The Evening News (21 page)

”
The network head impaled him with a glare
.”
I've enough problems without
any from you, so forget that brand of
garbage. See to it that you ream out
the people who signed that letter and let them know I expect no more
disloyalty. You may also inform them that their kind of double-dealing will
be remembered at contract renewal time
wh
ich reminds me-some of the amounts
we're paying news people are insanely exorbitant, especially for that
arrogant son of a bitch Crawford Sloane
.”
Subsequently, Leslie Chippingham relayed a softer version of Margot's
comments, reasoning that he was the one who had to hold the News Division
together, something that was becoming increasingly difficult
.
The difficulty was compounded a few weeks later when a new proposal by Mrs
.
Lloyd-Mason was announced through a CBA internal memo. The intention was
to create a political action fund to pay for lobbying in Washington on
behalf of CBA network Money
for the
fund would be contributed "voluntarily
”
by network executives and deducted
from their salaries. Senior personnel in
the News Division would be included The announcement pointed out that the
arrangement conformed to a similar one within the parent company, Globanic
Industries
.
The same day the announcement arrived, Chippingham was
near the Horseshoe when a producer asked him, "Les, you're going to fight that political action shit for all of us, aren't you
?
”

From several feet away, Crawford Sloane interjected, "Of course he is
.
Les would never agree to anything which had the News Division asking for
political favors instead of reporting them. We can all rely on him for
that
.”
-
The news president
found it hard to tell whether or not there was irony
in the anchorman's voice. Either way, Chippingham recognized he had
another serious problem, originating through Margot's ignorance--or was
it plain uncaring?--about news integrity. Should he go to her and argue
against the political action fund? He doubted, though, that it would make
any difference since Margot's main objective was clearly to please her
Globanic masters and advance her own career
.
In the end he solved his problem by leaking the story, along with a copy
of the internal CBA memo, to the Washington Post. He had a contact there
whom he had used before and who could be trusted not to reveal a source
.
The resulting Post report, which was picked up by other papers, ridiculed
the idea of involving a news organization in political lobbying. Within
days the plan was officially abandoned-according to rumors, on the
personal orders of Globanic's chairman, Theodore Elliott
.
Once more the CBA network president sent for Chippingham
.
Coldly, without greeting or preliminaries, she asked, "Who in the News
Division gave my memo to the Post
?
”

"I have no idea,
“
he lied
"Bullshit!
If
you don't know
for sure, you have a damn good notion
.”
Chippingham decided to keep quiet, though noting with relief that it had
not occurred
to Margot he himsel
f might be responsible for the leak
.
She broke the silence between them
.”
You have been uncooperative ever
since I came here
.”

“
I'm sorry you feel that way because I don't believe it's true. In fact
,
I've tried to be honest with you
.”
Ignoring the disclaimer, Margot continued, "Because of
your persistent
attitude I've had inquiries made about you and have
l
earned several things. One is that your
job is important to you at this moment, because financially you can't afford to lose it
.”

“
My job has always been important to me As to financially important
,
isn't that true of most people? Perhaps even of you. Chippingham wondered uneasily what was coming
.
With a thin, superior smile the network chief said, "I'm not in the
middle of a messy divorce action. You are. Your wife wants a large
financial settlement, including most of your joint property and, if she
doesn't get it, will pro
duce evidence in court of a half-a
-dozen adulterous
relationships which you were careless about concealing. You also have
debts, including a big personal bank loan, so you desperately need a
continuing income; otherwise you'll be a personal bankrupt and the next
thing to a pauper.
Raising his voice, he objected, "That's insulting
!
It's an intrusion on
my personal privacy
.”

Margot said calmly, "It may be, but it's true
.
Despite the protest, he was jolted by the extent of her knowledge. He was
in a near-desperate financial bind, in part because he had never been
able to manage his personal money and across the years had not only spent
his substantial salary as it came in, but had borrowed heavily. He had
also never been able to resist the temptations of other women, a weakness
that Stasia, his wife of twenty years, had appeared to accept-until three
months ago. Then, without warning, Stasia's pent-up rage and stored-up
evidence exploded into a ferocious divorce action. Even with that to
contend with, he had foolishly started another affair, this time with
Rita Abrams, a CBA News producer. He hadn't intended it to happen but it
had Now he
found it exciting and wanted to go on. But the thought of
losing his job frightened him
"Now listen to me carefully,
“
Margot said
.”
It isn't hard to replace a
News Division president and if I need to, I will Before you even know
what's happening, you'll be out on your ass and someone else in. There
are plenty of candidates
for your
job, here and at the other networks. Is
that clear
?
”

Chippingham said resignedly, "Yes, it's clear
.”
However, if you play ball with me, you'll stay on. But News Division
policy will be the way I want it. Remember that And
one more thing: When I want something done which you don't like, don't waste my time with crap about news ethics and purity. You stopped being pure-if you ever were-when you didn't use those follow-up pieces about Theo Elliott's taxes
.”
Margot gave her thin smile again
.”
Oh yes, I know about that. So you've been corrupted already and a few more times won't make any difference. That's all, You can go
.”
That conversation had taken place two days before Chuck Insen, and then
Crawford Sloane, had come to the news president with their personal
problems about the National Evening News. Chippingham knew that their
differences must be settled promptly within the News Division. For as
long as possible he wanted no more visits to Margot, no more
confrontations.

"I'm telling you, Crawf, just as I told Chuck
,”
Chippingham said, "right
now you'll do the greatest harm to all of us in news if the two of you
go public with your infighting. Over at Stonehenge, the News Division is
out of favor. As for Chuck's idea of involving Margot Lloyd-Mason, she
won't take his side or yours. What she'll probably do is more cost
cutting on the grounds that if we have time for internal feuding we're
not busy enough, and are therefore overstaffed
.”

"I can fight that
,”
Sloane said
.”
And I guarantee you'll be ignored
.”

Unusually, Chippingham was becoming
angry. At times it was a news president's function to protect his
reporting staff, including an anchorman, from the network's top
management. But there were limits; for once he decided to be rough
.”
Something you may as well know is that our new boss doesn't have a lot
of time for you. Because of that damn
fool letter you and the others wrote
to the Times, she described you as arrogant and overpaid
.”

Sloane protested, "That letter was on target. I'm entitled to a free
opinion and I expressed it
.”

"Balls! You had no business putting your name there. In that I agree with
Margot. For god's sake, Crawf, grow upl You can't take the kind of money
you do from the network and
continue being 'one of the boys,' shooting off at the mouth when you feel like it
.”

There was no reason, Chippingham thought, why he should take all the flak
from the network's new owners. Let other senior staffers, including Sloane
and Insen, carry their share
!
The news president also had a private reason
for irritation. Today was Thursday. Tonight he planned to leave for a long
,
love-filled weekend with Rita Abrams in Minnesota. Rita was already there
,
having arrived the night before. What he didn't want was to have this
stupid brawl fomenting in his absence
.”
I still come back to what we started with
,”
Sloane said
.”
There need to
be changes in our news format
.”

"There can be
,”
Chippingham told him
.”
I have some ideas myself. We'll work
them out here
.”

"How
?
”

"Starting next week I'll hold meetings with you and Chuck Insen-as many as
it takes to get agreement. Even if I have to slam your heads together
,
we'll find an acceptable compromise
.”

"We can try it
,”
Sloane said doubtfully, "but it's not totally
satisfactory
.”

Chippingham shrugged
.”
Tell me something that is
.”

When the news president had gone, Sloane sat silently in his office
brooding over their discussion. Then he remembered the speakerphone
announcement about Larchmont. Curious to know if there was any more
information, he left his office and headed for the newsroom.

15

Bert Fisher, the Larchmont stringer, was continuing to pursue
a potential news story stemming from the police radio message
about a "possible kidnap
.”

After telephoning WCBA-TV, Bert
hurried out of his apartment, hoping that his battered twentyyear-old Volkswagen bug would start. Following an anxious minute of abortive whines and grunts, it did. He kept a scanner radio in the car and set it to the Larchmont police frequency. Then he headed for downtown-the Grand Union supermarket
.
Partway there some more police radio exchanges caused him to change
direction
.”
Car 423 to headquarters. Proceeding to house of possible victims of
reported incident. Address, 66 Park Avenue. Request a detective meet me
there
.”

“
Headquarters to 423. Ten four
.
A brief pause, then, "Headquarters to car 426 Proceed urgently to 66 Park
Avenue. Meet post officer, car 423. Investigate officer's report
.”
In local police usage, Bert realized, "proceed urgently
”
meant: with
flashing lights and siren. Clearly, the action was heating up and Bert
increased his own speed as much as the ancient Volkswagen would allow. Now
,
heading for Park Avenue, he felt excited about that address number-66. He
wasn't sure, but if the house belonged to the person he thought it did
,
this was really a big story.