“Well, that’s your business. My business is to conduct a press conference, and I’m finished now—so if you don’t have any more questions, I’d like to get back to work.”

“Thanks for nothing,” Decker said.

“Any time. And Mr. Decker—I meant what I said about the crime scene tape. Right?”

Decker didn’t reply—he was already on his way to the parking lot with his cameraman in tow.

“What do you want to do now?” the cameraman asked.

“Beats me,” Decker grumbled. “Maybe we could—” He stopped. In the parking lot ahead he saw a gleaming white SUV with the name Fidelis Search and Rescue Dogs printed across the side. The rear doors of the vehicle were open wide, where a woman dressed in khaki was grooming a black-and-tan dog.

“C’mon,” he said. “I may have found our angle.”

The chief of staff rapped his knuckles on the senator’s office door. “Sir— have you got a minute?”

“Come in, Brad. What’s on your mind?”

“There’s something I think you need to see.” He leaned over the senator’s shoulder and typed in an Internet address on his computer; a moment later the WRTL masthead appeared on the screen with the byline “WRTL: The Stories Behind the News.”

“WRTL,” the senator read. “Is that the ABC affiliate?”

“No, sir, that’s WJLA—but they’re both owned by Allbritton, the same people who own News Channel 8. WRTL is a recent acquisition for them; they’re targeting a nontraditional demographic—the same people we’d like to reach. That’s why I thought you should see this; it just aired at five o’clock.” He moved the cursor down to a section titled “Local News” and clicked on the headline “Braden Finds Skeletons in Closet.” A small black window opened and a video clip began to play:

“Trish, I’m standing in front of the excavation site for the Patriot Center, the billion-dollar mega-mall and entertainment complex being developed by presidential candidate John Henry Braden. The workers you see behind me, however, are not construction workers. They’re a team of forensic experts from the FBI’s crime lab in Quantico. Construction on the Patriot Center ceased a few days ago when workers uncovered a forgotten graveyard—unusual in itself, but not enough to involve the FBI. What caught the attention of federal officials was the discovery of two additional bodies—bodies someone buried on top of existing graves. But who did it, and why? Rumors are circulating that a serial killer may be responsible.”

“Rumors,” the senator said. “Since when are rumors news?”

“When you’re the fourth-ranked station in the Washington–Maryland– Northern Virginia market,” Brad said. “Watch the next segment.”

“I’m here with Marjory Claire Anderson-Forsyth, owner of Fidelis Search and Rescue Dogs, and this is her dog, King. Ms. Forsyth, your dog has an unusual ability—can you tell me about it?”