The May Day Murders by Scott Wittenburg

what
about the press?”
    Roger shook his head. “Mum’s the word,
still—the chief has already informed me.”
    Sam groaned in protest.
“Why?”
    “ For the same reasons as
before,” he replied. “Listen, buddy. Thompson still doesn’t want to
incite any unnecessary panic here. So far, we know nothing more
than we did before except that two female Smithtown residents, one
of which hasn’t lived here in two decades, have been raped and
strangled to death in their homes. Everything else is pure
conjecture. Why stir up the dirt now? But I promise you, the minute
we find out who murdered Marsha Bradley, you can get them presses
rolling. Fair enough?”
    Sam didn’t like it, but at the same
time had to agree that printing an article about the cases based on
pure speculation wasn’t a good idea. Maybe in the New York Post or
the Daily News it would float, but definitely not in the
ultra-conservative, play-by-the rules Smithtown Observer .
Which brought something else to mind. “How is the New York press
dealing with Sara Hunt’s murder?” he inquired.
    “ From the way Mancuso spoke,
there’s been little press coverage of the case. Apparently there’s
been a bumper crop of murders in the Big Apple lately and the cops
are under a lot of pressure, so they’re going with the attitude
that they don’t have time to spare for press conferences when they
could be out on the streets catching criminals instead. Evidently,
it’s working.”
    Sam made a mental note to check out the
last few weeks’ editions of the New York Times, Post, and the Daily
News to see what had been written regarding Sara Hunt’s
murder.
    “ One thing puzzles me, Rog.
How come nobody here was informed of Sara Hunt’s death until today?
You’d think that someone would have been notified before
now.”
    “ Hell if I know. The only
thing I can figure is that Sara apparently no longer has any ties
to Smithtown; family or otherwise. She wasn’t born and raised
here—her family is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania—and she
only lived here for a couple of years. Her family moved back to
Pennsylvania not long after Sara’s graduation.”
    Sam vaguely recalled now that Sara Hunt
had been “the new kid in town” when she started attending Smithtown
High her junior year. He said, “She surely made some friends while
she was here, though. In fact, I seem to recall that she hung out
with Marsha Bradley occasionally, if I’m not mistaken. At any rate,
I’d like to at least let the town know that Sara Hunt is dead. It
may be old news, but I certainly think it’s worthy of
mention.”
    Roger thought it over and said, “Okay,
go ahead and do it. I don’t think Thompson will give a shit. But
don’t even hint that there might be a connection between the two
murders. All right?”
    “ Gee, thanks for letting me
do my job, good buddy! I’m forever grateful,” Sam jabbed. In a more
serious tone he added, “I won’t tie them in, don’t worry. I’ll just
go with the angle, ”Former Local Woman Found Murdered In New York,”
or something to that effect. I’d like a recent picture of her
though, and some background info if you’ve got any
there.”
    Roger leafed through the stack of
papers lying on the desk and pulled out the New York police report.
“I’ll make a copy of this report for you. As for a picture, I’ve
already asked Mancuso to send me everything he has as soon as he
gets a chance. There’ll probably be a picture of some kind
coming.”
    “ Okay.”
    “ By the way, when are you
going to be done writing the other article? Thompson’s been
breathing down my neck to get Marsha’s file back from
you.”
    “ I’m going straight over to
the paper and finish it after I leave here. I’ll drop the file off
on my way home,” Sam promised.
    “ Okay. I’m going to take
MacPherson and go question some of the Bradley’s neighbors. I’m
holding off on questioning Dave again until tomorrow. Give the poor
guy a chance to get