It was already afternoon when Arthur walked back to 2 Kirk Street from the Shire District Police Department, but he was in an excellent mood-
Cries of "Extra!" drew people's attention.
The newsboys had not stopped working since morning.
Not only had last night's "Lady of the Long Night's Salon murder case" made the special edition.
The incident of "Coste and Emond's deaths at the hands of a vengeful evil spirit" had also made the afternoon extra after Scott's interview that morning.
It was precisely because of Scott's interview that Arthur had returned late.
It certainly wasn't because he wanted to watch the head chefs of the White Rose and the Red Rose eat their own specialties.
Making them eat the food they had prepared was what Arthur had asked Maltz to do.
It wasn't an unreasonable request.
He simply wanted the two head chefs to eat their signature dishes.
And they had to finish every last bite.
Leave a morsel, get a slap.
Scott would administer the slaps himself.
When Arthur left, the two head chefs had miserably worked their way through half their food, while Scott had asked Maltz for an iron gauntlet-clearly, the maggot that had hopped into his mouth had left an indelible scar on the young reporter. Only swinging his arm with all his might to vent his fury could fully erase it.
By afternoon, the morning clouds had long since dispersed.
People who had no idea what had happened in South Los continued living at their own pace. Warm sunlight spilled over the ground, drying the muddy streets and allowing the newsboys to run at full speed.
Four groups of newsboys had already run past Arthur.
Clearly, the newspapers were selling well.
People had not grown tired of him, the "Medium."
Or perhaps...
Today's