Read Online Hardscrabble Road by Jane Haddam - Free Book Online Page A

victim?”
    “Crap,” Frank said.
    “I’ve talked to the legal department. They say we should get ready for at least ten months’ incarceration when this all shakes
     out.”
    “Worse crap.”
    “I know. You’re right, by the way. We shouldn’t be relying so much on just one man, and the fact that we do goes a long way
     to explaining the fact that we aren’t bigger than we are, when we should be. And I think that it would definitely be a good
     idea if we started looked around to expand our roster, maybe even expand our scope.”
    “You mean actually hire liberals for once? Can’t be done. Most of them can read.”
    “I meant looking into shock jocks. But in the meantime, we’ve got a big problem, and we need to think of something we can
     do about it.”
    “Have you thought of something?” Frank looked curious.
    Marla sighed. “No. Aside from murdering Sherman Markey, I can’t think of anything to do at the moment. We’ve got the replacements
     doing the countdown and pleading for the fans to support Drew, which they do; they just don’t want to listen to somebody else.
     We’d be better off if Drew could make the pleas for support himself from rehab, but of course if he did that the DA would
     land on him and we’d be in the same mess, except there’d be pictures of Drew with a number plate under his chin running in
     all the daily papers. But we do need to think of something, Frank, and we need to think of it fast.”
    “Are we losing money?”
    “Now? No. Most of our advertisers are on long-term contracts. But long-term contracts run out, and they’re not happy. If Drew
     does have to go to jail for ten months, we’ll be eviscerated. I mean it. They won’t stand for it.”
    “The contracts are all coming due?”
    “The contracts all have escape clauses in them. The advertisers aren’t using them now because this is supposed to be a short-term
     thing and they don’t want the fans to get mad at them, but they won’t put up with ten months. They really won’t.”
    “How would killing Sherman Markey help?”
    “What? Oh. It’s what I said. It’s the contrast. The DA can’t be seen to be hounding this poor old man into prison and letting
     the celebrity go free. If there was no poor old man to hound, it would be easier to let Drew off, run the process out for
     a year or two, and then quietly, when nobody was looking, give him probation. Do you see what I mean?”
    “I suppose so.”
    “Of course, we could have something really interesting happen and find out who was really getting Drew the drugs, but I’m
     not expecting that anytime soon. Doesn’t it bother you any? Who do you think was really procuring for him?”
    “Ellen, probably.”
    “Ellen can barely procure coffee at Starbucks. Oh, never mind. I’m just fussing now. It will all work itself out in the wash.
     But we’ve got the next forty-two days, plus probably another six to eight months after that, to save our asses from this thing,
     and we’d better do it. We’re not going to survive as a network or a syndicate with only one property.”
    “I know,” Frank said. He stood up. “Do you know what I wanted to do when I started this network? I wanted to do rock ’n’ roll.
     I wanted to be the place that wouldn’t fire Alan Freed. I don’t know if there’s a disc jockey anywhere these days who’s like
     Alan Freed.”
    “Rock ’n’ roll is a wholly owned subsidiary of global capitalism. Or so says Jig Tyler. There’s somebody you could put on
     the air. We’d probably get firebombed by the local militia.”
    “I’m going to go find someplace where there isn’t a draft. It’s freezing in here. You should get that window fixed.”
    “It’s not broken.”
    “It’s letting in cold air.”
    Actually, there was a thin film of ice along the bottom of it, right where the pane connected to the frame. Marla started
     pulling the papers on her desk into stacks.
    “Lucy can do this tomorrow,” she said.