The Radio Red Killer. Richard A. Lupoff
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desk. She scanned the reports from Holloway, Rosetti and Gutierrez. It looked as if they’d all done their jobs and it looked as if none of them had learned anything useful.
She padded into the squad room moving silently in her sneakers. She poured herself a cup of coffee and scanned the morning papers. There was an Oakland Trib under the creamer and there were copies of both of the San Francisco morning papers, the long-running Chronicle and the brash upstart Mirror.
The Trib gave the Bjorner case a tease above the logo on the main news section and a story on page one of the local news section. They had a photo of the body bag on the gurney being loaded into the coroner’s ambulance in the KRED parking lot.
The Chron actually put the story on its front page but used no photo.
The Mirror—oh, lordy. Forget about the current Balkan war and latest Pacific storm. KRED KILLER, the main headline read. And the subhead, Radical ’Caster Croaks into Mike—Was Radio Red’s Final Message Cry for Help? And, would you believe it, they had a photo of the cadaver slumped across the broadcaster’s desk in Studio B. They ran it the width of the front page.
How the hell did they get that?
There was a credit line on the photo but it just said, Staff. The story itself started on page three with another juicy headline and a shot similar to the Oakland Trib’s and another—how in bloody blue blazing hell did they get this one?—of Marvia Plum conversing with Herb Bjorner.
You could see Herb Bjorner clearly. He was standing in front of the KRED building. You could see the station call letters on the marquee, and there was a uniformed police officer with her back to the camera, talking with Bjorner. You couldn’t see her face but there was no question it was Marvia Plum. Her sergeant’s stripes were even visible.
The story itself was headlined simply, KRED KILLING. It was bylined, Special to the San Francisco Mirror, by Maude Markham. Marvia thought she knew most of the local media, by face or by byline if not in person. She’d only been gone for a matter of weeks. But she didn’t know Maude Markham. Maybe a new reporter. Maybe a college kid interning at the Mirror, who had just got very, very lucky.
She heard a page over the loudspeaker. “Sergeant Plum, pick up your phone.” The page didn’t say who was calling, but Marvia could easily feel the looming presence of city councilmember Sherry Hanson.
SCRIPT BREAK II
GENERAL EISENHOWER HAS MADE A DRAMATIC ANNOUNCEMENT. THE NEW ITALIAN GOVERNMENT HAS PULLED OUT OF THE WAR AND IS ACTUALLY—ARE YOU READY FOR THIS—PREPARING TO SWITCH SIDES. YES, YESTERDAY’S ENEMY IS ABOUT TO
BECOME THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE ALLIES.
SECRET TALKS HAVE BEEN GOING ON IN ROME BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF GENERAL EISENHOWER AND THE NEW ITALIAN BOSS, PIETRO BADOGLIO. EVER SINCE GENERAL GEORGE PATTON’S THIRD ARMY CROSSED THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA FROM NORTH AFRICA AND LANDED IN SICILY, THE ITALIANS HAVE BEEN GETTING MORE AND MORE UNHAPPY.
THEIR HOME-GROWN DICTATOR, BENITO MUSSOLINI, IT SEEMS, HAS TURNED INTO AN ERRAND-BOY FOR ADOLF. AND THE ITALIANS, WHOSE FABLED HOSPITALITY AND FAMOUS PASTA AND VINO ARE KNOWN WORLD-WIDE, DON’T LIKE ALL THOSE KRAUTS FREELOADING OFF THE FAT OF THE LAND. ITALY’S KING—YES, THE OLD BOY IS STILL AROUND, LURKING IN HIS PALACE IN THE ETERNAL CITY—FINALLY GOT FED UP WITH ITALY BEING PRACTICALLY AN OCCUPIED COUNTRY RUN BY THE NAZIS. SO HE SACKED IL DUCE AND CALLED ON BADOGLIO TO STRAIGHTEN THINGS OUT.
WE DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THIS NEW FELLOW YET, BUT ONE THING IS CLEAR. HE’S GOT A LOT MORE SENSE THAN OLD MUSSO HAD. AND I’LL BET HE DOESN’T HAVE AS BIG A CHIN.
ANYWAY, BEFORE WE CELEBRATE TOO MUCH, TAKE NOTE THAT THE NAZI ARMY OCCUPIES MOST OF ITALY, AND THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH FORCES THERE WILL FACE STUBBORN RESISTANCE AS THEY ROOT HITLER’S GANGSTERS OUT OF THEIR RAT-HOLES.
STILL, IT’S A BIG BOOST FOR ALLIED MORALE AND ANOTHER BLOW TO THAT CLIQUE IN BERLIN. THE WAR ISN’T OVER YET, BUT YOU CAN BET THAT HITLER SEES THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL, AND IT GETS CLEARER EVERY DAY.
MEANWHILE, NEWS IS ROTTEN FOR THE NAZI RATS ON ANOTHER FRONT. EVER SINCE THE HEROIC FIGHTERS OF THE RED ARMY AND THE PEOPLE OF STALINGRAD STOOD OFF THE AXIS SIEGE, SOVIET TROOPS HAVE BEEN KNOCKING THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF HITLER’S ARMY.
YES, STALINGRAD WAS THE TURNING POINT. THE GERMAN BOSS, VON PAULUS, HAD THE WHOLE RUMANIAN PUPPET ARMY TO PLAY AROUND WITH, AND THEY SEALED OFF THE RUSSIAN CITY BUT THEY COULDN’T BREAK DOWN THE DETERMINED RESISTANCE OF ITS DEFENDERS. THE GERMANS LOST MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND OF THEIR BEST TROOPS TRYING TO OVERCOME THE SPIRIT OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE, AND THEY FAILED.
NOW THE RED ARMY IS ON THE MOVE, THE NAZIS ARE FALLING BACK ALONG A THOUSAND-MILE FRONT, AND THE RUSSIANS ARE EXPECTED TO RETAKE BOTH KHARKOV AND KIEV ANY DAY NOW.
AND, SAY, HERE’S A LIGHTER NOTE IN THE NEWS. IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THE SO-CALLED GOVERNMENT OF LEBANON DECLARED THAT COLONY’S INDEPENDENCE. UNFORTUNATELY, THEY FORGOT TO GET PERMISSION FIRST FROM FRANCE. THEY WON’T MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN. FRENCH TROOPS ROUNDED ’EM UP, TO THE LAST MAN, AND CHUCKED ’EM IN THE HOOSEGOW, OR WHATEVER THEY CALL THE VILLAGE LOCKUP THERE IN LEBANESE.
THE FRENCH WILL PROBABLY LET ’EM OUT AGAIN. THEY’RE NOTORIOUSLY EASY-GOING IN THIS KIND OF MATTER, THE FRENCH ARE. I GUESS THEY’LL APPOINT A NEW GOVERNMENT FOR LEBANON. MEN WITH MORE SENSE THAN THE OLD BUNCH!
[YOUR WAR REPORT WITH J. B. O’BRIEN, WPRK, PERKASIE, PENNSYLVANIA, 1943]
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