife.”
“No, Barry, it’s not. I know this because Janet just returned the call I made to her this morning. She has the three kids and they’re in Oregon visiting relatives.” Lisa’s voice took on a stern sound that Barry hadn’t heard from his boss ever before. “I told you that if you did something on this story to make sure you played it conservatively and to especially get it right. You’ve fucked this up. Badly! Not only did your reporter call this a double murder, you reported names of the victims before next of kin were notified, and better still you announced that Janet Johnson was one of the bodies and she’s not.” Lisa’s tone got angrier and heavier with each word.
Barry knew he was in deep shit. He had never heard his boss curse. No one had to tell him how bad this looked. He knew the priority for any news story was accuracy—not who got it first. Who cared if the story was first if it was wrong?
The police crime team arrived at the house. No one had done anything with the body. The woman in the bedroom sure looked like Janet, Barry thought. How could he have gotten this wrong? And if the body wasn’t Janet, then who was it, and what was she doing in Steve’s bed? Barry couldn’t take it out on his reporter because he was the one who identified the body as Steve’s wife.
Barry went back inside the house to tell Detective Reynolds about Lisa’s phone call. “Do you know if Lisa told Janet about the woman’s body in their bed?” Detective Tracy asked.
“I don’t have any idea, Richard. I’m not sure what Lisa told her or didn’t tell her. I was so rattled once she told me she talked to Janet that I didn’t grasp too much more of the conversation.”
“Call her back and find out what she told her. We’re going to want to talk to Steve’s wife as soon as possible. Find out if Lisa knows when she’ll be back in town.”
Barry was still rattled, far more than he could remember. It was like this scene was playing out in his head and he wasn’t really a part of it.
“Lisa, it’s Barry. Detective Tracy wanted me to find out what you shared with Mrs. Johnson. Did you tell her about the woman we found in her bed?”
“I didn’t share anything with her except that Steve was found dead this morning at the station,” his boss replied.
“The police want to talk to her as soon as possible,” Barry said.
“She should be here late this afternoon. She was going to jump on the next plane she could get out on,” Lisa explained.
“Let’s hope she doesn’t hear anything on the radio or TV about the other woman,” Barry reiterated.
“Any idea as to who she is?” Lisa wanted answers so she knew what kind of damage control she had to do to protect the station. That reminded her that she had to call Stewart Simpson, the owner of her Santa Barbara station. Lisa never liked Stewart hearing news from anyone but her—especially bad news. “Barry, I have to go call Stewart. Keep me informed as soon as you have more information. In fact, you should get back to the station so you can run your troops from here.” Lisa hung up.
Barry shook his head, hoping none of his competitors repeated his station’s on-air gaffe.
***
“Stewart, Lisa here. We’ve had a pretty dramatic morning and I need to fill you in.”
“You mean about Steve Johnson found dead on the news set and his wife found dead at home?” Stewart said with an indignant tone.
“How’d you know that?” Lisa asked.
“I got calls of condolences from people I know in Santa Barbara who saw it on our station. So, what’s your game plan? Do
the police have any theories or suspects? Any idea as to what this is about?” The owner asked.
“Right now we don’t know anything and there seems to be a lot more to this story that we need to find out about,” Lisa said. “But, Stewart, there’s been a mistake in our reporting. Mrs. Johnson is alive and vacationing in Oregon with her three kids.
“You mean the woman found in Steve’s bed isn’t Steve’s wife?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.”
“So we reported that the wife of our anchor may have been murdered, but she’s actually alive. Christ almighty,” Stewart barked. “I’m flying in later today. Let’s meet at my place around seven. You can fill me in then,” Stewart said.
By the time Lisa hung up the phone the station was filling up with employees. The station had ninety-seven employees and everyone arrived by nine, including anyone who was not scheduled to work. Lisa hit the intercom button to Sandy’s desk outside her executive office. “Sandy, let everyone know we will meet in the newsroom for a staff meeting in fifteen minutes.”
Lisa hoped to dispel rumors and discuss a game plan for dealing with this situation today and the days ahead.
Barry walked passed Sandy as she was hanging up with their boss. As he knocked on the door he opened it and walked in. Lisa was used to the news director walking into her office unannounced. And formalities were not important right now. “Barry, you have anything new from the house?”
“Lisa, the crime lab is there and going over every detail. It didn’t appear there were any signs of a struggle. Honestly, I thought the woman I saw lying down in that bed was Janet. I don’t know how I missed that it wasn’t her.”
“That’s a normal assumption for anyone to make. The problem is that you’re a goddamn newsman. You’re supposed to get it right. And what about stories coming from any of our competitors? Are they doing anything on this yet?”
“Once we did our live shot the idiots over at ABC showed up at the house and they have another crew in our parking lot right now. NBC still hasn’t a clue, but they’ll eventually show up.”
Barry knew he would be hearing about this screw-up for a long time.
***
Detective Reynolds continued interviewing everyone at the television station who he thought might be able to provide leads. The coroner had begun to remove the body from the studio to take it back to his lab. A full autopsy would be performed to determine a cause of death. The body at the house would be arriving at the lab too after the coroner perused the crime scene.
“Richard, what do you got?” Reynolds took the call from his fellow detective. “A dead body, and not much else. No signs of a struggle. No outward cause of death that we can see. No identification, but this girl looks familiar. I’m going to send you a couple of pictures on your cell phone. Maybe someone at the station can identify her. What do you have over there?” Reynolds asked his fellow detective.
“The coroner just left and is heading over to the house. His assistants are taking Steve’s body to the lab. Janet Johnson will be back in town later this afternoon. I told her we’d have her plane met and have her brought to the police station to meet with us. That way the press won’t get to her first. Send me the picture of the dead woman and I’ll show it around to see if anyone knows her.”
Tracy used his cell phone camera to send the pictures. While waiting for the pictures to come into focus he went and found Barry walking out of Lisa’s office. He knew Barry could help him download the picture and probably even print it out so they could show it around. This woman sure looked like Janet Johnson, at least lying face down. The picture took a little time to come in clear on the little cell phone screen.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” exclaimed Barry. “How can this be?” His words attracted Reynolds’ attention and drew the attention of Lisa standing in her office. The two turned and walked into the GM’s office and closed the door behind them.
“Lisa, look at this picture of the dead woman at Steve’s house. Do you recognize her?” Barry asked.
“Should I? Who is she?” Lisa asked.
“She’s a paid intern that started a few weeks ago in the newsroom. Steve told me he was mentoring her on her reporting skills. Fuck. What a mess we got here.”
“So she’s an employee? Jesus, do you know how much trouble this can cause us? Where is the girl’s family? What’s her name?” Lisa was starting to wonder what curse the station was under.
“Jesse Anderson. She came here from Texas on a paid internship. I think her family is all in Texas,” Barry said.
“You better get me their contact information so I can notify them before the medical examiner does. You also better let the police know who she is. We don’t want to be concealing anything. We need to be transparent in our news coverage and everything we are doing. I mean that, Barry. Do not fuck with me on this. You’ve already fucked the story up and the station pretty bad.”
Barry knew this would be the theme for a while and he’d just have to listen and take it.
“Lisa, we better go to the newsroom for the staff meeting. You need to tell people what’s going on and whatever else you can share with them.” Barry touched her arm. “We’ll get through this. I’ll take care of the on-air stuff. You handle the staff.”
The newsroom was barely big enough for more than fifty employees in the news department. Rarely had the entire news contingent been there at the same time. The department worked in shifts throughout the day, like factory workers. A few worked overnight, and most of the time reporters, producers, and cameramen were out of the building covering news. Now the room held almost everyone. The mood was somber.
Lisa stepped in front of the staff at the front of the room. “Everyone, can I have your attention please? First off, I appreciate you coming in today for those who were scheduled off. As you probably know, Steve Johnson was found dead this morning on the news set. Our hearts and prayers go out to Steve’s family. What you might not know is that Jesse Anderson, who only joined our team three weeks ago, was found dead this morning as well, at the Johnsons’ home.” Lisa purposely left out the fact that she was found in Steve’s bed and that Steve’s wife wasn’t home. “The detectives would like me to ask anyone with any information at all to please let them know. You can let me know, or Barry, if that is easier. We need any and all information you have that might help the police solve this case. Do not try to censor any information. If you think it might be relevant, then you need to speak up. And let me reiterate that this is a personnel matter inside the station. So the less you say the better.” She turned to her news director. “Barry, you want to run down with everyone what you need from the news department?”
“Thanks, Lisa,” Barry said, and with that he launched into his game plan for all-day coverage featuring cut-ins, live shots, and newscasts. Lisa ducked out of the meeting to go back to her office to call Jesse’s parents. Two of these calls in one day could take it out of you, and Lisa was feeling the pain.
The phone rang twice before a man answered. “Vic Anderson, how can I help you?” The voice was deep and very strong.
“Mr. Anderson, this is Lisa Campbell, the general manager at CBS 2 in Santa Barbara. I have some bad news to report to you.” Lisa was trying to keep her voice calm.
Mr. Anderson was very quiet. His daughter was a handful growing up and always pushed her boundaries. She was very beautiful and on the fast track to whatever it was she was working on. Her parents didn’t want to know what they already thought she was into. They knew she was in trouble when they found out she had an affair with the professor of her broadcast ethics class. For the ex-military father, it was hard to accept that his daughter was not only promiscuous but used her sex appeal to get ahead in her career. This call, although heartbreaking for him, was not totally shocking. That wasn’t lost on Lisa as she explained what they knew so far.
When she finished, Mr. Anderson simply said, “Thank you for calling,” and hung up the phone.
While
Lisa was calling the Andersons, the two detectives now working the case were at Jesse Anderson’s condo. Tracy and Detective Reynolds were surprised at how nice it was and what a good area it was in. She certainly didn’t make that kind of money as a paid intern. The relationship between Tracy and Barry provided some insight for the detective as to what people made in television in this market. Santa Barbara media didn’t have any problems attracting people to work there because it was in a “sunshine market.” People traded high wages to live in a nice place. Jesse was a paid intern, meaning she made less then what a regular employee would make. And that wasn’t much. She did receive college credits for the internship.
Jesse’s two-bedroom condo was extremely neat. Nothing seemed out of place. They could tell by the contents in her closet that she lived alone. It appeared to the two men that this girl who should barely be making it lived above her pay level. She might be living above their salary level.
“Maybe her family has money,” Tracy said as the two continued to look around. It felt strange to both as they noticed there were no family pictures anywhere. It looked like a decorated model home. That seemed very odd.
“Maybe she was a hooker on the side. That would explain the different style of clothes hanging in each bedroom closet,” Reynolds speculated. In the master bedroom hung what would appear normal, everyday clothes that she probably went to work in at the station. In the second closet there were very high-end designer clothes and shoes.
The reason the detectives knew she lived by herself was because the second bedroom didn’t have a bed in it, just a fold-out couch. Both men made a note that they would want to seize the computer. Nothing else was out of place. Where did her money come from?
***
The NBC and ABC stations had gotten on the story and it was leading their noon newscasts. CBS 2 didn’t have a noon newscast. Barry didn’t think it was worth staffing for because the noon audience was small. Most people were at work or lunch. Barry’s station was already number one in the market anyway by putting resources into the early morning and evening newscasts.
