The Guilty - Jason Pinter [61]
eighteenth floor. I'd heard about the eighteenth floor, but had
never been there. Unless you were nominated for a Pulitzer
or were about to have the rug pulled out from your career, you
never came up here. And I sure as hell wasn't up for a Pulitzer.
The digital counter stopped at 18. The doors opened.
Everything looked newer up here; the wood paneling dark
and freshly polished, the newspapers in the waiting area
folded, and even the receptionist looked like she spent a little
more time at the gym than those on the Metro floor. She
guarded a narrow hallway with one set of double doors at the
end. The office of Harvey Hillerman, chairman and CEO of
the New York Gazette.
Wallace nodded at the receptionist.
"You can go right in," she said.
"Thanks, Gloria." Gloria went back to typing.
The doors swung open as we approached. Harvey Hiller-man was standing in front of us, holding the door open, an
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unlit cigar in his mouth. The end was sopping wet and looked
like a gangrenous limb that could detach at any moment.
His sleeves were a little too long for his wrists. His jacket
seemed to billow out. On the wall was a framed portrait of
Hillerman standing next to Bill Clinton, Hillerman's pants
just a bit too baggy, as if the clothes he wore belonged to a
larger man.
Harvey Hillerman's office was startlingly clear of any sort
of clutter. Lining his walls were several dozen framed page
ones from various Gazette editions. I scanned the headlines
while Harvey and Wallace exchanged awkward pleasantries.
April 4, 1996. Theodore Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber,
is arrested at his remote cabin in Montana after his brother,
David, notifies authorities.
February 5, 1997. O.J. Simpson is found liable in civil
court for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and
Ronald Goldman and ordered to pay $33,500,000 in damages.
August 18, 1998. During Grand Jury testimony, President
Bill Clinton admits to an "inappropriate" relationship with
former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
July 17, 1999. John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his wife are
killed after the plane Kennedy was flying crashes into the
Atlantic Ocean.
December 14, 2000. Democratic Presidential nominee Al
Gore concedes the presidential election to George W. Bush,
over a month after election day.
September 12, 2001. The day after terrorists killed nearly
three thousand Americans.
March 3, 2002. The launch of Operation Anaconda, the
first large-scale battle during the United States' war in Afghanistan since the Battle of Tora Bora in December, 2001.
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March 13, 2003. Elizabeth Smart is found alive nine months
after being kidnapped by two Morman fundamentalists.
December 14, 2003. United States military forces capture
Saddam Hussein.
December 27, 2004. An earthquake measuring between
9.1-9.3 on the Richter scale occurs in the Indian Ocean, triggering massive tsunamis over South and Southeast Asia
killing over 180,000 people.
"Murder, calamity and scandal," Hillerman said. "They're
usually the first things people look at." My eyes leapt from
the frames to the chairman.
Harvey Hillerman was a tall man, gray neatly-coiffed
hair, with round tortoiseshell eyeglasses and a Montblanc
sticking out of his shirt pocket. His desk was covered with
shiny things: trophies, awards, metallic pens and things
encased in glass.
He motioned to the framed editions. "Each of those represents the bestselling newspaper of that calendar year." He
gazed at them for a moment, reflective, then motioned to the
oversize chairs positioned at forty-five-degree angles in front
of his desk. "Wally, Henry, please sit," he said. We both did so.
"Sir," I said, "before you say anything can I just say
things didn't happen the way the Dispatch said they did.
Paulina, she--"
"That's enough, Parker," Hillerman said. "Mind if I ask
where you've been the last few days?"
"New Mexico, sir."
"New Mexico!" Hillerman exclaimed. "What in the bloody