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Before their guests arrived James tidied the office
and bought fresh flowers and coffee, juice and donuts.
He also picked up some colorful ring binders and stacked
them along a shelf, hoping no one would notice that
they were all empty. He wanted to make the place look
professional, busy and welcoming.
They ate first and made small talk, and then Hitch
pulled out his reporter's pad.
"So tell us how you found the thieves", he
said with a warm smile. Hitch was the reporter, Kate
was the photographer. Publicity seemed appealing and
simple until the journalists arrived but now James was
having second thoughts.
"Well, you know," he began. He could feels
his powers of expression deserting him. He simply had
no idea what to say next. Certainly the truth would
not do. Hitch stared at him.
"We went to the museum," Kath ventured.
"Good. What did you find there?"
Kath looked across at James and Sue but they were both
silent.
"Well. We didn't find anything there. Not right
away." James could see that she had difficulty
swallowing and he knew that she felt as uncomfortable
as he did. "We needed to check it." Hitch
was staring at her. "We're very thorough."
"Thorough. That's good. So what did you do next?"
"Well, we spoke to a janitor," said Sue.
She wasn't sure it was safe to mention the tapes. "And
he told us the stuff just disappeared. There was no
break in, as far as people could tell."
"We know that," Hitch confirmed. He didn't
sound enthused yet. "What was the janitor's name?"
"Oh. I didn't ask," Sue admitted. "He
was a small man with a cigarette."
"That narrows it down. Then what?"
"We had another case so we spent some time on
that." James was improvising now, making up the
words as he spoke them. He had reached the stage where
even he didn't know what he was going to say until the
words came out. "It lost us a lot of time. We could
have solved the museum theft a lot quicker if we had
been more focused."
"What was the other case?"
"Oh, that's still open. I'm afraid we can't discuss
it. That wouldn't be right."
"OK," said Hitch, slowly. "So let's
come back to the museum theft. Tell me what the big
breakthrough was."
James turned to Sue. "I was going to the library,"
she explained.
"Why?"
"I wanted a book." She said it rather firmly.
She was anxious not to be hostile but Hitch needed to
see that there were limits. Uncharacteristically she
had declined to eat, planning to take the leftover donuts
after the meeting but the way Hitch was eating them
there seemed little chance of leftovers.
"A book. Fine. Go on." He spat a little of
his food as he talked.
"And I met Sophie Smith," Sue added.
"Inside the library?"
"In the street. Right outside."
"You saw her?"
"She saw me, really."
"OK," he said again.
"And she invited me to see their condominium in
the Dakota."
"And then?"
"Well, she showed me the stolen items and Bill
gave me a few of them."
"Why did he do that?"
"I think he wanted to impress me. Sophie told
me he liked me."
"That's it?" Hitch's eyes were wide in disbelief.
He had the hots for you so he showed you the stolen
ceramics?"
"Yes."
"And you want us to put this in the newspaper?"
He spoke as if quoting a headline. "Stupid Thief
Confesses."
Hitch closed his notebook very slowly.
"Anything else?"
"Erm..." began James. "Well..."
Hitch looked across at the photographer. She gave a
slight shake of her head and they both rose. Then he
seemed to think again. "Let me make sure I understand
this. He gave you the stolen stuff, you brought them
to us and to a bunch of TV stations. And you want to
get paid? Yes?"
They had no answer.
"Thanks very much, folks, but I don't think there's
a story here." He moved towards the door.
"Wait a minute," James interrupted, rising
to he feet. "What about our agreement?"
"Like I said, there's no story."
"But we still get the fee!"
"Not without a story."
"We have your letter. We have it in writing. And
we did gave you the story." He felt like a small
boy facing a bully he could not beat. "This isn't
fair!"
Hitch smiled. "Did you show the small print to
a lawyer?"
"No, but?"
"Have a nice day, folks." They left, and
the door to swung slowly shut. Sue and Kath looked at
each other in numb silence. James sunk back into his
chair.
"Oh, bloody hell!" he said.
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