Slashing Mona Lisa by D. M. Barr

Author:D. M. Barr [Barr, D. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949300062
Publisher: Beachwalk Press, Inc.
Published: 2018-07-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Clad in an uncharacteristically informal gray cotton hoodie, Fletcher’s toned physique was the only feature distinguishing him from the hundreds of Mangel fans waiting in line outside the revival. Surveying the supersized bodies around him, it was clear that Camarin was on point concerning the magazine’s prospective revamp. Surrounding him was a small sampling of a potential audience of millions who craved fashionable offerings beyond the tight-fitting jeans and minidresses that inundated the advertising sections of Trend.

His thoughts drifted back to Margaret. Toward the end, she’d also rejected the accoutrements of the young and ultrathin, the current readership of his trash publication. Primarily because she’d no longer counted herself among them. Who cared about Q scores and audience opinions anyway? she’d rationalized. Unfortunately, she learned that one person who did care was the owner of the network, calling her five pounds and five years beyond her prime. All her years of dedication were forgotten. The fact that she’d been one of the youngest journalists ever to break stories like the Gulf War, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez Brothers? Yesterday’s news. The countless, hard-hitting interviews with headline grabbers like Amy Fisher, Heidi Fleiss, Anita Hill? All negated by an excess of ounces and hours. Once you strayed beyond those narrow constraints, what was left for you?

His heart still ached over her loss. She would always remain his queen of the airwaves. And Lehming Brothers would pay dearly for backing that clueless network exec. As well as for every message they’d sent out into the world warning people they couldn’t participate unless they dressed, smelled, and ate according to their advertisers’ ever-changing whims.

The ticket queue started moving, and he pulled his hood down farther to blend in with the crowd. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing here or how he could protect Camarin with merely his presence. But the last thing he wanted, other than being recognized, was for her to get mixed up with someone like Mangel. When his empire eventually toppled, Fletcher didn’t want his new princess of journalistic justice to get sullied by the debris.

* * * *

Empowered by the knowledge imparted by her new confidante, April, the ‘also engaged,’ Camarin calmed her stomach with toast and tea before accompanying the public relations director back to the same front-row seats they’d occupied the previous evening.

“Tonight will be very different than what you saw yesterday,” said April. “Terry will come out and warm up the crowd, but he is sooo not the star of the evening. The audience is. Anyone can come up and tell their story. It’s amazingly powerful. You will be blown away, I promise.” She gave Cam a little hug, another reminder of the secret they now shared.

Camarin searched for any sign of Mangel loitering behind the podium, canoodling with some other unsuspecting, sycophantic employee. But if he was there, he remained out of sight.

She took a deep breath and thought about Fletcher. Once she uncovered the murderer, she was sure he’d overlook the Evans fiasco, the scoop that got away, in favor of this more explosive exclusive.

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.