Descent into Madness by Mary Stone

Author:Mary Stone [Stone, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

21

Eliza made a point of watching the local news every day. At least one channel, at least once, and the Channel Six News with Valerie O’Hara was her favorite. She used to run into Valerie all the time back before the reporter landed herself behind that fancy desk.

Back in the day, Valerie was the sort of reporter who sat around listening to a police scanner so she could show up on the scene at the same time as—if not before—the authorities. She had no problem harassing and following people to force them to talk. And she never shied away from hard stories.

“The body of local man Sidney Reich was discovered yesterday evening on the overflowing banks of the Elmaeder River. Reich is the second man from Bowe City’s Loveland train station homeless encampment to recently lose his life in suspicious circumstances, the first being nineteen-year-old Cameron Wilding, whose death two days ago is still being investigated.”

Footage of the tent city flashed on the television, including images of Eliza and her people combing the scene.

She wrinkled her nose at her own image. Was her butt really that big? And she hadn’t realized just how many gray hairs she had these days. She never saw an old woman when she gazed in the mirror, but that chick on TV was old.

Maybe it was just the stress.

The camera came up on Valerie, sitting alone at her huge black desk, her green eyes intense behind perfect eyeliner. “The mayor’s office released a statement expressing sympathy for the victims’ families and called on the sheriff’s office to employ all their resources to put a stop to these senseless crimes. Reich’s death came mere hours after the mayor issued a statement expressing his intention to take on the growing homelessness problems in the city.”

A clip from last night’s press conference popped up on the screen. Mayor Lewis stood behind a podium with a dozen microphones, not a single white-blond curl out of place, his tailored suit perfectly pressed. “Our city is facing a crisis. One that has been growing for more than thirty years. We can no longer afford to ignore this problem. A problem that impacts the lives of every citizen of our city…”

Eliza scoffed at his self-important, falsely altruistic tone. It was always the same with him. Showing his baby-faced smile and deceptive eyes to the media, regardless of the policies he was actually pushing. But Brad’s supporters already knew exactly how he felt about the homeless. He hated them and wanted them gone, and so did the people who came out to vote for him one election season after the other.

Cameron Wilding and Sidney Reich’s gruesome deaths could only fan the flames of Brad’s constituents. And indeed, as Eliza watched the clips of the press conference, she saw men and women in the crowd holding signs. One of them read, don’t feed the pigeons homeless.

The footage returned to Mayor Lewis on the podium. He cleared his throat, and the expression on his face shifted from dour earnestness to one of steely optimism.

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