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Marty held out his hand "Give h them, in the car "Because you realize e have to do now, don&039;t you, Jennifer? The segment&039;s all moved around That tape runs maybe four, four-thirty And you may show parts of it twice - I would So you won&039;t haveto be the tape, and the Norton spokesman That&039;s the core of the piece So there isn&039;t any choice We have to nail this wo She waited, while Marty thuh the file
"Wait just aat the file "Are you kidding me?"
"No," Jennifer said
"This is dynaet it?"
"Norton sent it to o, by accident"
"Bad accident," Marty said "Especially for Ms Singleton"
WAR ROOM
2:15PM
Casey was crossing the plant, heading over to IAA, when her cell phone rang It was Steve Nieto, the Fixer in Vancouver
"Bad news," Nieto said "I went to the hospital yesterday He&039;s dead Cerebral edema Mike Lee wasn&039;t around, so they asked me if I could identify the body, and - "
"Steve," she said "Not on a cell phone Send me a telex"
"Okay"
"But don&039;t send it here Send it to FT in Yu up and entered Hangar 4, where the tape strips were laid out on the floor She wanted to talk to Ringer about the pilot&039;s hat they&039;d found That hat was critical to the story, as it was now becoht, and called Norma "Listen, I think I knohere that fax caazine"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes Call Centinela Hospital at the airport Ask for a stewardess na And this is what I want you to ask her Better write it down"
She spoke to Nor up Ileton"
Marder screaar Four," she said, "I&039; to - "
"You&039;re supposed to be here" Marder screamed "For the interview"
"The interview&039;s four o&039;clock"
"They moved it up They&039;re here now"
"Now?"
"Yes, they&039;re all here, the crew, everybody, they&039;re setting up They&039;re all waiting for you It&039;s now, Casey"
Which was how she found herself in the War Roo at her face The War Roohts on stands, and taping sheets of cardboard to the ceiling Othermicrophones to the table, and to the walls There were two ca up, each with two ca in opposite directions Two chairs had been arranged at opposite sides of the table, one for her, one for the interviewer
She thought it was inappropriate that they were taping in the War Rooht it was disrespectful that this rooled to understand what happened to planes in flight, had been turned into a prop for a television show And she didn&039;t like it
Casey was off-balance; everything was happening too fast Theher to keep her head still, to close her eyes, then open them Eileen, Marder&039;s secretary, came over and thrust a manila folder in her hands "John wanted to make sure you had this," she said
Casey tried to look at the folder
"Please," the makeup woman said, "I need you to look up for a o"
Jennifer Malone, the producer, ca today, Ms Singleton?"
"Fine, thanks," Casey said Still looking up for makeup
"Barbara," Malone said, to the et the, uh " And she waved her hand toward Casey, a vague gesture
"I will," the makeup woman said
"Get the what?" Casey said
"A touchup," the ive you a minute to finish here, and then Marty should be in to eneral areas we&039;re covering, before we start"
"Okay"
Malone went away The makeup woman, Barbara, continued to daub at Casey&039;s face "I&039;ive you a little under the eyes," she said "So you don&039;t look so tired"
"Ms Singleton?"
Casey recognized the voice at once, a voice she&039;d heard for years Thein front of her Reardon was in shirtsleeves and a tie He had Kleenex around his collar He held out his hand "Marty Reardon Nice to meet you"
"Hi," she said
"Thanks for your help with this," Reardon said "We&039;ll try to make it as painless as possible"
"Okay"
"You know of course we&039;re on tape," Reardon said "So if you have a bobble or so, don&039;t worry; we&039;ll just cut it If at any tio ahead and do that You can say exactly what you want to say"
"Okay"
"Priht But I&039; to have to touch on so the line, I&039;ll ask about the China sale And there&039;ll probably be some questions about the union response, if we have tiet into those other issues I want to stay with Transpacific You&039;re a ation team?"
"Yes"
"All right, fine I have a tendency to jump around in my questions Don&039;t let that bother you We&039;re really here to understand the situation as best we can"
"Okay"
"I&039;ll see you later, then," Reardon said He smiled, and turned away
The ain "Look up," she said Casey stared at the ceiling "He&039;s very nice," the makeup woman said "A sweet man, underneath it all Dotes on his children"
She heard Malone call out, "How uys?"
Someone said, "Five ive us the bodies"
The an to powder Casey&039;s neck Casey winced, feeling twinges of pain "You know," the woman said, "I have a nuanization, very good people Psychologists mostly And extremely discreet They can help you"
"With what?"
"Look left, please He must have hit you pretty hard"
Casey said, "I fell"
"Sure, I understand I&039;ll leave e yourthe powder puff "Het some base on that, to take the blue out" She turned back to her box, got a piece of sponge with an to daub it onto Casey&039;s neck "I can&039;t tell you how much I see, in my line of work, and the woman always denies it But domestic violence has to be stopped"
Casey said, "I live alone"
"I know, I know," the makeup woman said "Men count on your silence My own husband, Jeez, he wouldn&039;t go into counseling I finally left with the kids"
Casey said, "You don&039;t understand"
"I understand that when this violence is going on, you think there&039;s nothing you can do That&039;s part of the depression, the hopelessness," the makeup woman said "But sooner or later, we all face the truth"
Malone ca the accident, and he&039;ll probably start with that But he may mention the China sale, and the unions Just take your ti to another He does that"
"Look right," thethe other side of her neck Casey turned to the right A ive you this?" and he thrust a plastic box into her hands, with a dangling wire
"What is it?" Casey said
"Look right, please," the makeup woman said "It&039;s the radio mike I&039;ll help you with it in a , in her purse on the floor beside her chair
&039;Turn that off!" someone shouted
Casey reached for it, flipped it open "It&039;s ht the phone to her ear John Marder said, "Did you get the folder from Eileen?"
"Yes"
"Did you look at it?"
"Not yet," she said
"Just lift your chin a little," the makeup woman said
On the telephone, Marder said, "The folder docu we talked about Parts report on the reverser cowl, everything It&039;s all there"
"Uh-huhOkay "
"Just wanted to make sure you&039;re all set"
"I&039; on you"
She clicked the phone off, turning the poitch off
"Chin up," the irl"
When makeup was finished, Casey stood, and the woman brushed her shoulders with a little brush, and put hair spray in her hair Then she took Casey into the bathroom, and showed her how to thread the h her bra, and clip it to her lapel The wire ran back down inside her skirt, then back up to the radio box The woman hooked the box to the waistband of Casey&039;s skirt, and turned the power on
"Remember," she said "From now on, you&039;re live They can hear whatever you say"
"Okay," Casey said She adjusted her clothes She felt the box pinching at her waist, the wire against the skin of her chest She felt cramped and uncomfortable
Theher by the elbow Casey felt like a gladiator being taken into the arena
Inside the War Roo The room was very hot She was led to her seat at the table, told to watch she didn&039;t trip over the camera cables, and helped to sit down There were two ca her The cameraman behind her asked her to please ht She did A man came over and adjusted hernoise
On the opposite side, Reardon was attaching his ownwith the cameraman Then he slipped easily into his chair He looked relaxed, and casual He faced her, s to worry about," he said "Piece of cake"
Malone said, "Let&039;s go, guys, they&039;re in the chairs It&039;s hot in here"
"A camera ready"
"B cahts," Malone said
Casey had thought the lights were already on, but suddenly, new harsh lights blazed down at her, frolaring furnace
"Camera check," Malone said
"Fine here"