Chapter 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

Vicky Platt sat at the head of the first-floor conference room table with the confidence of a CEO overseeing a board meeting. She even stood when Josie entered, striding over to shake hands. She was striking and far more attractive than the thumbnail photo on Dallas Jones’s phone. With her long, glossy blonde hair, silk blouse and fitted skirt, she looked more like a news anchor than a producer. She looked even younger than Trinity. Early thirties maybe. Josie was envious of the ease with which she walked in six-inch heels. Josie would have rolled her ankle just getting across the room.

“Thank you for coming,” Josie said. “Please, sit.”

Vicky smiled as she took her seat again at the head of the table. A closer look at her face revealed red-rimmed eyes. “Your colleague stopped by the station yesterday. The news about Stella is just shocking. Everyone is quite upset. He wouldn’t say what happened but the fact that he was there, asking so many questions, implies foul play.”

Already, Vicky was trying to control the interview. It wasn’t surprising though. Josie would expect nothing less. Journalists were always looking for a story. She had had years of experience dealing with Trinity.

“I can’t give out any details of the investigation.” Josie took a seat diagonal from Vicky and placed the papers she’d brought from the second-floor printer face down on the table. “There will be another press conference later today. I’m sure Dallas will be there to gather all the pertinent information.”

Vicky nodded solemnly and then went right back in for more. “Is it related to the Cleo Tate case?”

Josie opened her mouth to repeat the same answer but Vicky stopped her, holding up a hand. “I’m sorry.” She laughed but it had an edge to it. It was the bitter, lost, almost hysterical laughter of a grieving person. Josie knew it well.

“It’s fine, Ms. Platt.”

Tears glistened in Vicky’s eyes. She took a deep breath. “It’s really not. I’m sorry to be acting like, well, like a producer. It’s just force of habit. I also tend to fall deeper into that habit when I’m upset or stressed and quite frankly, I’m devastated by Stella’s death. Work is a good distraction, you know?”

Josie smiled. “Yes. I do.”

Vicky wiped away a rogue tear. “Thank you. Let’s start over. You asked me to come in because you had questions. How can I help?”

Josie stood and retrieved a box of tissues from the other end of the table. She handed them to Vicky. “My colleague covered most everything when he spoke with you the other day. I’m interested in a particular exchange you and Stella had by text approximately a month ago.”

Vicky used a tissue to wipe more tears from her cheeks. Her brows lifted. “Really? Well, if you refresh my memory, I’ll be happy to add whatever clarification that I can.”

Josie turned over the pages in front of her and angled them so that Vicky could see them. She reread them at the same time that Vicky did.

Vicky: I’m going to green-light the records story with Remy Tate.

Stella: I just need a little more time. Please.

Vicky: This has gone on too long and I’ve given you more than enough time and leeway to come up with something. If you get a story later and it’s as juicy as discussed, then we’ll run it separately.

Stella: He’ll be less inclined to keep talking to me if you run that story. It puts him in the public eye. He won’t want to risk his reputation or getting fired then.

Vicky: Fine. I’ll give you till the end of the month but that is absolutely it. Do whatever you have to do.

Josie said, “What story was Stella working on?”

Vicky looked up from the pages, a pained smile crossing her pale face. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? You held a piece about digitizing records so she could find something ‘juicy’ and you don’t know what she was after?”

With a sigh, Vicky pushed the pages back toward Josie. “It’s not really what it sounds like. I didn’t exactly hold the story. It was in the queue. We were going to run it when we needed something light or something to fill in time. Then I found out that Stella had been…well, having a lot of conversations with Remy Tate that went far beyond the necessary follow-up for the story we did. I was concerned because I was pretty sure he was married. Dallas didn’t get personal with him but in the video, he’s wearing a wedding band. Stella is really bright. Brilliant, really, and she has a big future—oh?—”

Vicky broke off and covered her mouth. A muffled, “Oh God,” came from behind her palm.

“It’s okay,” Josie said softly.

Vicky lowered her hand and snatched up another tissue, swiping at the tears that spilled freely down her cheeks. “I’m talking about her like she’s still here. I just—it’s so hard to?—”

“I get it,” Josie said. “It’s a shock. Please, go on.”

Vicky closed her fist around the damp tissue. “Stella was smart and driven. She had a very bright future in television journalism. I saw a lot of my younger self in her, so I may have indulged her a little. Okay, a lot. She said she was talking to Remy because he had access to court records. She said that there was a story she’d been working on independently for a long time, but she’d never been able to get the records she needed to break it wide open. She said the records she needed were sealed.”

“But she thought that Remy Tate would access them for her.” Josie frowned. “Which would have been illegal. It would have been illegal for you to use them. The story would have been a non-starter.”

Vicky shook her head. “No, no. It’s not what you think. I mean, it is, but I never intended to use illegally obtained sealed court records for a story. I know that’s what it sounds like, but I promise you, that’s not what I discussed with Stella. In fact, as soon as she brought up asking Remy to access them, I told her that if this big juicy story she was supposedly working on involved illegal activity, I’d fire her instantly. I told her I didn’t want to talk about the matter ever again.”

“But you did.”

Vicky gave a long shuddery sigh. “Yes.”

Josie tapped the pages in front of her. “Ms. Platt, from these texts, it looks like you encouraged Stella to manipulate Remy Tate into illegally accessing sealed court records for a story.”

“No,” Vicky insisted. “I didn’t. The next time Stella brought it up, she claimed that she didn’t actually need the records themselves, only key pieces of information. A couple of names. Dates. Then she could do her own research—without the court records. I have no idea if she was telling the truth or not but she swore that whatever she brought to me in support of this ‘big’ story would not consist of any illegally obtained records.”

“But she still thought Remy Tate could help her.”

Vicky nodded. “Yes. The story was going to air soon and she asked me if we could delay it a bit longer while she continued talking with Remy. Digitizing records isn’t the story of the century, so I agreed.”

“We’re talking about a technicality here, is that right?” Josie asked. “Stella uses Remy to access the sealed records and give her the information she needs which she uses to develop her own sources so technically, it wouldn’t be illegal for you to run with the story.”

Vicky offered a sheepish smile.

Josie didn’t know why she was surprised. She’d seen how ruthless reporters could be in pursuit of a story they believed would change the course of their careers. “But what was Stella working on?”

They hadn’t found anything on Stella’s laptop although they hadn’t been looking for some big, scandalous story. There had been dozens of files filled with hundreds of Word documents on it. No one on the team had taken the time to read through all of them. They had been looking for any recent activity via email or social media that would indicate whether Stella was being stalked or if she’d been in contact with someone who might have wanted to harm her.

“I really don’t know, Detective,” said Vicky. “Like I said, I indulged Stella because I adored her and hey, if someone says they can deliver a huge story, I’m not going to turn my nose up. She wasn’t doing it on WYEP time. She wasn’t using WYEP resources. It didn’t hurt anyone for me to keep Remy out of the public eye for a couple of weeks by not running the story.”

“Did Stella ever indicate that her relationship with Remy Tate was anything more than professional?”

Vicky’s spine straightened. Her eyes went wide. She reminded Josie of a predator on high alert. “No. Why? Did something happen between them?”

“I’m asking you,” Josie said.

Vicky’s posture softened slightly. “Oh. No. She never gave any indication that anything was going on between them other than her trying to get information from him.”

“We spoke with Dallas Jones the other day and he indicated that both you and him felt there was something ‘off’ about Remy Tate and that’s why you didn’t run the story.”

Vicky laughed. “Dallas thought something was ‘off’ about him. I didn’t disagree. Whatever he made of my silence and then the story not running is on him.”

“Did he know Stella was working on some mystery story that involved Remy Tate’s access to sealed court records?” asked Josie.

“No. You’ve met Dallas. Do you think he would have allowed a PA to upstage him? Even if I told him that I was simply indulging her?”

“No. I can’t see him stepping aside to let Stella grab a big story.”

“Now he doesn’t have to worry about that.” Vicky sighed. “Because Stella is the story.”