by Bill Evans
“She’s from Texas,” Reynolds said. “She started at the station three weeks ago as a paid intern after getting her BA degree from the Art Institute of Dallas. Steve Johnson was working with her, more or less, training her.”
“How’d she end up in Santa Barbara from Dallas? It’s not an easy jump. She doesn’t have any family here or any friends.” The two detectives had the same thought: They needed to get with Barry Burke.
The two decided not to call but to just go over to the station hoping Barry was there. “Barry, you have a few minutes to grab some coffee?” Detective Tracy asked.
“For you two, I always have time. You want to drink our crap or you want the good stuff?”
“Let’s go down the street so we don’t have any interruptions,” Detective Tracy said. He knew it was impossible to get anything done at the station due to the constant interruptions. The detectives knew that as well. Plus Starbucks was a treat and only minutes from the station.
“Did you guys find something out?” Barry asked.
“Not sure. We want to compare notes with you. What can you tell us about Jesse Anderson?” Detective Reynolds asked.
“There isn’t much to tell. I had one of my reporters do a background check on her and we didn’t come up with anything out of the ordinary. I hired her about a month ago after she got out of school. Actually, we gave her a paid internship so we could see if she would work out or not.”
“Anything else come out of your check into her history? We know she graduated from the Art Institute of Dallas. Did your guy find anything else out?” Reynolds stated.
“There was a rumor he found floating around some of the chatter websites from the school talking about an alleged affair she had with her ethics professor. My reporter, John Rankin, found that online when he was looking into Jesse’s background.”
“So, why did you hire her if you knew she had an affair with her ethics professor? Especially for news? Doesn’t that contradict the character you need in a news person?”
“First, we just found out about an alleged affair. The school didn’t appear to take any action as far as we know, and for us, it was a moot point because she’s dead and we can’t ask her about it.”
“How do you think she found CBS in Santa Barbara?”
“She probably did a mass mailing. That is usually how journalism students find their first jobs. They send out resumes and audition DVDs to every news director in the country hoping someone will give them their break.” Barry received four or five of these submissions a day.
“Is that what she did?” Detective Reynolds asked.
“Come to think about it, no. I actually got a call recommending Jesse. That very seldom happens, especially from anyone I might listen to.”
“Who recommended Jesse Anderson to you?” Reynolds asked.
“Stewart Simpson, the owner of the station.” Barry found his words trailing off as he realized what he just told the detectives.
“Did Stewart recommend a lot of news people to you? Why would he recommend Jesse? What do you think the connection is between those two?” Reynolds asked.
Barry now considered his words carefully. He wasn’t sure he should implicate the owner of his station more than he already had. “Not very often, but every now and then he might call me up and tell me about some talent he saw.”
“But Jesse isn’t real talent at this stage of her career. She’s a novice. What do you think the connection was?” Detective Tracy pressed.
“I have no idea. They’re both from Dallas, so maybe Stewart is a friend of the family. You should probably ask Stewart Simpson that question,” Barry suggested. “Here’s another question you should make sure you ask him. How come he never mentioned any of this about Jesse Anderson to anyone? He had to know it would be important.”
“We will. We’re meeting with him tomorrow morning,” Tracy said. The statement hit Barry hard because he knew there must be some other reason for them to meet his owner. They had arranged the meeting already. He needed to get to his general manager and let her know what just happened.
12
BARRY WALKED THROUGH the station lobby without talking to anyone. He headed directly to Lisa’s office. The door was closed so he knocked. The general manager was meeting with the business manager.
“Lisa, can you give me a few minutes as soon as you’re done?”
“Barry, stay. We’re done here. I can see you now.”
“Lisa, I just had a long conversation with Tracy and Reynolds about Jesse Anderson . . .” He recounted his conversation with the detectives. Lisa gasped at the news. She had no idea that Jesse was recommended for a job by Stewart.
“I should have been informed about this,” she huffed.
More ominous was that Stewart Simpson may somehow be involved in the intern’s death.
“Barry, I’m sure the detectives will get to the bottom of this when they interview Stewart tomorrow morning. Did they say anything about how they think these two people were killed?” Lisa asked.
“They still don’t know. The initial blood work came back, as you know. The full toxicology report takes several weeks. They did indicate that there were covert ways to murder someone by poison, but in almost every case, something turns up in the autopsy. If not in blood work they go to organs, hair, all sorts of tissue. Let’s hope this isn’t one of those times nothing shows up.”
No witness and no murder weapon, Lisa thought. Everything she had heard was circumstantial at best. She wouldn’t get much else done today. She would meet Stewart at his Santa Barbara residence around six. Would she tell him everything she knew or just let it unfold tomorrow with the detectives? She wondered if she should ask Stewart about Jesse and what his connection to her might be. It was hard for her to be the jealous one; after all, she once again reminded herself that she was the one in a marriage.
“Lisa, you okay? I thought I lost you there for a minute.”
“I’m good. Sorry, I spaced out for a few minutes. Look, I need to get some work done on next year’s budget. How’s your news budget coming?” Lisa could always use the budget as an excuse this time of year. It was a never-ending project in the fourth quarter.
“The news budget is coming along,” Barry lied. “By the way, I’m having lunch in a little bit with Phil Roberts. I want to see if he’s got any interest in coming over to our team.”
“Good. You know he could play you and use this as a way to jack up his own self-worth at ABC.”
“I know,” Barry said. “We’ve seen that before. Either way we win, though. If he gets more money from his owners, that hurts their pocketbook. If we get him on our station, that hurts their ratings.”
“And that hurts their pocketbook, too. Let me know what happens.”
Barry left Lisa’s office not believing the whole budget-work thing. He did get the feeling that she knew a lot more than she was sharing. Maybe one day she’ll fully trust me, he thought.
***
General Sales Manager David Pedderman thought the week had been a waste. His staff hadn’t done anything to put dollars on the books and that infuriated the man responsible for the revenue. He hated missing any opportunity, and that was exactly what he felt happened this past week. Pedderman was sympathetic and he was a team player, though most people thought all he cared about was his next dollar. They weren’t wrong, but that is what made Pedderman an excellent general sales manager.
Pedderman had gathered his sales staff to talk about gearing up going forward. Sales people are a funny breed. Everyone inside stations think that sales people are all about having lunches and fun times. Few understood what it took to be a good broadcast sales person. Pedderman had to get his team refocused. CBS was in great shape as a network with primetime shows like Survivor and the CSI franchises. The station was number one in local news primarily because it had some strong syndication programming with Oprah, Dr. Phil, and Live with Regis.
Barry swung by the sales bullpen area as the meeting was
wrapping up. He wanted to talk to Pedderman and get his take on Phil Roberts anchoring their CBS local news.
“What are you doing to replace Steve on the anchor desk?” Pedderman asked bluntly. “My sales staff needs something they can pitch to advertisers.”
“You’re heartless, Pedderman, a heartless son of a bitch. We’re in the process of looking for Steve’s replacement. I’d like to have someone prior to the November sweeps, but that is a pretty quick time table. I don’t know that we’ll make that one.”
“Any prospects you can tell us about?” Pedderman pressed.
“No, and I wouldn’t tell you until we actually had an agreement with someone.”
Pedderman ended the sales meeting and Barry followed him into his office. He pulled the door shut as he entered. “Uh oh, this looks serious,” Pedderman said.
“I’m going to meet Phil Roberts today for lunch. What would you think?”
“I think that would be fucking unbelievable. Do you think you have a real shot at getting Phil?” Pedderman asked.
“You think bringing Phil over to our anchor team would be a good move, then?”
“I think it would be a great move and it would cripple ABC. It’s brilliant, and if you pull this off, it will be huge,” Pedderman said.
“David, you really think this would be that strong of a deal for us?” Barry wanted to get this right. He knew Pedderman was right about how getting the ABC anchor to move over to CBS would cripple that station. That was a bonus to making this move.
“What do you think we’ll have to pay him? Do you have any idea what the anchors across the street are making?” Barry knew he was in the ballpark with what he thought, but he always liked to get someone else’s insight.
“I know Phil’s co-anchor, Jackie Brown. She’s making in the low seventies. Phil’s been there longer and is considered their number one man on the news desk. I have to believe he’s making close to a hundred,” Pedderman said.
Steve Johnson, who was the number one anchor in the market, and had been for eleven years, was the highest paid newsman in Santa Barbara. Steve was making $110,000 and had performance bonuses that could get him to $125,000 if he knocked it out of the park, which he usually did.
“David, keep this between you and me. I’ll fill you in after lunch. Keep your fingers crossed.” Barry hurried out of the sales manager’s office before he got caught up in another conversation that would make him late.
***
The drive over to Seafood Grill took twenty minutes. Barry gave himself a little extra drive time in case there was traffic. The Seafood Grill was a little out of the way, which is what Barry wanted for this meeting. He didn’t need anyone seeing him with the main anchor of his competitor. Under the circumstances, it would be pretty easy to figure out what this meeting was about.
Phil Roberts arrived right on time. Barry had a table out in the screened-in patio area. No one else was on the patio because of the October air. The cool air didn’t bother Barry, but more importantly, he wanted privacy. The two shook hands when Roberts got over to the table.
“Let me say again how classy I thought it was for you and your team to come out to the memorial service. I know Steve’s wife really appreciated it.”
“Steve and I were friends and he helped me when I came into the market. Plus, he gave a lot to Santa Barbara. It was only right that we recognize that,” Roberts said.
“Well, it was very nice.” The waitress arrived at the table to give the two news people menus and their water. She recognized Roberts and smiled.
Roberts opened up the real conversation by asking Barry what he was going to do to fill the open anchor chair.
“I’m glad you asked,” Barry said with a slight laugh. “That is why we’re having lunch. What would you think about jumping over to our station?”
Roberts knew that was why they were meeting today. Ever since Billie dropped the hint at the Firehouse that night he had been thinking about this possibility. “It’s got my interest.”
“Well, I’m very interested in making this happen. Do you have a contract?”
“My contract is up at the end of the year.”
“Have they started talking to you about a new deal?”
“Only in passing, nothing concrete. Our talks will hopefully get serious before the November rating period starts. It would be nice to get it off the table so it’s not a distraction.”
“You and I both know how this works. By you just having this meeting with me you can now go back to your news director and tell her that I’ve approached you about coming over. Your stock will go up and you will probably get a better deal. If that is what you want.”
“Barry, I appreciate you being so up front. Change isn’t anything I like, but working for number one is appealing to me. You’re right about the fact I can use this lunch to up my value at ABC. I would like to think that my station would recognize the fact that you might approach me and therefore want to get a deal done with me sooner rather than later.”
“You’re right,” Barry nodded in agreement.
“So, talk to me about the position.” Phil wanted to hear the details.
“I’m prepared to make you co-anchor with Billie on all of our main news shows at five, six, and eleven. You would also have the ability to do some major reporting every quarter. Phil Roberts would become the face of the number one local news in Santa Barbara.”
Barry was playing to the anchor’s ego now. He knew that ABC didn’t do much to promote their anchors. He also knew that ABC didn’t let their anchors do any reporting. Barry knew that Roberts would love the reporting aspect of the deal.
“What kind of money are we talking about?” Phil asked.
“We’re ready to offer you $100,000 a year plus performance bonuses.”
The two left the lunch feeling good about each other and the offer. Barry would have to wait for Phil to decide. He told the anchor not to keep him waiting too long. If Phil turned him down, he wanted to be able to move on and find his new person as quickly as possible. Right now, he hoped Phil was that person.
13
LISA WAS UNDERSTANDABLY NERVOUS all day. She couldn’t get her boss and lover, Stewart Simpson, out of her head. What if he’s this monster and not the love of my life that I have known the past twenty years? What possible connection does this dead intern have to my seventy-two-year-old boss?
Lisa didn’t know how she was going to approach Stewart. No matter how much she rehearsed her speech, she was afraid she was just going to fall apart when confronting him. And could she really confront her mentor without him feeling betrayed?
Pulling up to Stewart’s house, she tried to gather herself as much as possible. Faithful Dugan greeted her as she got out of her car. “Mrs. Campbell, what a pleasure.” Lisa instantly wondered what role Dugan played in all of this. She knew he was Stewart’s most trusted confidant. There was no chance Stewart was involved without Dugan participating in some way or another.
“Dugan, you’re always the charmer.” Lisa used this exchange to clear her voice so she could sound as confident as possible. “How’s Mr. Simpson feeling tonight?”
“Very chipper. He is really looking forward to seeing you.” Dugan is a good looking man for being in his sixties and still fit as a Marine, she thought. Lisa couldn’t help but guess what Duncan’s involvement might be in this whole wretched scheme.
Stewart opened the door just at the right time for Lisa to enter. He had her glass of chardonnay at the ready. They had a light embrace and a kiss before walking into the living room area. The house was always perfectly decorated to fit the time of year. Fresh aromas filled the air. Stewart had Dugan prepare a prime rib for dinner, Lisa’s favorite.
There was something odd going on, Lisa sensed. Maybe Stewart had an idea that she was going to confront him about Steve and Jesse. He always seemed to be one or two steps ahead of her and everybody else.
Stewart held Lisa’s hand as they walked into the room, leading h
er over to her favorite spot on the couch. In a way, he signaled for her to sit down. This time, she wasn’t in a hurry to kick off her shoes, and she certainly wasn’t comfortable. Then Stewart surprised her.
“Lisa, I’ve got something special for you tonight. I have an early present for you.”
Lisa loved Stewart’s presents because they were always over the top. “What is it? What’s the occasion? It’s too early for Christmas.”
“I know how hard you’ve been working and especially how tough this past week has been. I thought I’d give you your year-end bonus a little early. We know how the year is going to end up, so I thought I’d give you something to feel really good about.” Stewart reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out an envelope with Lisa’s name on it.
This more than caught her by surprise. What’s going on here? He must know that I have an idea he’s involved, possibly with murder.
She stood up anxiously. “Oh my god, Stewart,” her hands were shaking when she opened the seal. Inside was a check made out to her for $125,000, the amount of her annual salary. “Stewart!” she said with a slight scream. “This is four times my average bonus. I know we are having a good year, but not this good. Why so much?”
“I came into some extra money and I felt you deserved this for all your loyalty and hard work the past twenty years. I wanted to give you something special, and I know how much you love your money,” Stewart said looking directly into Lisa’s tear-filled eyes.
Is this a bribe? Is Stewart buying my silence?
“Stewart, where’d the money come from?” she surprised herself when she heard her ask the question.
Stewart looked at Lisa with the love he’d had for her all his life. There were many, many women throughout the years, but Lisa was the one woman he had loved from the day they met.
“I’ve never told you this, but I have life insurance policies on all the key people in my organizations. It’s something I learned at a very early age. If anything happens and someone dies, someone I’ve invested a great deal in, then I’m compensated through the life insurance. I protect all my investments, and that includes investing in the people I count on. Our anchors are included in that mix.”
