Page 21 of Rescuing Sara

“What’s all this?” a voice boomed from the doorway asExcelsior’sowner, Duncan Friedman, ambled into the room. Stanley Harris stood, and Danni put her pad away.

“Good morning,” Mr. Friedman,” Stanley greeted and the familiar dislike for the man crawled over Danni. Friedman liked to appear when things were going well to take credit for the newspaper’s ongoing success and everyone who worked there knew it.

Just like everyone knew that Stanley Harris was the driving force behind that success. Anne Hamilton, Danni knew, despised Friedman and her first loyalty was to Harris. Danni had tried to form her own opinion of the man, but he was too smooth, too charming and a one hundred percent phony. But like Anne, Danni would smile and stay out of Friedman’s way.

“We were discussing Danni’s new articles about trafficking,” Stanley explained, after introducing Elaine and then Patrick and Mac as friends. “Something to give a more human spin on what’s been happening in the community.”

“Really?” Friedman stifled a yawned. “What does she have in mind?”

“Anne has agreed to let me interview her about her experience, focusing on the return of her niece and the other kids,” Danni explained. Friedman was so “hands off” in his approach to runningExcelsior,she wasn’t sure if he even knew of Anne’s abduction, no matter how brief. That was Anne’s story to tell, and her own article about the return of her niece had not included it.

And for some strange reason, Danni felt the need to not mention interviewing Elaine to Friedman. Like Anne, there’d been no mention of her abduction in the press, and she might have wanted to talk to her fiancé first.

“Hmm.” Friedman considered. “Wanting to keep the public’s attention on a very serious problem, do we, Ms. Blake?”

“Yes sir,” Danni said. “Both Anne and Ms. Prescott have experienced having young family members taken and then found. I think the public needs to hear their stories, if anything, to keep other kids and teens safe and make the public aware of the threat to our community.”

“It’s not exactly Christmas reading, is it?” Friedman frowned. “Aren’t there other human-interest stories you could do? Toy drives for orphans or homeless pets getting forever homes or something upbeat like that?”

“We’ve received lots of letters praising Danni’s coverage of human trafficking,” Stanley said quietly. “And circulation has gone up by five percent since we printed her articles.”

“Sensation sells?” Friedman quipped and Danni choked back the sour taste in her throat. “Is that why we’re doing this?”

“No, sir,” Stanley said evenly. “The public is worried for their kids. They want to be kept informed and we want to help with that if we can.”

“I might try to reach out to parents who have children still missing, after Christmas,” Danni said, unwilling to give up just yet. “After what’s happened recently, they might want theirstories told too if just on the chance someone knows something. It might offer them some hope.”

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Friedman commented. “Don’t you have enough to do as it is with your court reporting?”

“If writing about trafficking in Tennessee helps find my goddaughter Sara Turner, I don’t care how much work it is,” Danni retorted, not caring if it offended Friedman or not.

“Sara Turner is your goddaughter?” Friedman shoved his well-tended hands into his overcoat pockets. “I didn’t know that.”

“I’m not letting the public know it,” Danni said and did not bother to keep the defiant note from her voice. “But they already know she’s missing. I want to keep the stories going so, like the others, if someone knows something, they might come forward. Maybe that’s selfish of me but short of murder, I’ll do whatever it takes to find Sara.”

An unfriendly glitterentered Friedman’s eyes, and Danni recalled one of the unspoken rules Anne had told her about working atExcelsior.Don’t argue with the owner. Duncan Friedman was a “spoiled brat” who came from money and saw the newspaper–one he’d inherited five years ago from his late father who founded it–as his personal toy to play with whenever he wanted and leave alone when he wanted.

And he did not like to be challenged by his staff. Particularly newerfemalestaff. He was, Anne told Danni, a “good old-fashioned male chauvinist pig.”

But Danni kept her gaze fixed on his face. They were talking about her articles helping to find Sara and she would not back down, even to Friedman. Tension rippled around the room like the throbbing of heavy summer air just before a storm broke.You could, as her late father would say, “cut it with a butter knife.”

“Well,” Friedman said, finally breaking the silence. “Do the interview with Anne and we’ll see about the other. Good day to you all.”

He strolled away, like a child confident of his favorite shiny toy still being there when he came back for it. After his departure, the assembled looked at one another and as a group, exhaled. “Well,” Anne said finally. “How do we follow that?”

“We don’t,” Stanley said, and Anne nodded.

A ringtone from Danni’s purse filled in the need for another comment. Taking out her phone, she glanced at the screen and her heart shot forward. Standing, she said, “Please excuse me, everyone. I need to take this.”

She fled to her office, phone in hand, barely aware that Patrick was right behind her until they were inside.

“What’s happened?” he asked, shutting the door as Danni hit the phone’s accept button.

“It’s Mrs. M., Sara’s housekeeper,” Danni told him. “Her text said that she needs to talk to me about Sara.” She quickly dialed the woman’s number. “Mrs. M? It’s Danni.”

CHAPTER 8

“Canwe do this as a zoom meeting?” Mrs. M.’s voice asked. “I’d so much rather do this face-to-face.

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