Chapter 4: Aftermath, Part 2

Denise met Matt and Pranthi at the door of the Journal. Her black hair was the exact shade of the suit she wore. Her bright red lips were the only colour on her.

"I heard the bulletin on the radio. Please tell me you have permission to use these pictures of the attack." She stood in the doorway forcing Pranthi to stand on the sidewalk.

"Matt has some very cute pictures of a dog made up to be a zombie," Pranthi gave her brightest smile. The sound of Denise's teeth grinding made her grin wider, but it wasn't getting her paid. "Look, do you want to stand out here on the sidewalk and look at them, or can we find a desk? I know you have all kinds of time before the night edition comes out, but I hear a hot bath calling my name."

"Don't be sarcastic with me," Denise stepped back from the door and let them in. It clicked shut behind them. Pranthi had a brief vision of them staring through the glass at masses of attacking zombies.

"I'm not being sarcastic," Pranthi said, "I've been on my feet all day and I need that bath."

The grinding started again as Denise led them to her office. Pranthi sat on the chair and heaved a sigh.

"You have no idea how good that feels."

"What happened to your legs?" Matt asked.

"My mother arranged to have my legs run over by a truck," Pranthi said. "She wanted me to be a more effective beggar. My sister brought me here from India, but there wasn't much they could do aside from clapping torture devices on my legs and pronouncing me cured. I'm neither married nor a beggar, and so remain a disappointment to both sister and mother."

"Can we just look at the pictures?" Denise tapped the desk between each word. Pranthi pulled her tablet out of her bag and handed it to Denise.

"Just swipe through until you see what you want. Then we'll talk price."

"I'll give you a thousand without even looking at them."

"I turned down an offer of five thousand to not show them."

"The police cleared these?"

"No one said not to sell the shots." She smacked her head, "No, I'm wrong. I told them not to."

"I can't give you five, even if you caught the guy in the act of killing the girl."

Pranthi took the tablet back and swiped through to a series of shots, then handed it back to Denise.

She looked at the pictures and turned green. "Sorry," Denise said as she ran out of the room.

"Hope she makes it to the washroom," Pranthi said. Matt reached for the tablet but Pranthi rapped his knuckles. "Show me your dog pictures."

Matt pulled up his camera and scanned through endless pictures before handing the camera to Pranthi.

"Not too shabby," Pranthi said. "You got down to the dog's level and caught that drool coming out of his mouth. The girl looks ridiculous, but the shot's about the dog not her. Hope you aren't looking for a hot date if this gets published."

"She had a very, not-dead, boyfriend tapping his toes and talking about riding his Harley after the walk. He looked more like a scooter guy, but I make it a policy not to date girls with baggage, especially wannabe biker type baggage." He looked over at Pranthi and gave what Pranthi guessed was supposed to be a winning smile.

"Baggage, Matt," Pranthi said. She slapped her legs. "Lots of baggage."

Denise came back into the room and sat down. She picked up the tablet and scrolled through the shots.

"I can go three," Denise said. "We get everything from the walk, copyright reverts to you at the end of the week."

Pranthi looked up at the ceiling, she'd be able to sell them again to a monthly rag for an in-depth story. Someone would want to do one.

"Four and a half," Pranthi said, "and I shop them around now so they can print them before it's old news."

"Four," Denise glared at her. "Don't care when you sell them, as long as they don't print before the end of the week."

"Good enough," Pranthi said. "You want them raw or processed?"

"I'll pay whatever your usual rate for post is, if you can do it here and now. You have half an hour until I need the pictures to mock up the front page."

"Give me the sizes and I'll do them."

"I thought you wanted a bath," Denise said.

"My processing fee is a hundred bucks an hour," Pranthi said. "That will pay for the taxi." She took the tablet back from Denise. "Which ones do you want?"

She slipped the chosen shots into a folder and started working on them. Fingers flying across the screen, she bumped clarity and saturation. Newsprint ruined pictures but she'd do what she could.

"Look at Matt's picture of the cute dog, you can use it for the family section," Pranthi said without looking up from her work. Matt gave her a look of gratitude and another lopsided smile.

"Baggage, Matt," Pranthi said, her fingers still dancing over the tablet. "Not just carry-on either. Full set, hard sided. The kind that give baggage handlers hernias."

Matt laughed and showed Denise his shots.

Twenty-nine minutes later, Pranthi walked out the door with fifty dollars in cash and a signed contract for another four thousand dollars.