deaths of the clerk and other customers? Why had he saved the Newsomes
and let the rest die?
She was further chilled by the description of his attack on Rink.
He had pumped four rounds from a 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun into the
mad man. Then, although Rink was indisputably dead, Jim reloaded and
fired another four rounds. “He was in such a rage,” Sam Newsome said,
“his face red, and he was sweating, you could see the arteries pounding
in the temples, across his forehead. He was crying a little, too, but
the tears.
they didn’t make him seem any less angry.” When done, Jim had expressed
regret for cutting Rink down so violently in front of little Emily He’d
explained that men like Rink, who killed innocent people, brought out “a
little madness of my own.” Newsome told the reporter, “He saved our
lives, yeah, but I gotta say the guy was scary, almost as scary as Rink
Realizing that Ironheart might not have revealed even his first name
some occasions, Holly instructed Newsweb to search the past six months
for stories in which “rescue” and “saved the life” were within ten words
of “blue.” She had noticed that some witnesses were vague about his
physical description, but that most remembered his singularly blue eyes.
She went to the john, got more coffee, then stood by the printer.
As the find was transferred to hard copy, she snatched it up, scanned
it, tossed in the wastecan if it was of no interest or read it with
excitement if it was about another nick-of time rescue. Newsweb turned
up four more that indisputably belonged in the Ironheart file, even
though neither first nor last name was used.
At her desk again, she instructed Newsweb to search the past six months
for the name “Ironheart” in the national media.
While she waited for a response, she put the pertinent printouts in
order then made a chronological list of the people whose lives Jim
Ironheart saved, incorporating the four new cases. She included their
names, the location of each incident, and the type of death from which
the person had been spared.
She studied that compilation, noting some patterns with interest.
But she put it aside when Newsweb completed its latest task.
As she rose from her chair to go to the laser printer, she froze,
surprised to discover she was no longer alone in the newsroom. Three
reporters an an editor were at their desks, all guys with reputations as
early birds including Hank Hawkins, editor of the business pages, who
liked to be at work when the financial markets opened on the East Coast.
She hadn’t been aware of them coming in. Two of them were sharing a
joke, laughing loudly, and Hawkins was talking on the phone, but Holly
hadn’t heard them until after she’d seen them. She looked at the clock:
6:10. opalesant early-morning light played at the windows, though she
had not realized that the tide of night had been receding. She glanced
down at her desk saw two more paper coffee cups than she remembered
getting from the vending machine.
She realized that she was no longer wallowing in despair. She felt
better than she had felt in days. Weeks. Years She was a reporter
again, for real She went to the laser printer, emptied the receiving
tray, and return with the pages to her desk. Ironhearts evidently were
not newsmakers.
There were only five stories involving people with that surname in the
past six months.
Kevin Ironheart-Buffalo, New York. State senator. Announced his
intention to run for governor.
Anna Denise Ironheart-Boca Raton, Florida. Found a live alligator in
her family room.
Lori Ironheart-Los Angeles, California. Songwriter. Nominated for the
Academy Award for best song of the year.
Valerie Ironheart-Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Gave birth to healthy
quadruplets.
The last of the five was James Ironheart.
She looked at the heading. The story came from the Orange County
Register April 10, and was one of scores of pieces on the same story
that had been published statewide. Because of her instructions, the
computer had printed out only this single instance, sparing her sheafs
of similar articles on the same event.