Just as the crime report was completed, a few newsmen arrived. She went downstairs to meet them.
At the same time, Frank got a call from headquarters and took it on the bedroom phone.
Tony went downstairs to wait for Frank and to see how Hilary Thomas would deal with the reporters.
She handled them expertly. Pleading weariness and a need for privacy, she did not allow them into her house. She stepped outside, onto the stone walk, and they gathered in front of her. A television news crew had arrived, complete with a minicam and the standard actor-reporter, one of those men who had gotten his job largely because of his chiseled features and penetrating eyes and deep fatherly voice. Intelligence and journalistic ability had little to do with being a performer in televsion news; indeed, too much of either quality could be seriously disadvantageous; for optimum success, the career-minded television reporter had to think much the same way that his program was structured–in three- and four- and five-minute segments, never dwelling longer than that on any one subject, and never exploring anything at great depth. A newspaperman and his photographer, not so pretty as the television man and a bit rumpled, were also present. Hilary Thomas fielded their questions with ease, answering only those that she wanted to answer, smoothly turning away all of those that were too personal or impertinent.
The thing that Tony found most interesting about her performance was the way she kept the news people out of the house and out of her most private thoughts without offending them. That was no easy trick. There were many excellent reporters who could dig for the truth and write fine stories without violating the subject’s rights and dignity; but there were just as many of the other kind, the boars and the con men. With the rise of what The Washington Post glowingly referred to as “advocacy journalism”–the despicable slanting of a story to support the reporter’s and the editor’s personal political and social beliefs–some members of the press, the con men and the boars, had gone on a power trip of unprecedented irresponsibility. If you bristled at a reporter’s manner and methods or at his obvious bias, if you dared to offend him, he might decide to use his pen to make you look like a fool, a liar, or a criminal; and he would see himself as the champion of enlightenment in a battle against evil. Clearly, Hilary was aware of the danger, for she dealt masterfully with them. She answered more questions than not, stroked the news people, accorded them respect, charmed them, and even smiled for the cameras. She didn’t say that she knew her assailant. She didn’t mention the name Bruno Frye. She didn’t want the media speculating about her previous relationship with the man who had attacked her.
Her awareness forced Tony to reevaluate her. He already knew that she was talented and intelligent; now he saw she was also shrewd. She was the most intriguing woman he had encountered in a long time.
She was nearly finished with the reporters, carefully extricating herself from them, when Frank Howard came down the stairs and stepped to the doorway, where Tony stood in the cool night breeze. Frank watched Hilary Thomas as she answered a reporter’s question, and he scowled fiercely. “I’ve got to talk to her.”
“What did headquarters want?” Tony asked.
“That’s what I’ve got to talk to her about,” Frank said grimly. He had decided to be tight-lipped. He wasn’t going to reveal his information until he was damned good and ready. That was another of his irritating habits.
“She’s almost through with them,” Tony said.
“Strutting and preening herself.”
“Not at all.”
“Sure. She’s loving every minute of it.”
“She handles them well,” Tony said, “but she really doesn’t seem to enjoy it.”
“Movie people,” Frank said scornfully. “They need that attention and publicity like you and I need food.”
The reporters were only eight feet away, and although they were noisily questioning Hilary Thomas, Tony was afraid they might hear Frank. “Not so loud,” he said.
“I don’t care if they know what I think,” Frank said. “I’ll even give them a statement about publicity hounds who make up stories to get newspaper coverage.”