Death Vetoes The Chairman (Lizzie Crenshaw Mysteries Book 7) by Teresa Watson Page A

the past forty years is work for newspapers. I’m ready for something else in my life.”
    “Why don’t you help me work on this week’s editions one last time?”
    We spent the next few hours going over the stories, layouts and ads. He ordered food from the café, and we ate in the office. Just as we were finishing up, Jake came into the office. He was so focused on me he didn’t notice Dale at first. “I thought you’d want to hear this from me. They just served the TRO on Winthrop.”
    “You mean Ethan Winthrop?” Dale said. Jake’s eyes grew wide as he turned his head. “Why did you file a TRO on him?”
    Jake quickly closed the office door. “Keep your voice down. This isn’t something we want to get out everywhere.”
    “We?” Dale said, his eyes darting back and forth between us. “Spill it.”
    Jake looked at me, and I shrugged. “Too late now.”
    He gave me an apologetic look before telling Dale what was going on. Various emotions flashed across Dale’s face as Jake mentioned the attack in the office, and I started feeling very uncomfortable being closed up in here. My instincts were telling me to get the heck out of there, but I forced myself to stay. “Are you going to write this up?”
    “No. I don’t want to be the focus of a story.”
    “Telling your story might help someone else, Lizzie,” Dale pointed out.
    “Why is everyone trying to force me to talk about this?” I said angrily. “This is my story to tell, if I want to tell it, which right now I don’t. I would really appreciate it if everyone would just back off.”
    “I didn’t say you had to do it right now,” Dale said defensively, “but it’s something to consider at some point, whenever you are ready.”
    Pulling out my phone, I checked the time. “Right now, we need to go out there and tell everyone what is going on.” I marched over to the door, opened it and walked out. I heard them whispering behind me as they followed me out of the office, so I shot them a look over my shoulder. They stopped talking.
    Dale did most of the talking, explaining that he had sold the paper to Jake and I. Gasps came from all over the room as he went on to say how much he had enjoyed working with them, appreciated all the hard work they had done for him over the years, and that he was going to miss them. There was a round of applause as he finished talking.
    “I don’t have any plans to change anything right now,” I said. “We’ll be looking at different ways to bring the paper into the 21 st century, perhaps expanding our coverage to include more of the smaller communities in the area. We’re also thinking of branching out more online, so we’re going to be looking for a webmaster to handle that. If any of you have confidence in your abilities, as well as a degree or experience to back up that confidence, we’ll be glad to consider you for the position. Do you have anything you want to add, Jake?” He shook his head. “All right then, let’s get back to work.”
    The front door opened, and a bouquet of flowers preceded Nicole into the newsroom. She stopped in front of me. “You’re getting to be a regular customer, Lizzie,” she said, handing me the clipboard. I handed it over to Jake, who signed it and gave it back to Nicole. “You must have a very wealthy secret admirer. How does T.J. feel about that?”
    “He doesn’t have a jealous bone in his body,” I assured her.
    “You’re a lucky woman.”
    As she left, I pulled the card out and read it. “Better luck next time. Ethan.” I gave the card to Jake. “What does that mean?”
    T.J. and Steve came through the front door as I asked that. The looks on their faces told me they did not have good news. “We need to talk in your office.”
    Frankly, I didn’t want to go back in there, not after listening to Jake recount the details to Dale. “Let’s go outside,” I replied.
    The five of us – myself, T.J., Steve, Dale and Jake – trooped outside and stood on