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An exa event at the Wisconsin State Fair three years ago She was fifteen I don’t understand the appeal of show-jue mammals under any circu adolescents on their backs and teaching them to clear obstacles—so I can’t say what happened, just that the horse stepped wrong so and had to be put down

The euthanasia was perfore un to the forehead, followed by a stiletto to the spinal colu was hurt except the horse, Rebecca’s pride, and the reputation of the Wisconsin State Fair The horse never had a prayer of reani the footage from that fair for weeks on end, as if the eirl somehow cancels out the fact that they didn’t ot the candidate, but we can hter for an honest roup of professional journalists whoThen I look at soman and her slow political suicide, and I realize that we took the pills We just got a so down more easily Emily knew she was safe with us because, unlike our peers, Shaun and I don’t abuse innocent people for the sake of a few marketable quotes We have politicians to abuse e need that sort of thing

I checked my watch as I strode down the hall toward the h the press pen would take overnor’s offices, where his chief of staff would be happy to stall uaranteed sixty minutes; I’d need a lotlike that No, I just got whatever questions I could ask and have answered in the span of an hour, nothat time I wanted to make him wait no more than ten minutes That would et the answers I both wanted and needed to have His chief of staff would not only want to make me wait, he’d want tothe interview and proving once more exactly as in control of the situation

There arein, all the cutthroat politics and the incredibly petty, partisan dealanything else After this, local politics would seem like a bake sale Whichsure everyone sees how good I ah the press pen I waved distractedly, attention focused on the route ahead I have a reputation for aloofness in certain parts of the press corps I guess I deserve it

“Georgia!” called a h the crowd, drawing up alongside me as I continued toward the door to Governor Tate’s offices “Got a second?”

“Not sofor the doorknob

He put a hand on resswoman just dropped out of the race”

I froze, swinging lasses down enough to allow hts burned my eyes That didn’t h to know that he wasn’t lying “What do you want?” I asked, pushing lasses back up

He looked over his shoulder toward the rest of the gathered journalists None of them seemed to have realized that there was blood in the water Not yet, anyway They’d catch on fast, and once they did, ere cornered

“I bring you what I have—and there’s footage, too, lots of stuff, all the votes, details on where she’s throhat’s left of her weight—and you let me on the team”

“You want to follow Ry my face impassive Finally, incrementally, I nodded “Be at our rooms in an hour, with copies of all your recent publications, and everything you’ve got on Wagman We’ll talk there”

“Great,” he said, and stepped back, letting ents nodded as I stepped through the doorway into the governor’s offices, holding up my press pass for their review It passed muster; they didn’t stop me

Governor Tate’s quarters looked just like Senator Ryuous convention centers these days, the folks organizing the conventions go out of their way to prevent the appearance that they’re “showing favor” to any particular candidate One of our guys was going to coging for scraps, but until the votes were counted, they’d be standing on equal footing

The office was full of volunteers and staffers, and the walls were plastered with the requisite “Tate for President” posters, but the ated to be quiet and alhtened, just focused on what they were doing I tapped the button onstill shots every fifteen seconds There was enoughthat for two hours before I needed to dump the pictures to disk Most of the shots would be crap, but there would probably be one or two that I could use

I killed a fewit toover to show overnor’s office door