The Killer Sermon by Kevin Kluesner

Author:Kevin Kluesner [Kevin Kluesner]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Level Best Books
Published: 2021-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Forty-Two

Three minutes after walking out of City Hall, Cole, Michele, and Deputy Hubbard pushed through the glass door of the Prairie du Chien Courier Press. The paper covered local news and sports and published every Tuesday and Thursday. They also published a weekly shopping supplement that was distributed to area homes and businesses and printed flyers, brochures, business cards, and other projects to bring in extra revenue.

A squat receptionist’s desk sat just inside the door; the woman hunting and pecking on the keyboard there didn’t see them come in.

Cole looked around. Framed articles that ran in the paper over the years covered most of the wall space. He noticed a story with a large photo of President Jimmy Carter’s visit to town. He leaned closer and saw the date: August 19, 1979. He felt a nudge in his side. Michele had a smile on her face and pointed to a framed article with a photo that showed Cole with both hands in the air. It was taken after he won his third straight high school wrestling championship. Cole grinned. It looked like he was three feet off the ground. The large headline blared, Cole Huebsch Three-Peat!

“The young stud himself,” Michele whispered. “I thought the Chicago Bulls coined the three-peat thing.”

“In so many ways I was ahead of my time,” he whispered back.

The receptionist caught movement or a snippet of the hushed conversation and looked up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you come in. I’m Barb McDougal. I’m the receptionist and the gossip columnist, and I put together the classified section of the paper…although that’s dwindled to almost nothing since Craigslist and copycat sites popped up on the internet.”

“I’ll try not to keep you,” Cole said, stepping forward. He introduced himself and Michele and said, “We’re looking for the editor, Grant Grae.”

“You’re in luck. Just go through the door behind me and you’ll find his office immediately on the left. If he’s not there, he’s in the conference room, well, kitchen, right across the hall. Or he could be in the pressroom, which is through the doors beyond that. There’s not many places he can hide or that you can get lost.” She waved them back.

Cole pulled the door open and stepped into a narrow hall. He took a couple steps further and leaned into the open doorway on the left. The guy he figured for Grant Grae sat at a beautiful oak roll-top desk, which made the cramped office more appealing. Grae looked up to face the door and inquired, “Can I help you?”

Cole stepped into the office and introduced himself and Michele to the editor. Deputy Hubbard nodded at Grae and the editor responded with a friendly, “Morning, Deputy.”

Two small chairs faced the desk and Grae gestured for his guests to take a seat. “Randy, if you’re staying, you can grab a chair from out front.”

“I’ll wait in the hall.” He stepped out and left the door ajar.

Michele sat down, but Cole stayed on his feet. He studied Grae.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.