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Weeks ago Claire had put out a BOLO on theinformation about needle marks on people who appeared to have died suddenly, with no known cause Other people had access to this network The Chronicle subscribed to it, for instance, and so did the Daily News Cindy had asked Rich for confiriven her

He hadn’t told her anything confidential, but she had known she was onto soent, only forty-one years old, died two days ago in front of her hotel—cause of death unknown

Lindsay was the priator on the case

It was SOP to get a quote froet the story out before another paper ran it As for the empty v

ial marked “succinylcholine,” she could write that the tip had coation

But should she? Should she write the story without Lindsay saying, “Sure Go for it”?

Cindy went back to the restaurant and joined the girls for Key lime pie and tea “Off the record” hardly applied, as she didn’t hear a thing her friends were saying She was thinking of Lindsay

With or without Lindsay’s permission, she had to write the story Journalism wasn’t a hobby It was a job with a responsibility to the public to write the truth Plus, it was her job

After the check had been paid, Cindy called Rich and let hianized the story in her ht she could have it in the publisher’s inbox before he got hiscoffee

When she was a block fro Lindsay, and when she didn’t pick up, she left a e

“Linds, call ent story and talk about the for to mention Claire by name But I could sure use a quote from you”

The story riting itself inside her head Cindy couldn’t wait to start putting the words down

CHAPTER 68

I WAS MAKING breakfast for Julie, with the TV on in the background, when I heard reporter Susan Steinhardt of Channel 5 say, “This just in A nuinally attributed to heart failure appear, instead, to have been murders”

Say that again?