Chapter 13: Dana and Martin

She told Martin on the fourth evening that she was going to write the story. Not a question — a statement. She had been building toward it since Pete's coffee and Martin knew it and was waiting. 'I know,' he said. 'The documentation is solid. The structure of the holding company, the permit irregularities, Driscoll's connection to the federal contract — it's enough to publish with verification.' 'And Mira?' Dana looked at her notes. The woman who had orchestrated all of this — who had divided the evidence, written the false story, asked an entire town to carry it for three years — was somewhere she'd chosen not to be found. Pete didn't know where. Martin didn't know. Katherine said Mira had told her only that she would know when it was time to come back. 'I need to tell it in a way that doesn't put her at risk,' Dana said. 'Can you do that?' 'I can tell the mine story. The holding company, the permit, Driscoll. I don't have to say where the documentation came from — I have it, I can verify it independently.' She looked at him. 'The story doesn't need Mira. The story is the mine and the cover-up. Mira is the reason I'm sitting in this library, but she doesn't have to be in the story itself.' Martin was quiet for a moment. 'She trusted you to come,' he said. 'Pete trusted that someone would.' 'Pete sent a letter to a stranger.' 'Pete sent a letter to a journalist with a specific kind of record,' Martin said. 'He'd read your work. He knew what you'd done with sources before.' He looked at her. 'He didn't invite a journalist. He invited you.' She sat with this. 'I'm going to get it right,' she said.