The morning news cycle was a odd one as Tom tried to get back into the swing of things after having a vacation to cover the Seahawks as they prepared for a home game. The assignment wasn't much of a "vacation" for him, as he really didn't have that great an interest in sports in general and football in particular. Beyond seeing the score in the sports pages, he often didn't go any deeper than that. Of course, Tom figured that that "vacation" was more of a punishment for wanting to push a story and investigation that his editor didn't want to publish without real proof. And in a way he did come to sympathize with the decision in the general sense.
It wasn't necessarily because he supported the decision that essentially would bury the truth, as the truth was STILL highly important to him, but because of the way he'd been pursuing the story. The supposed tail that Lionel Ulysses had was real, but really only touched the surface of the core truth that would need to be told. The problem was that by the way Tom had been pursuing the story was that if he'd been allowed to press onward he might have found out the truth, but revealed it in a way that would not only expose weres but paint all of them in a negative light. And after meeting Alice Stevens and falling madly in love with her, becoming her werefox in the process, the last thing he wanted to do was put her in a negative light.
Were society would need to come out into the open, and soon, for he knew that technology was growing. And that had the potential for MORE issues like the arrest of Lionel Ulysses coming about where a lone rogue were being caught in such a way that his abilities were betrayed in a negative light. If that was the way weres were revealed, the response would be negative, as people would respond to what they saw first. A more open reveal that would show their good sides was what would be needed, and would be more likely to give people the room to see that weres were not so different from normal people. However, he also knew that arranging that would be difficult and would take some time.
He'd need to convince at least Moon Lake to agree with such a reveal and get their two cents on what they'd want in it to better make that reveal work. And as he looked down to the small article on "local state news" regarding this battle between a Dymixious Drake and the Moon Lake police, he had the sensation that the small town was likely wrestling with some of its own local issues regarding that battle. Tom knew that the article was written in Moon Lake and essentially emailed to his paper in Seattle based how it was credited in the article's title, and it worked in a way similar to how many small local papers might also put in articles by the Associated Press or by other major papers in their pages. For the Seattle paper it helped them keep up with major local events, though Tom figured that by the coming Friday he might get the appointment to move things forward with regard to the big reveal...
But for the moment, he had to put that aside and wait, particularly as he came into his editor's office. The man was seated as Tom entered and sipping from his mug of coffee. He looked up after a moment to see Tom after a moment and waived him in further.
"Good morning, Tom," his editor spoke with a calm voice, "how did your week off?"
"I really wouldn't call covering the Seahawks a week off," Tom said slowly, "Neither would I think most football fans were that enthused about my writing..."
"Heh," the editor actually laughed, "there were a few letters to the editor about your sports column being boring and not including the same sort of speculation to analysis that they're used to. But that's water under the bridge. What you wrote was factual and you made it through. And let that be lesson not to be chasing shadows when there's nothing there."
"Shadows is often where the truth hides in a mystery," Tom countered, "you know that that is what I was trying to get at."
"Maybe," his editor shrugged, "but without proof to back up your theory that you needed more time for... there really wasn't anything big in what you were trying to do that would be worth the time to do so."
Tom privately scoffed. There was something big, but the way he'd been pursing it needed to change to get to it, and until he could be sure that means would be in place to make sure that Alice was safe during the reveal he couldn't risk pushing that forward. His editor, meanwhile didn't notice it and merely continued with the next assignment.
"Anyway, Tom, I actually have something that would be more up your alley and preference," his editor spoke, "I trust you did get to see today's paper..."
"A subscription is included as part of my salary," Tom answered, pointing out the obvious.
"And I trust you saw the report the "Moon Lake Gazette" sent us?" his editor spoke seriously.
"I had," Tom nodded, figuring that that altercation was something that might complicate things related to the big reveal and making progress, but that wasn't something he could discuss with his editor yet. He only looked down to the man from where he stood as his editor gave a sigh and then ran his hands through his hair.
"Well, that IS something big and should be looked into," his editor spoke, "not the battle in terms of what happened but the fact THAT it happened. First we have Lionel Ulysses, a guy wanted in half a dozen places on drug charges gunned down in a battle with the FBI and Seattle PD over the death of a US Marine... and then a week later some other guy is gunned down in a small town out in the mountains, in an incident in which it appears than an unarmed man attacked uniformed police officers and broke the ribs of one before finally being shot."
"I don't think these cases fall quite in with the stories that have been going on with police actions..." Tom said slowly, "both Lionel Ulysses and this Dymixious Drake were white, and the body cam footage from Ulysses' arrest shows that the Rat Pack was given plenty of options to surrender peacefully and upped the ante... And if this Drake guy broke someone's ribs before he was shot... it's probably safe to assume the police were justified in putting him down."
"And in a way, I agree," his editor commented, "but at the same it's a bit odd that we'd have two such major battles between criminals and law enforcement in the space of a practically a week. Seattle is a big city and I won't pretend that crime isn't an issue, but we don't have gun battles like that on a regular basis and as far as I know, Moon Lake is a tiny little town about an hour or so away... barely six thousand people total. They're even LESS likely than we are to have such incidents."
Tom slowly nodded. He remembered seeing Moon Lake when he and Alice went there the previous evening so that he could meet her parents, which went well. The town looked rather quaint and in a way didn't look as though anything like what had happened in this gun battle COULD happen there.
"In this, I want you to check around with the various police departments in the area, including both the Seattle and Moon Lake, and see if they've been noting any upsurge in fanaticism in the criminal element and any sorts of indications to whether or not crime is getting worse," his editor spoke calmly, "do the people in this area have reason to fear that crooks are going to be creating a major crime wave in the future? That sort of thing."
"This may take some time to put together?" Tom said slowly.
"Be thorough with this," his editor spoke, "given the fact that we have a Presidential Election next year, the last thing we need is someone picking up that a major city and one of its suburbs on the Pacific coast have had literal battles between violent criminals and law enforcement and turning that into an excuse for uninformed mudslinging. It' may take you all week to get everything together... but being detailed with the facts is something you've been good at. If you come across something for a daily article as you do this, that's fine, but I want this to be detailed and factual. That's our job as newspaper men. Present the facts for all to read and understand."
"Right, sir," Tom nodded. This might take some travelling to check with various local police units as well as units that were responsible directly to the state, like the Highway Patrol and any county sheriff that would also be employed. It might even mean talking to Federal Marshalls and the FBI in Washington State to see what they noticed. Though, he'd make sure to keep his start in the general area so that he wouldn't be away from Alice for too long.
And with that he was dismissed. As he left the editor's office he ran into a younger red head. His hair was a bit wild, he was generally pretty good at what he did, mostly maintain the paper's webpage. The man, Ronald Winx arranged online copies of the paper for subscribers to read online, and had even bragged that one day the entire paper would be handled that way and that all reporters would send their articles to him only. He also managed various other links and apps that worked with the paper's website, which would include presenting any and all video links that the paper had gotten legal access to. In some cases he'd even attach it to articles published online. Tom figured he'd be the man to contact for the reveal as he could set up a spot where he could show his transformation and explain how his changes didn't make him any less human, despite his appearance, but that would have to wait until he'd worked things out with making sure that things were okay on Moon Lake's end before going through with it.
"Hey, Tom," Ronald spoke in a friendly voice, "back on your regular beat, I hope. Lots a people complaining about you not being into football in the comments sections.... Had to shut a couple of them down."
"That bad?" Tom asked.
Ronald nodded and gave a chuckle.
"Yes, you can tell all your online readers that I'm back to my regular beat and the pro-football man will be back," Tom answered.
"Say... did you do something with your hair?" Ronald asked for a moment.
"Nothing much..." Tom spoke, "I met someone and... well she's had a great impact on me."
"Must be some woman," Ronald commented, "because you look good... better than I remember seeing you."
"Thanks," Tom replied, "and she's wonderful."