Read Online Death at the Trade Show: Target Practice Mysteries 3 by Nikki Haverstock - Free Book Online Page A

him.” Her tone had gone flat.
    “Uh… what was he like?”
    “I don’t know him at all.” She gave it in monotone and made no eye contact, instead looking at some of the literature on the table.
    The conversation we had been having came to a screeching halt. I looked at Mary for help.
    “Didn’t you hear he’s dead?”
    “He’s what? When? What happened?” Jillian looked up, alarmed.
    “Two nights ago in the hotel. He was killed,” Mary said softly.
    “Oh.” Jillian covered her mouth. “I hadn’t heard. I feel awful.”
    One of the conference room’s doors was ajar, and I grabbed a folding chair and sat down. “Why do you feel bad?”
    She looked around then lowered her voice. “I never liked him, and now I feel terrible for not liking him. Was it an accident?”
    I shook my head. “No, the police are investigating it as a homicide. What was he like?”
    She sucked air through her teeth. “Homicide, oh my. I couldn’t possibly talk ill of the dead.” She shook her head sadly.
    Mary looked at me and nodded, then faced Jillian. “Totally understandable, poor man. We shouldn’t speak of him. But we were thinking about writing an article about how hunting shows are made. Can you tell us about that?”
    “Oh yes, what do you need to know?”
    Mary opened her bag and pulled out the notebook. “This is what we know so far: you buy time from a network and get money from your sponsors. Then use the money to pay for the time and to produce the show. Is that about right?”
    Jillian smiled broadly. “Not a bad start. You make it sound so easy.” She chuckled.
    Mary scribbled in her notebook and continued to interview. “Is there just one hunting channel or a couple?”
    “There are tons of different ones, and every time I turn around, someone is trying to pitch a new channel.” Jillian waved her hand at the idea of a new channel. “For the article, you’ll probably want to focus on the three big hunting channels, America’s Best Sports, Real Outdoor Adventures, and Wilderness Hunts. They are way ahead of all the rest of the channels when it comes to viewership numbers. A whole different league.”
    Mary was scribbling in her notebook. “Wilderness… Hunts… Okay, all caught up. How are the three stations different?”
    “There’s a ton of little differences. Do you have any particular area you’re interested in?”
    “Hmmm.” Mary tapped her pen on the notebook. “Let’s say that Di and I had a hunting show—what are the pluses and minuses of each channel?”
    “Good question.” Jillian leaned forward in her seat. “First off, you’d need a pilot to show the production quality of the show and the basic format. Then you’d try to get a meeting to pitch the show. Depending on your pitch, they might offer you a few timeslots. Their goal is to have as many people view their channel as possible, so they will pick shows that they think people will want to watch. Plus they want a variety: some bowhunting, some gun shows, domestic, international, you understand.”
    Mary flipped the page of her notebook and moved it to the table. “Are prices about the same?”
    “Not even close. So let’s take America’s Best Sports. They are the most expensive but are in the most households. If you have satellite or cable and get the sports or deluxe package, then you probably have their channel, but they’re not purely a hunting channel. They’ve little blocks during the weekday for midday fishing and hunting shows. The rest of the time, it’s other sports or sports talk shows or whatever. Some people like this because they have a bigger audience, but others argue that it isn’t the right audience to sell their products.”
    Mary looked up from her notebook. “Not the right audience?”
    Jillian leaned back in her chair. “That’s the theory. Now, on the other end of the spectrum is Wilderness Hunts. They only do hunting shows and they are subscription-only. People pay for that particular