“She was moving to Toronto for college, and on the way, she vanishes in Vermont. You know her story?” Lockner asked.

“Sure. It got a lot of coverage before it faded.”

Wyatt looked at Moore’s face, thinking she was so young, so pretty, and so gone. He scanned the headline and lead paragraphs as Lockner continued.

After initially meeting at True Signal’s new newsroom, with its sweeping God’s-eye view from a 70-story glass tower on Manhattan’s West Side, Lockner had taken Wyatt to the Montana Diner, two blocks east of Madison Square Garden, to talk.

True Signal News was seven years old, Lockner said. It now had a million paid subscribers, and was on track to hit nearly two million in 10 months. Ad revenue was rising, and the company had just received a huge injection of capital.

“We do good work,” Lockner said once they settled into a booth. “We dig deeper on stories, taking as long as we need to uncover the truth. We get beneath the surface of investigations. We strive for excellence.”

“As it should be with any news organization,” Wyatt said.

“I want to stress that we are a news outlet that also works to break stories. We’re averse to getting beat. We strive to take ownership of stories we’re working on.”

“I like that,” Wyatt said.

“Samantha Moore’s been missing for five months now,” Lockner said. “There’s a huge story here that no one’s told, the kind of story that we do. The story we want you to pursue for True Signal.”

As their gum-snapping server brought them their coffee, Wyatt was thinking that Lockner, with his silver earring and tattoos, had to be in his 20s. The kid must’ve read the question on his face, and the fact Wyatt was unsure about working for a digital news entity and a boss who looked like he’d just graduated from high school.

“I know what you’re probably thinking so here it is: I’m 25 years old, Ray. I’ve got degrees from MIT and Columbia. My grandfather worked for the Associated Press. My mother reported for the Daily News, my dad was on the desk at the Times. Even though I’ve always worked for online news organizations, journalism runs deep in my blood.”

Wyatt nodded, approvingly.

“But if it’s a matter of me being half your age and your boss, well, that’s something you’ll have to get your head around.”

Wyatt nodded thoughtfully. Lockner was sharp.

“Listen, Ray. I was sorry for all the people at First Press Alliance who lost their jobs. Everyone is bleeding revenue and staff in virtually every corner of the industry.”

“Times are tough,” Wyatt said.