06-02-2014, 10:57 AM
26 may 2014
He could do little of anything the day after meeting with Jay Rodriguez because it was Memorial Day and the country was supposed to be remembering all of those who died in service. He brought his smartphone with him to the cookouts he and his sister bounced between. One that Carole was going to and one that Dad was going to and one that one of his high school buddies who went into the Army and is out at Fort Carson now. And he put the phone away to shake the hand of a person to whom he was introduced or to hold conversation with whoever ventured near enough to speak to him but nothing came back to him that day.
After he had waited the requisite amount of time after arriving at the party where Carole would be planted all day the two of them went inside to find a secluded place not to fool around but for him to ask her yet another favor. By now she was grown used to it. It went both ways. Having a boyfriend who's a reporter comes in handy sometimes.
So he'd asked her: Is there a Brett McDermott at the downtown station? You know who his partner is? Can you pull up the case file from the night that kid was attacked? I wanna know who the kid was and who else's been attacked.
Carole didn't like being in this position and Nate felt contrition but not enough to promise never to do this again. She told him she'd see what she could find out and kissed him on the cheek and went back to the party.
27 may 2014
He got more done today.
Finding out the name of the 5-year-old victim meant he could hypothetically find out who was the cousin was supposedly a student at the school where Jay Rodriguez teaches. Meant he could find out who his parents are and what he was doing where he was the night he was attacked. Meant he could find out who the kids' teachers are whether the 5-year-old goes to kindergarten yet and whether the cousin is still enrolled in elementary school.
He didn't need that name to start investigating the attacks at DU but his editor wasn't entirely convinced this isn't a waste of time. He was supposed to be covering the crime blotter. Not going all Erin Brockovich on the animal control people. But Nathan could be persuasive sometimes and even when he was not entirely persuasive he's stubborn and now he had the Dogwood bombing coverage under his belt. Because the Post was the first publication to have any background information on Dogwood or Kingsmith and the article they published the day after he was captured was thorough and well-written and not what anyone was expecting from a rookie reporter.
His editor grumbled but told him to have something more substantial than what the original article produced by the end of the day if he didn't want to spend the rest of the week covering the overnight scanner.
So he started calling around at the university where he has no contacts excepting his father. His father didn't know anything. He left him out of it for now. If he brought it up again he was going to bring up the dead bird on his motorcycle seat and nobody needs to know about that. The security office is a good place to start. Campus security loves talking to reporters.
He could do little of anything the day after meeting with Jay Rodriguez because it was Memorial Day and the country was supposed to be remembering all of those who died in service. He brought his smartphone with him to the cookouts he and his sister bounced between. One that Carole was going to and one that Dad was going to and one that one of his high school buddies who went into the Army and is out at Fort Carson now. And he put the phone away to shake the hand of a person to whom he was introduced or to hold conversation with whoever ventured near enough to speak to him but nothing came back to him that day.
After he had waited the requisite amount of time after arriving at the party where Carole would be planted all day the two of them went inside to find a secluded place not to fool around but for him to ask her yet another favor. By now she was grown used to it. It went both ways. Having a boyfriend who's a reporter comes in handy sometimes.
So he'd asked her: Is there a Brett McDermott at the downtown station? You know who his partner is? Can you pull up the case file from the night that kid was attacked? I wanna know who the kid was and who else's been attacked.
Carole didn't like being in this position and Nate felt contrition but not enough to promise never to do this again. She told him she'd see what she could find out and kissed him on the cheek and went back to the party.
27 may 2014
He got more done today.
Finding out the name of the 5-year-old victim meant he could hypothetically find out who was the cousin was supposedly a student at the school where Jay Rodriguez teaches. Meant he could find out who his parents are and what he was doing where he was the night he was attacked. Meant he could find out who the kids' teachers are whether the 5-year-old goes to kindergarten yet and whether the cousin is still enrolled in elementary school.
He didn't need that name to start investigating the attacks at DU but his editor wasn't entirely convinced this isn't a waste of time. He was supposed to be covering the crime blotter. Not going all Erin Brockovich on the animal control people. But Nathan could be persuasive sometimes and even when he was not entirely persuasive he's stubborn and now he had the Dogwood bombing coverage under his belt. Because the Post was the first publication to have any background information on Dogwood or Kingsmith and the article they published the day after he was captured was thorough and well-written and not what anyone was expecting from a rookie reporter.
His editor grumbled but told him to have something more substantial than what the original article produced by the end of the day if he didn't want to spend the rest of the week covering the overnight scanner.
So he started calling around at the university where he has no contacts excepting his father. His father didn't know anything. He left him out of it for now. If he brought it up again he was going to bring up the dead bird on his motorcycle seat and nobody needs to know about that. The security office is a good place to start. Campus security loves talking to reporters.
Look. I have school. And RP. And all my other time is taken up by sheer, unreasoning panic. I don't have time for Reddit.
-- ixphaelaeon
-- ixphaelaeon