Just Cause

He gripped the desk.

'Matt, you okay?'

'I remember the stories,' Cowart replied slowly.

Edna looked at him closely. 'Well, they were mostly about people getting mugged on their way to the bingo games, and how the Indians have established an additional security patrol because of these cash businesses they've got.'

'I remember.'

'Well, I did a bit of research on that shooting. I mean, it happened pretty much the way Sullivan says it did. And it sounds like he was inside that store at some point. And sure, the kid got shot in the back. That was in all the papers…' She waved the sheaf of typed conversation in the air. I mean, he's got it all right, in a sort of superficial way. But, he didn't do it. No way. They busted three teenagers from South Dade for the crime. Forensics matched up the weapon with the bullet in the kid's back and everything. Got a confession from one and testimony against the shooter by the wheelman. Open and shut, as they say. Two of those kids are doing a mandatory twenty-five for first-degree. The other got a deal. But there ain't no doubt who did the crime.'

'Sullivan

'Well, hell, I don't know. He was in South Florida then. No doubt. I mean, I got to check the dates and everything, but sure. He probably passed right by. right about the time that crime hit the front page of the paper. The murdered kid was the nephew of one of the Indian elders, so it made a splash all over the local pages. TV was all over it, too. Remember?'

He did, vaguely, and wondered why he hadn't when Sullivan was talking to him. He nodded.

Edna shook the pile of papers in her hand. 'Hell, Matt, I'm sure he was probably telling the truth about most of these crimes. But all of them? Who knows? There's one that doesn't wash. How many others?'

Cowart felt sick to his stomach. The words 'probably telling the truth' punished him. What does it mean if he lied once? Twice? A dozen times? Who did he kill? Who didn't he kill? When was he telling the truth and when wasn't he?

Maybe it was all a lie and Ferguson was telling the truth. His image of Ferguson suddenly flip-flopped from a twisted, murderous gargoyle back to the angry man trapped by injustice. Sullivan's lies, half-truths, and misinformation all rolled together in an impossible

Innocent? Cowart thought.

He stared at the computer screen but remembered Sullivan's words. Guilty? He did. He didn't.

Edna flapped the sheaf of papers in her hand, 'There's a couple of others here that may not wash. I'm just guessing, though. I mean, why? Huh? Why would he claim some murders that he didn't do?' She paused and answered her own question, Because he was one weird guy, right up to the end. And all those mass murderers seem to get off on being the biggest or the toughest or the worst. You remember that guy Henley in Texas? Helped do twenty-eight with that other guy. So, there he is, sitting in prison, when word comes out that John Gacy in Chicago-has done thirty-three. So Henley calls up a detective in Houston and tells him, "I can get the record back…" I mean, weird doesn't really describe it, does it?'

'No,' replied Cowart, his insides collapsing in a turmoil of doubt.

Edna leaned over to look at the lead to his article. 'At least thirty-nine crimes. Well, that's what he said. But you better qualify it.'

'I will.'

'Good. Did he give you any real details about the killings in the Keys?'

'No,' Cowart answered quickly. 'He just said he'd managed to arrange for them to be done.'

'Well, he had to tell you something…'

Cowart scrambled. 'He talked about some informal prison grapevine that even gets to Death Row. He said anything could be arranged for a price. But he didn't say what he paid.'

'Well, I wonder. I mean, you've got to write what he said. But sorting it all out. Well, hell.'

She looked up and across the newsroom toward where the two detectives were reading transcripts. 'You suppose they've got any real evidence? I think they're just hoping you'll wrap the whole thing up for them nice and easy.' The cynicism in her voice was evident.

He looked up at her. 'Edna,' he started.

'You want some help checking these suckers out, right?' Edna's voice immediately filled with enthusiasm. She slapped her hand against the sheaf of papers. 'Got to know what's a definite, what's a maybe, and what's a no way, right?'

'Yes. Please. Can you do it?'

'Love to. Take a few days, but I'll get to work on it right away. I'll tell the higher-ups. You sure you don't mind sharing the story?'

'No. No problem.'

Edna gestured at the computer screen. 'Better be careful not to be too explicit about old Sully's confession. It may have some more little problems. Don't dig any hole in the story you can't jump out of.'

Cowart wanted to laugh or be sick, he was uncertain which.

'You know, you got to appreciate old Sully. Never wanted to make anything easy on nobody, she said, turning away.

He watched Edna McGee saunter across the newsroom to the city editor and start talking animatedly with him. He watched as they both stared down at the sheet of transcribed statements. He saw the man shake his head and then hurry over to where he was working.

This right?' the city editor demanded.

That's what she says. I don't know.'

'We're gonna have to check every bit of all this out.'

'Right.'

'Christ! How're you writing the story?'

'Just as the dying man's words. Allegations unproven. No idea where the truth lies. Questions abound. All that sort of stuff.'

Go heavy with the description and be careful with details. We need some time.' Edna said she'd help.'

Good. Good. She's going to start making calls now. When do you think you'll be able to get on it?'

'I need some rest.'

Okay. And those detectives…' 'I'll be right there.'

Cowart looked back at the page. He plucked Sullivan's words from his notebook and closed the piece with: 'Some story, huh?'

He punched a few buttons on the keyboard, shutting the screen down in front of him and electronically transporting his article over to the city desk so it could be measured, assessed, edited, and dummied on the front page. He no longer knew whether what he'd done compounded truth or lies. He realized that for the first time in his years as a journalist, he had no idea which was which, they had become so tangled in his head.

Adrift in a sea of ambiguity, he went in to see the detectives.

Shaeffer and Weiss were livid.

'Where is it?' the woman demanded as he walked through the door into the conference room. The three typists were stapling pages together at a large meeting table where the afternoon news conferences were held. When they heard the anger in the detectives' voices, they hurried, leaving a stack of paper behind as they left the room. Cowart didn't reply. His eyes swept away to a large picture window where sunlight reflecting off the pane streamed into the room. He could see a cruise liner getting up steam, heading out Governor's Cut toward the open ocean.

'Where is it!' Shaeffer demanded a second time. 'Where's his explanation of the deaths of his mother and stepfather?'

She shook a typed transcript in his face. 'Not a word in here,' she almost shouted.

Weiss stood up and pointed a finger right at him. 'Start explaining, right now. I'm tired of all this runaround, Cowart. We could arrest you as a material witness and chuck you in jail.'

'That'd be fine,' he replied, trying to summon up an indignation to match that of the two detectives. 'I could use some sleep.'

'You know, I'm getting damn tired of you two threatening my man here,' came a voice from behind Cowart. It was the city editor. 'Why don't you two detectives do some work on your own? All you guys seem to want is for him to provide you with all the answers.'