Troubled Waters by Sherryl Woods

Author:Sherryl Woods
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2019-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

As Ted Ryan had predicted, the Miami police moved the demonstration into a contained area shortly after 1:00 a.m. and the newspaper’s delivery trucks began to roll. Before long, with their audience dwindling and their effectiveness stymied, the protesters began to pack up and leave themselves. Michael’s expression was grim when he joined Molly and the reporter.

“Did you find out anything?” Molly asked him.

“You mean besides the fact that this paper is run by racist Commies?”

“My boss, the devoted Republican, will be thrilled to know that,” Ted said dryly. “Obviously, his journalistic evenhandedness is paying off. He’s clearly not inflicting his conservative views on the reading public.”

Michael shot a look at the reporter that Molly found troubling. “You did find out what this was all about, didn’t you? I mean beyond the usual rhetoric.”

“You mean Ryan here hasn’t told you?”

“Told me what?”

“It was his story today that set them off. Apparently they felt his portrayal of Miguel made him look like part of some lunatic-fringe organization.”

Ted paled at that. “I didn’t write anything that wasn’t absolutely true,” he argued.

Molly began to understand why he’d been so evasive earlier. She also recognized just from the comments he’d made to her that he held certain Anglo prejudices that might very well have come through in his reporting. Alone the story might have been viewed as an example of biased reporting. Added to dozens of other articles, it had triggered a protest. She couldn’t blame Ted for wanting to downplay his role in the night’s events.

“Look, let’s just forget about what started the protest,” she suggested. “We need to focus on Miguel. Were you able to learn anything about his disappearance from any of Paredes’s backers?”

“No. Trying to talk to these guys was an absolute waste of time,” Michael said. “I know damn well that they know something about what happened to Tío Miguel, but they’ll deny it with their dying breaths.”

“Maybe this was the wrong place to confront them,” Molly suggested. “Here they’re unified. Naturally no one would break ranks and spill the beans. Did you get names, addresses, phone numbers?”

“From the ones who would tell me,” he said, his voice filled with frustration. “Since I wasn’t here on official business, I couldn’t force them even to give me that much.”

“So you’ll start tomorrow with the ones who did identify themselves,” she said. “Where are your notes?”

“What for?”

“So I can give the names to Ted,” she explained patiently. “He can check them out in the newspaper’s files and with the foreign desk to see if any of them are prime movers and shakers among the exile groups.”

“I could do the same thing at the police station,” he countered with a stubborn set to his jaw.

Molly wasn’t sure if he was behaving like a jerk because she was trying to involve Ted Ryan—his perceived competition for her affections—in the investigation or if he was just plain exhausted. She decided to assume it was the latter. On two hours’ sleep, it was a logical enough assumption.

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