Her face colored red and she shook her head in embarrassment. I had now outted two liars. Angela I could deal with because there was something honest about her lying. She was boldly going for what she wanted. Prendo was the one that hurt. We had worked together for a long time and I had never seen him as a liar or manipulator. I guessed he was just choosing sides. I was out the door soon and Angela was staying. It didn’t take a genius to see that he was picking her over me. The future was with Angela.

“I can’t believe he ratted me out,” Angela said.

“Yeah, well, I guess you have to be careful who you trust in a news-room,” I said. “Even your own editor.”

“I guess so.”

She picked up her cup and looked to see if there was anything left, even though she knew there wasn’t. Anything to avoid looking at me.

“Look, Angela, I don’t like how you did this but I admire how you just go after what you want. All the best reporters I have known are that way. And I have to say your idea of doing the double-profile of both killer and victim is the better way to go.”

Now she looked at me. Her face brightened.

“Jack, I’m really looking forward to working with you on it.”

“The one thing I want to get straight right now is that this started with me and it ends with me. When the reporting is all done, I’m the one who is going to write this. Okay?”��

“Oh, absolutely. After you told me what you were working on, I just wanted to be a part of it. So I came up with the victim angle. But it’s your story, Jack. You get to write it and your name goes first on the byline.”

I studied her closely for any sign that she was dissembling. But she’d looked me sincerely in the eye as she had spoken.

“All right. Well, that’s all I had to say.”

“Good.”

“You need any help with today’s story?”

“No, I think I’m all set. And I’m getting great stuff from the community off that angle you brought up at the press conference. Reverend Treacher called it one more symptom of racism in the department. They create a task force when a white woman who takes her clothes off for a living and puts drugs in her body gets killed, but do nothing whenever one of the eight hundred innocent residents in those projects gets killed by the gangbangers.”