News Flash

News Flash

Candace Harper

Copyright © 2019 by Candace Harper

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Contents

News Flash

Acknowledgments

About the Author

News Flash

My editor’s voice droned on and on as he paced the room, talking about how our stories had performed over the last week. Shockingly, I thought sarcastically, crime and local sports had been the most popular articles. Those always had been, and probably always would be, the bread and butter of a daily newspaper. Unfortunately, neither of those were my beat. I was the Pittsylvania County reporter.

Now that we’ve gotten through the data report, who’s got some interesting stories for me this week? Matt rubbed his hands together and looked around at the four of us. The beeping and chattering from the police scanner were the only sound in the room.

I looked over at my coworkers, both of whom were looking at their notebooks like they had nothing to share. As usual. Matt pointed a pudgy finger at me with a disinterested expression on his round face.

If there are no volunteers, Iveta, you’re up. What’s happening in the county this week?

I ran a finger down the list in my own notebook, counting the ideas. My messy cursive filled the page with story ideas from across the commonwealth’s largest county - the beat I’d covered for nearly five years at The Register, a daily paper. Taking a deep breath, I started my weekly overview.

Well, it’s a meeting week, so a lot and most of it boring. There are a few interesting items on the agenda, but I won’t get to learn anything about most of them, since they’ll be in closed session.

I looked up at him and he stared at me