Dead in the Water (Stone Barrington 3)

“Everybody is a competitor,” Burrows said.

“Come on, sit down, and let’s talk.” Stone herded them toward a table. “Thomas, how about some lunch menus?”

“Sure thing,” Thomas said.

“I want the first interview,” Burrows said; “I was here first.”

“Wait a minute,” Stone said. “Just listen to me, both of you. Jim, you’re not exactly on deadline here, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” the writer said. “I’m here to get the whole story; the soonest we could run would be a couple of weeks after the trial.”

“Feel better, Jake?” Stone asked.

“A little,” Burrows said grudgingly. “I’ve got a reporter arriving here tonight, and either I get an exclusive interview, or I’m getting out of here right now.”

Stone turned to him. “Either it runs Sunday night, or there’s no interview.”

“I can’t promise you that,” Burrows said.

“Then you might as well go home, because before the Sunday after that rolls around, my client could very well have been executed, and I’m not much interested in a postmortem feature.”

“This week’s show is already set,” Burrows said. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I’m sorry, Jake, there’s nothing I can do for you,” Stone said.

Burrows looked at him incredulously. “Listen to me, Stone, this is 60 Minutes; do you know what that means?”

“Sure I do,” Stone replied. “It means you’d be airing an interview with a dead woman. I thought your show liked saving innocent people from death row, not reporting on the execution later.”

Jake Burrows looked at him intently for a moment without speaking. “I’ve got to make a phone call,” he said finally, pushing his chair back.

“Tell them I want it in writing,” Stone said.

“If I do this, will you guarantee me an exclusive?”

“I’ll guarantee you an exclusive on in-depth TV, but she’s going to hold a press conference, where I’ll answer most of the questions, and an awful lot of photographs of her are going to be taken. The only way I can save her life is to carpet American TV wall to wall with her face, and that’s what I intend to do. Anyway, all that will be great promotion for your interview.”

Burrows nodded and went off to find a phone.

“You’re going to have your hands full pretty soon,” Jim Forrester said.

“I’ve already got my hands full, just with the two of you. Are you on staff at the magazine?”

Forrester shook his head. “This will be my first piece for them. I was in San Juan doing a travel piece when they called.”

“Who’s your editor there?” Stone asked.

“Charles McGrath.”

“He’s number two there, isn’t he?”

“That’s right.”

“What are you going to want?”

“Well, obviously, I want to see Allison again as soon as possible, then I want to cover everything that happens, including the 60 Minutes interview and the trial. There’s nothing I can do to save her life, but if what she says rings true, then I can reinforce her innocence if she survives. That could be important to her, because there is always going to be a question mark hanging over her, even if she’s acquitted.”

“You’re right about that.” Stone wrinkled his brow. “What did you mean by seeing Allison again?”