“Especially with no money,” Kelly added, lifting the denial letter from the desk. “The bank said no, boss. Not maybe. Not come back and see us next week. They said no.”

“I haven’t been on vacation, guys. I’ve been raising money. Finding investors.” Gabriel lifted the rock Kelly had played with earlier. The gleaming stone had been a gift from his father. Holding it, he knew his dad would approve of his next move. “No one wants to invest in a weekly. Not when there’s a viable daily in the community. However, Mirren Enterprises has created a raft of enemies around the country. Small papers, midsized dailies, all wiped out by the Mirren machine. They come in, buy out the strongest paper, and fire the troublemakers. Then they relegate local news to a couple of pages in section B and clone the headlines from everywhere else. Mirren won’t run the Adams story because Adams is voting on antitrust rules in the next session. The vote goes their way and Mirren will be able to buy radio and television stations. One source, one story.”

Kelly stopped tapping her foot. “I hope this is somehow leading to the good news, boss, because I’m getting more and more depressed.”

“When I was up in New York, I met with a group of investors who want to reclaim local news. They’re willing to pour money into papers in major urban cities, as test cases. But there’s a catch. They only fund dailies.”

“Which we’re not,” Kelly reminded Gabriel.

“Which we’re going to become,” Gabriel said, ready for Peter’s explosion. He didn’t have long to wait.

“Which brings me back to my original point. We don’t have the stories. No big headlines. Sure, I can fill the pages with local interest, but that doesn’t bring in readers. Scandals do.”

“So does murder.”

Peter watched his old friend and suddenly relaxed. “You’ve got a story. And Dr. Erin Abbott is a part of it.”

“I can feel it.”

“I ran a quick make on her. She’s a criminal psychology professor from Mississippi. Graduated with her Ph.D. two years ago. Bought a place on Saint Bennett. Teaches at Burkeen.”

“She’s not from Mississippi.”

Nodding in agreement, Peter scooted forward. “Probably not. According to what I could find, which wasn’t much, she didn’t do anything but go to school. Published an article on profiling serial killers, but that’s it. Then the job here at Burkeen came available, and she slid right in.”

“Family?”

“None on record.”

“Is she a murderer?” Kelly asked.

“No,” Gabriel said in a tone that brooked no argument. Realizing how his vehemence sounded, he explained, “However, our professor has an interesting theory about recent deaths in the area. I’m calling it the New Orleans ABC Murders.”