Read Online One Way or Another by Rhonda Bowen - Free Book Online Page A

She wasn’t sure about this.
    Naomi sighed. “Look, Toni, I know this will be different. You won’t get the glory and won’t be able to talk to many people about it. But this is the only way this story gets played out here. So think about it. What matters to you most, telling this kid’s story, or keeping your name on the front page?”
    Jerome’s face flashed through her mind. It was a no-brainer. “The story is what’s most important.” Toni folded her arms in her lap. “I’ll do it.”
    The first smile for the day broke onto Naomi’s face and for a moment she looked like the editor that Toni knew. Toni grinned along with her.
    â€œYou have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that.” Naomi sat forward, looking energized. “Now we can really flesh this out.”
    The smile slid from Toni’s face. “Flesh it out?”
    â€œOf course,” Naomi said brightly. “Now that you are a contracted freelance author, Miss Armour, we have to decide how far we’re going to take this story. I won’t publish it unless we have two follow-up pieces. For one, we really need to get into crime as an election issue, and talk about all the manipulation happening at city hall around it. If you can get some insider scoop and drop some names, we could have a bombshell on our hands.”
    Toni nodded, starting to understand how Naomi was thinking. It looked like she might get to cover the elections after all. She couldn’t help but grin.
    â€œPlus we need a human interest feature piece on this home.”
    Toni’s face fell. “The home?”
    â€œYeah, this place where the kid is serving his time,” Naomi continued, skimming her computer screen again. “What’s it called?”
    â€œJacob’s House.” Toni’s lips felt heavy as she supplied the name. Doubt began to spring up like weeds inside her.
    â€œCan’t we just run this piece and see how it goes?” she suggested with a fraction of her earlier enthusiasm.
    Naomi laughed. “Toni, honey, I didn’t get to where I am without some well-honed intuition. That intuition is telling me that we had better have two more stories waiting in the wings to follow this one. If we pull this off, we could become a number-one choice for coverage of the elections. Do you know how many issues we will sell? Do you know what that will mean for getting interviews with both parties during the entire process?
    â€œThis is a good story, Toni, but it can be better.”
    Naomi swivelled back to her computer and began typing again. “Let me look over this once more. In the meantime, get me a piece on that home. Find out about the other boys there. It’s been around for what, twenty-five years? There must be a few big names that’ve been through it. Find out who they are.”
    Toni pulled herself out of the chair and headed for the door. Wasn’t this what she had expected anyway? So why was she surprised that this was happening? And why did the thought of going back to Adam for more information make her stomach turn?
    â€œOh, and one more thing.”
    Toni paused to look back at Naomi, her hand on the doorknob.
    â€œInterview that guy, what’s his name?” Naomi’s eyes scanned the computer screen. “Adam Bayne.”

Chapter 7
    â€œB ayne, I don’tthink this is working.”
    â€œYeah, man. It’s supposed to look like the rest. That don’t look like the rest.”
    Adam sighed and sat back on his heels, looking at the roof shingles in front of him. Tarik and Sheldon were right. Something was wrong. He just didn’t know what. They had been trying for the past hour to fix the leak in the roof over Tarik’s bedroom that they had delayed addressing all spring. June and the end of the school year had finally rolled around so they could get to it. But with three of them on the roof, and three others on the ground,