Chapter 19: What Journalism Is

Marcus took her to dinner six weeks after publication. Not a celebration dinner — Marcus didn't do celebration dinners. An occasion dinner: the kind that marked something significant by being slightly better food than the usual working lunches. 'The mine story has been cited in four congressional hearings,' he said. 'I know.' 'The DOJ investigation has expanded to two other operations connected to the same holding company network.' 'I know that too.' 'The follow-up piece won a regional journalism award.' He looked at her. 'You knew about that this morning and you didn't say anything.' 'It's a regional award,' she said. 'It's a regional award for a story that started a federal investigation,' Marcus said. 'That's not small.' He poured wine. 'How did you know to come when Pete's letter arrived?' Dana thought about this. She had received many letters over eleven years — tips, leads, invitations from people with various agendas. Most of them she didn't follow up. Pete's had been different. 'The handwriting,' she said finally. 'It was very careful. Not calligraphic — careful. The way someone writes when they want to be sure they're understood. People who are trying to manipulate you don't write carefully. They write quickly, confidently, because the manipulation is the point and the letter is just the vehicle.' She looked at her glass. 'Pete wrote carefully because he wasn't sure I'd come. He wasn't trying to convince me. He was just trying to be clear.' 'And that's what made you go,' Marcus said. 'That's what made me go,' she said.