Chapter 35

Martin’s heart sank as he watched Clark turn, and heard his footsteps across the old wooden floors toward his office. What had he done now? Martin looked at Shirley who frowned back at him and mouthed, “Dayton Daniels.”
“Dayton Daniels?” Martin whispered back, incredulous. “I left his store less than two minutes ago!” Martin waited a moment to collect his thoughts before facing Clark, and to calm his irritation. “If I didn’t know better,” he whispered again to Shirley, “I’d think that plumber has something to hide.”
“Go!” Shirley whispered back at him. “You’re not going to find out what he’s hiding by standing around here, and Clark appears to be pissed.”
Martin’s irritation quickly grew into anger as he moved through the office. He threw his satchel into his cubical as he passed it on his way to Clark’s office, making a thumping sound on the desk that rattled his lamp and made some of his co-workers lift their heads to see what the commotion was all about. Martin stomped toward Clark’s office, and Grayson was already sitting down in his chair, waiting impatiently for him to enter. “Close the door, Lundeen,” he said. “Pull up a chair.”
Martin pulled one of the side chairs Clark had sitting around a conference table in the large office so it sat across from him at the desk. “So, what’s the problem?” He asked evenly, trying, but failing, to hide his anger.
Clark ignored his attitude and simply asked, “Tell me what happened with Daniels.”
Martin squinted at him and replied, “I stopped at his store on my way to the office this morning to see if I could do a quick interview for my end of the school year feature.”
Clark’s face showed no reaction. “What made you stop this morning? Don’t you think someone as important as Dayton Daniels deserves the courtesy of being asked for an appointment?” Martin looked up at the ceiling for a moment and then back at Clark. “I saw him going into his store as I passed it on the way to work, and I just decided to stop on the spur of the moment. I figured I could at least ask for an appointment for later if he was too busy to talk to me this morning.” Clark’s lack of response infuriated Martin. “It’s called hustle, Clark!” Martin shouted at him. “I was taking some initiative. Since when is that a crime?”
Clark’s mind was reviewing his conversation with Dayton as he listened to the rant coming across his desk. “Settle down, Martin. I’m just trying to understand what set Daniels off about your impromptu visit.” He rubbed his temples with his fingertips and closed his eyes. “So you didn’t demand an interview?”
“Hell, no!” Martin answered. “I just told him what I wanted and let him know I’d be happy to come back if he was too busy. Ask Fran, his receptionist. She saw the whole exchange.”
Clark snorted. “That’s okay, Martin. I don’t need to confirm anything. I believe you.” He got up from his chair and came around the desk. Martin instinctively sat up in his chair and turned to face him. “So, tell me how the conversation went this morning.”
Martin proceeded to recount, word for word, the conversation between himself and Dayton Daniels. When he came to the revelation that Frank Talbot was the featured retiring teacher, he hesitated for moment, but then went on and included the fact that it was at this point in the conversation that Daniels shut down. At the mention of Talbot’s name, Grayson frowned. “Tell me again why you’re including Frank Talbot in this story.”
Martin looked intently at Clark’s face, tried to read something into the question, but saw nothing. “I don’t know. He’s just been teaching a long time and is retiring, and I thought it would add some human interest.” Clark nodded and said, “Hmm, human interest…yeah, that’s’ probably a good call.” He sighed and scratched his head. “That’s it?”
Martin hesitated again. “Yep, that’s the whole conversation.”
“I don’t get it, Martin. What was it about that conversation that made Dayton Daniels get on the phone within seconds of your leaving his store to tell me to tell you to back off?”
The room was quiet except for Clark’s steps as he moved back around his desk and the squeak of his chair as he sat down. He put his hands behind his head, leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. “I just don’t get it…”
Martin decided to take a gamble on what was left of Clark’s journalistic integrity. “Clark, what if I told you that, once I started working on this story, I found out something about Frank Talbot that was…uh…unsavory.” Martin wanted to gage Clark’s reaction on this, but wasn’t ready to admit that the story was merely a ruse to expose Talbot. Clark ripped his arms apart from behind his head and sat straight up in his creaky chair.
“Unsavory?” Clark asked quietly, eyebrows raised. “How unsavory?”
“Pretty unsavory. Illegal unsavory. Sexual assault of students unsavory…,” Martin responded.
“And how, exactly, have you come to this conclusion?” Clark asked wearily.
“Well, I was looking through old papers and just noticed some strange things like he was coaching something one week and then relieved of duty the next. Or stories of mysterious assault charges that were dropped or just went away. And then there were some comments from past students I interviewed…”
“Such as?”
“Sharla Whitefeather, for one. He actually tried to rape her. She got away, but quit school rather than face him again. And Karen Howe had the strangest reaction when I brought his name up as being part of the story. Made me think he tried something with her, too.” He deliberately didn’t tell him about Shirley – that was her secret to tell.
“Karen Howe? What the hell does Karen Howe have to do with this?” Clark was clearly exasperated, so Martin quickly continued. “I was interviewing her at her store about gift ideas for graduates, and when she asked about what was being included in the story, I mentioned the tribute to Talbot and she freaked.”
Clark’s face clouded over. “Karen Howe? My God…” He got up from his desk and began pacing behind his desk. “Why Karen Howe? Is he a pervert and an idiot?”
“No, he just likes his victims to be powerless,” Martin replied. Clark turned and looked at him with a confused look on his face. “Clark, most if not all of Talbots’ victims are Native American girls.” Grayson still looked confused. “Karen is part Indian,” Martin explained.
Clark went back to pacing and then stopped again to look at Martin. “And just how did you find out about Karen’s Indian heritage?” he asked, almost accusingly.
“Sharla confirmed it through her Uncle Bill. On the sly, of course, but it’s confirmed.” Now Martin was getting frustrated with his boss, and he stood up for emphasis. “Clark, you are missing the point. This isn’t an important story just because the wife of the big man in town was assaulted by a teacher when she was his student. It’s an important story because he assaulted many nameless, faceless Indian girls and ruined their lives!”
“Now you just hold on, Lundeen,” Clark boomed back. “You don’t decide what makes an important story, I do!”
Martin was fuming, and decided to lay it all out before Clark could shut him down.
“Okay, fine, you want a big story? What if Dayton Daniels and Jeff Howe have known about this little problem for years and chose to cover it up? Does that make it a big enough story for you?”
“Oh, come on, Martin, are you kidding me?” Clark gave a contemptuous little laugh. “Don’t you think they would have fired his ass if they knew about this? Especially if he did to Karen what you think he’s done.”
Martin didn’t respond. He just stood with his arms folded, staring at Clark, who kept pacing for a moment and then stood directly across the desk from him. They glared at each other for a minute, and then Clark fell back into his chair and rocked slowly back and forth. “I guess that would explain why your little visit bothered Mr. Daniels so much this morning.”
Martin sat down. “That’s kind of what I thought.”
They both sat there, lost in thought, Clark with his eyes closed, Martin staring at the ceiling. Then Clark opened his eyes, and sat up in his chair. “How sure are you about this, Martin?”
“Pretty sure. I’m sort of pulling bits and pieces together, will interview Daniels, Howe and Talbot soon and hope to tighten the noose around this situation before the story gets published.”
“And then what?” Clark asked him.
“What do you mean?”
“So you tighten the noose. What’s the objective? Exposing Talbot? The school board?” Clark stopped for a moment and looked hard at Martin. “Martin, do you realize the potential damage you can cause by pursuing this?”
Martin set his jaw and sat straight in his chair. “Are you telling me to stop, Clark?”
“No, I'm not telling you to stop,” Clark answered carefully. “I’m just asking you to think through every step and make sure you achieve the results you want with as little collateral damage as possible.” Clark paused again to let the thought sink in. “What is it you’re really trying to do with this, Martin?”
Martin considered the question for a moment or two, and then responded slowly. “Well, I want justice for the girls he hurt. And I don’t want him to see one dime of a pension. That’s pretty much it.”
“Do you think you can do that without damaging the credibility of the Siren School District and the entire image of Burnett County?”

“I think I can give it my best shot.”