Soon After by Sherryle Kiser Jackson Page A

getting too close, but I couldn’t understand much else this guy was trying to say. I don’t think those guys take their eyes away from the eyepiece enough to really see. He’s like, ‘talk to pretty reporter lady, she knows the details,’” Chief Rich said, amusing himself at Danny’s expense. He pointed to the editing monitor before saying, “So, pretty reporter lady, you know how to fire up one of these puppies so you can walk me through this footage?”
    Alexis knew Danny all too well, and knew he would never refer to her like that. This was a man that thought compliments were the currency to buy her favor, she surmised. He pulled his chair up close to hers at the monitor. She got up and called out into the hallway under the premise of getting a technician to press play, pause, and rewind footage at the discretion of the Chief because she didn’t know how to do so, but really, she didn’t want to be alone with him. He went from being menacing to creepy to her in another way.
    The tape started at a distance as Danny tried to set up a clear shot of the damage. He had at least ten minutes of footage of them setting up markers. Alexis pointed at the monitor once she sat down again to illustrate how everyone sort of converged on the scene at the same time. It was deafening because the church members broke out into a jubilant praise. Luckily, the mobile van was able to get a space at the corner as the group led by Pastor Willie Green began pulling up in their individual cars right at the curb past the police tape and walking over. The guys in blue hadn’t taped the entire perimeter and were manually pushing the crowd farther back for everyone’s safety because the building was still smoldering.
    She noticed the chief making notes and couldn’t help making an inquiry of her own. “You found something?”
    â€œJust noting what the fire looked like in its final stages. The blaze is sending out its last will and testament, but the smoke color and positioning lines up with the physical evidence we’ve collected there.”
    The chief fired off more questions as they watched. Alexis found it difficult to be on the other end of the question mark and hoped that the phone would ring or Martie would come and rescue her with another story scene to rush to. Chief Rich wanted her to ID as many people as she could in the crowd and rationalize why they interviewed who they did that day as opposed to others. More often than not, she simply did not know the answer, and there was no way she knew all the people standing around. Thank God he didn’t want to view the Inside 7 piece too, she thought. He did ask where she planned to go next with the series.
    Alexis played her hand close. She didn’t know how much he had been told already. He could have talked to her producers sometime before or after the production meeting just like he caught Danny, the cameraman, before a run. She thought about her Harvest file in her bag that contained shorthand notes from her conversation with Willie Green and Abe Townsend. There were also leads from her initial report to follow up on in her spiral notebook.
    The technician ejected the tape and turned off the monitor after satisfying the chief’s curiosity. Alexis nodded her appreciation before she left.
    â€œThere is more to this story,” Alexis said, “and I plan to tell it.”
    â€œYou bet your pretty little head there is, and I guess it is both our jobs to uncover it. Hopefully we can work together. In fact, it will be my pleasure,” he said, running his hand through his beard as he inched the wheels on his chair a little closer. “Here’s the deal. I am going to need your notes.”
    â€œNotes?”
    â€œYeah, I have transcripts from the show, but I need your handwritten notes on each story unless you used a voice recorder, then I need that also. It will be returned when the case is