On screen, Ryan, once again in his superhero of news stance outside the Colombian embassy, began to speak. “Nelly, it’s a stunner but your own eyes will tell you the truth on this. If you look at the leaked picture, you’ll see a mole on the First Lady’s neck. Look carefully. You see it? Now, look at this video from the First Lady’s appearance on a morning show last week.” The screen cut to the First Lady dust-busting on The Today Show wearing the red blouse.

“No mole,” Ryan intoned. “That’s because she had it removed a while back, and that means this image is fake, certainly not from tonight’s dinner. Which leads us to wonder.” He leaned forward and shot a molten look into the camera. “Who faked this photo? What do they hope to achieve? And where is First Lady Anita Crusoe now?”

Not just Natalie’s fingers but her entire body felt frozen. They had given her scoop, her research, the photos she herself had found, to Ryan. Ryan, who knew nothing about the First Lady.

Her mind got loose and jumpy. Was this Bibb’s doing? Or the What Girls’? Hal? What if Bibb didn’t know? But Hal had said she did, that she was excited.

He could have lied.

Surely he wasn’t still punishing her for refusing to get a drink with him?

Was it a mistake? Was it a cabal?

She forced herself to inhale deeply, working to keep her voice even as she spoke into the microphone to whoever was listening in New York control room. Establish facts. Don’t accuse or protest. Avoid sounding like a crazy person. Casually she said, “Hi, control room. Um, why didn’t you guys come to me?”

“Really sorry,” a deep male voice spoke into her ear. It wasn’t one of the people she’d talked to earlier but another one. “That was a terrific tidbit,” it enthused. “We’ve had Ryan on the show all night so he’s part of our narrative. Just wanted to stick with him and get that great piece of information on as soon as we could. No one else has the mole yet. Glad we got it on air in time. Thanks for the reporting. You’re clear.”

“But I still—”

The lights went off in the studio. She felt suddenly exhausted, as if someone had turned off her power, too. Unable to move, she sat alone in the dark watching the TV monitor. “ATN’s Exclusive: First Lady Molegate.” They already had a name for it.

Ryan was on camera again. She couldn’t bear to listen to him. Natalie closed her eyes and removed her earpiece.