It was an incredible quote, and a brilliant way to begin the article. True, it wasn’t the most conventional opening line for an important piece of investigative journalism, but who said you couldn’t start a story that way?
The CEO of a leading national utility company had been caught with his hand in the till, and when confronted by Kerrin on the phone at his home, he had laughed. Actually laughed.
Perhaps he was drunk, or maybe the CEO was just another of those arrogant bastards that thought he could get away with anything.
Whatever.
Kerrin was going to use the quote, and that was that.
He closed his eyes and imagined the headline of the article in bold print, spread across the top of the page.
"Utility Company Chairman Admits Million Dollar Fraud".
Not bad, but perhaps not good enough. He would fix that later.
First he had to finish the rest of the story.
He focused his concentration back on to the page, his fingers poised lightly on the keyboard and the cursor hanging menacingly above the third line…
There was a shrill, screeching noise in the background, and he bit hard on his lip as he reached for the phone. He hated to be disturbed when he was writing. Since giving up being a cop in Miami and starting from scratch as an investigative journalist at the Washington Post, he spent every day chasing deadlines: and if he didn't get this piece finished in the next five hours, he'd miss Friday's long promised full page spread on Page 3. His best position yet.
“Yes?” he bellowed down the phone.
“Kerrin…is that you?”
“Elizabeth! Sorry, yes, it’s me. You just caught me at a bad moment…”
"I'm sorry to disturb you Kerrin, but I need your help. Something…something terrible has happened!"
His sister's voice trembled as she spoke the words, and then abruptly she burst into tears.
Kerrin straightened up in his chair, his attention now completely on his sister. "What’s the matter? Why are you crying?” In the background Kerrin heard a loudspeaker, announcing the arrival of a flight. “Where are you?”
“I’m at the airport in the Bahamas,… with the kids.”
“The Bahamas? What the hell are you all doing there? You’re meant to be coming here this weekend…What’s going on?”
“I don't know. Martin called me this morning from the office in Orlando, told me not to argue, just to pack as much as I could and catch the first plane to Nassau…He said he'd meet me here this evening. Kerrin, I’m scared…”
“Did he say why?”
“No. There wasn’t time to discuss it. We were cut off…but I know it’s got something to do with the project he was working on…”
“Which project? He’s always working on something that’ll ‘change the world’.”
“Kerrin, don’t joke about it. This is serious!…Henry, Tom and Mike are dead! Sam's dead too, and Alex is missing!”
“Dead? What do you mean they're all dead? ”
“Exactly that. They’re dead!”, she shouted back, then started to cry again.
“Elizabeth, take a deep breath. Try to calm down. I’m sure…”
“Kerrin, I’m scared,” she continued. “Really scared. According to the police, Tom, Mike, Sam and Henry all committed suicide, or tried to. All in the space of four days of each other.”
“That's ridiculous. I was only with Alex and Tom last week when Martin took us out to play golf. They looked a bit stressed, but they definitely weren’t suicidal!”
“But now they’re dead!… and I think Martin is worried that it might be his turn next. That’s why he wants us all out of the country…Kerrin, what do I do? What if he doesn’t turn up?”
“Don't worry sis, he will. When’s he meant to be arriving?”
“In about two hours. He’s flying down in his jet, straight from Orlando.”
“Have you spoken to him since?”
“No, nothing…,” there was a pause, almost as if his sister was trying to pluck up the courage to say something else. “…But before we were cut off, he insisted that I must get you to come down here as well. He said he needed your help and that it was really important. I know that you don't want to leave Dana alone, but Martin promised that you’d get that big scoop you've always wanted- a front page exclusive. The best story the Washington Post has had for ages! Please come Kerrin…I need you here too…”