Page 35 of Playing With Fire

Ricky began to look faintly anxious.

The Chief beamed, completely unaware of the potential threat.

“I’ve asked you here so as to give our local media first crack at some breaking news.” He paused, clearly waiting for Jodi’s gasp of surprise and/or admiration.

“Gee,” she said obediently, ignoring the glint of amusement in Ricky’s eye.

“Yes ma’am,” repeated the Chief heartily. He turned to his new assistant like a proud uncle. “Young Ricky here has come up with a plan to make our beautiful town a safer community.”

He paused again.

“Mmmmm.” Jodi murmured encouragingly. She resisted the impulse to check her phone. She had an editorial meeting in thirty minutes and then a financial strategy meeting with the newspaper’s owners and business advisers. The proofreading needed to be done by tomorrow night, and Dougie had inadvertently failed to include several of the regular local advertisers. Some serious redesign of pages and a long night lay ahead.

Food and sleep were optional at this point.

“Maybe we should tell Jodi straight up, Leroy,” Ricky suggested. “Just in case there’s been a leak, and she gets scooped by one of the nationals.”

Chief Browning threw his assistant a sharp glance, clearly suspecting irony, before plowing ahead.

“Here’s the plan. Focus on Families, we are calling it. The fire department, in the person of Ricky Sharp, will visit every childcare center, preschool and parents’ group to inform them of the latest fire safety standards. And to remind them that smoking is banned and nobody at the county gives a hoot if folks think it’s a violation of their constitutional rights of freedom of association or privacy and to be a goddamn fool. Ricky will do a safety and compliance check and hand out stickers, fridge magnets, posters.”

Leroy paused, like he had saved the best till last. “And, he’ll demonstrate the use of fire extinguishers and let some of the folks have a go.”

Jodi nodded solemnly. She frowned at a speck on her blouse, brushing it with one glossy fingernail. Only a thread, thank heavens.

Yessir, keeping the editor’s seat hot was pretty exciting.

Her brain reluctantly moved into gear. Could she squeeze something into the next edition, which was (as previously noted) packed tight?

Page three, with a hero pic of the hunky firefighter with a cute kid? Add some of those fridge magnets?

It was the stuff of a Pulitzer Prize.

Page one, under the fold, if the kid ticked more than two minority boxes? Though it was a fair bet that Cindy Flinders would only turn one hundred years once, and a live centenarian was heaps better than a dead one in terms of news value. And surely anyone who had lived that long deserved a decent space in the local newspaper.

But time was tight...Jodi weighed her options. Perhaps an online teaser, promising a later feature, and she could change her editorial from the rise in graffiti to the shocking number of fires caused by faulty wiring...

The Chief leaned forward. “Here’s the hook. That’s what you reporters call it, isn’t it? Anyways, the hook is that we will be handing out two brand new domestic fire extinguishers to two lucky families. It’s a giveaway!”

“Great. Nice.” Jodi tried to hurry things along. “So, any leads on the firebug?”

Chief Browning’s face turned solemn. “Always on the job, eh, Ms. Ruskin?” His eyebrows morphed into a single, discontented monobrow. “That was some article you wrote last week by the way, with the photo of Ricky here looking into that trash bin. Where did you get all that stuff about pyromaniacs?”

“There’s a lot of interesting information online, Chief,” said Jodi airily. “My job is to keep people informed.”

“It’s not your job to make wild guesses!” The Chief’s eyes narrowed dangerously. He forced a smile. “Now, this next bit is off the record, young lady. You know what that means I hope?”

Jodi gritted her teeth.

Welcome to Temple Mountain, she told herself. Home of the original and unreconstructed male chauvinist.

Where were Susan B. Anthony and Ruth Bader Ginsberg when a girl needed them?

“Ricky here has identified some possible suspects,” continued Leroy. He shook his head. “It’s a sorry tale.”

Jodi turned her cool gaze to Ricky, who had the decency to look a little uncomfortable.

“Early days,” he muttered. “Following up a few leads.”