“Point number two is that even if you’re prepared to swallow Mirror Alert’s basic mission, somebody is playing games. The operation isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen. The editors are weirdos. They’re all from Press Alert—that was part of the joint-venture deal, it turns out—and they’re like robots. We reporter-peons go out and collect the information, and then we send it into a special ‘editors’ basket.’ That turns out to be a black hole. We can’t access the stories we filed, once they go to the editors. They claim it’s a security precaution, but Eric—they sit on this stuff. It stays in their basket. Sometimes a few minutes, sometimes hours, sometimes days. Think about it. We send the editors market-moving news, and they sit on it. What does that tell you?”

“That they’re trading on the information themselves, before putting it out on the wire.”

“Exactly. Or maybe they’re making it available to a few special clients for a ton of money. But the point is, they’re using journalistic cover to acquire information, and then using that information to make money. They’re laundering information—making it look clean but using it to do dirty deals. Or so I hypothesize. I’m still gathering evidence, but what do you think? Should I blow the whistle?”

“Not yet. It’s scary stuff, but it’s just speculation. You don’t really know anything. As Weiss would say, it’s a little thin.” Thinness was the quality the executive editor liked least in stories.

“I’m working on it. I’m trying to find some way to put a marker on a piece of information, so I can track it through the system, and see who trades on it. What do you think of that?”

“Good idea. As soon as you pin it down, you need to go tell Sellinger, right away.”

“I dunno, buddy. How can you be sure Sellinger isn’t part of the problem?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Mirror Alert is his deal, Eric. If people are making dirty money on this stuff, Sellinger has to be part of it.”

“That’s ridiculous, Dirk. Even for a paranoid like you.”

“Oh yeah? Well, then, you tell me: Who the hell owns Press Alert? Your pal Sellinger left that out when he announced the partnership. All we know is that they’re an international communications company that’s willing to invest five hundred million dollars in a sweet, money-losing newspaper company. So I did a little checking, and Press Alert is not normal.”

“What do you mean? What’s abnormal?”