Photo cameras flashed aggressively while video cameras buzzed calmly.
The press conference had been hastily arranged. Reporters all spoke at the same time as they tried to get their microphones as close to the Police Chief as they could. I sat against the wall and watched them. They made me think of a disturbed beehive or anthill, buzzing angrily as they craved information. It was a war, an information war, where he who managed to get the news out first would be named on the radio and TV programs, and their newspaper would be named and sell more copies than the rest. It was a war with no deaths, but with many more victims than any other; staff lost their jobs, sometimes their house, just because their newspaper was not the first to get the big story.
The Chief stood there, trying to answer the questions that were being thrown at him. We were lying to them, telling them we had people of interest who we were watching, in the hope that the accomplice would make a mistake. It was a wild shot but it was all we had.
More questions were fired at the Police Chief. It was clear he was hating this, but Petra stood next to him, smiling as she fielded some of the questions. The press were ruthless, aggressive even; they felt they had been lied to. Not that we cared about that at all; for now, they were a just a tool. One of the reporters glanced at me as he stood up and raised his hand to ask a question. The Police Chief pointed at him. “Yes, thank you. James Xrobzix for the Herald Gazette. Care to tell us why Tara Duluc, the saving gem of New Billingham, is here today? Is she also working on this?” He gave me what I could only describe as a deviant grin.
The Chief looked at him. “Yes, Miss Duluc is indeed working with us on this. She is an invaluable asset to the team.” It was a politically expedient answer, even if it didn’t reflect how the Chief actually felt.
The reporter didn’t sit down. The grin stayed on his face. “And how do your officers feel to have a possessed person working on the case? One who, if my sources are correct, was fired for exactly that reason?”
I was confused. How did he know this, and why was he asking these questions?
Petra took the microphone. “Your sources are indeed correct. Miss Duluc was let go from the police force because of her possession. It was deemed that she could not deliver the quality in her work that we ask of our police officers. Since then, Miss Duluc has proven herself to be a more than adequate private investigator, and her knowledge of the city’s territories has proven to be invaluable in this investigation.” The man remained standing. “Any chance we can get the names of the suspects?” he asked, as some of the other reporters started making angry sounds. They clearly felt neglected while this James Xrobzix hogged the limelight; they were afraid he would get more than they did, that the Herald Gazette would be the first paper to publish the story. The Chief answered his question. “In light of the fact these people are of interest, but not yet official suspects, we are not in a position to disclose names. As soon as there is concrete evidence that they are involved, the names of these individuals will be released.”
Xrobzix smiled like he had just caught the big fish. “So you mean you do not have enough evidence to be able to arrest these people and interrogate them?” he asked.
Damn it, this guy knew how to ask and get the answers he wanted. If the Chief were to mess up the reporter would win and that would be the worst thing that could happen now. If the press didn’t take the lies we were trying to spoon feed them then there was no point in this. I saw the Chief sweat, looking desperately for answers to the questions the man had asked. He wasn’t prepared to face this many people and just blatantly lie to them. Even Petra gave me a concerned look. I had to act. Just like in the case I had to act instead of standing on the sidelines discussing what we should do. I stepped up onto the platform and walked to the microphone. “Well you see, Mr. Xrobzix of the Herald Gazette, if we gave you names, those people could flee the city and then all the evidence we do have would be useless. So, to answer your question: yes, we do have sufficient cause to ask those people in to the station for questioning, but we would like to have more information before we do that, to allow us to crossreference what we are told with the information we already have to see if the suspect knows more than he could have read in the press.”
It was a generic response and the information was next to useless; I was only telling them a pretty standard police technique for cracking minor crimes. The reporter looked at me, clearly unhappy with my reply but couldn’t be bothered to pursue it further. “No further questions,” he said as he sat down.
As the Police Chief returned to the microphone the room exploded with questions from the other reporters. The Chief simply looked at them and said, “Press conference is over.” The three of us walked out of the room as the reporters kept firing questions at us. We ignored them as we kept walking; there was nothing more to say at this time. All we could do now was hope the press would do what we wanted them to do and would cause the person helping the murderer to make that one mistake that would expose him to the world.  

Next Chapter: Hourglass