Baker was a short, gray-haired man in his early fifties, with a gruff, impatient manner fueled by a brilliant, restless mind. He wore rumpled suits that looked as if they had been slept in, and Dana suspected that they had been. He ran WTN, the Washington Tribune Enterprises television operation.

Elliot Cromwell was in his sixties, with a friendly, open manner and a ready smile. He was a billionaire, but there were a dozen different accounts of how he had achieved his vast fortune, some of them not flattering. In the media business, where the object was to disseminate information, Elliot Cromwell was an enigma.

He looked at Dana and said, «Matt tells me we're beating the competition again. Your ratings keep going up.»

«I'm glad to hear that, Elliot.»

«Dana, I listen to a half-dozen newscasts every night, but yours is different from the others. I'm not exactly sure why, but I like it.»

Dana could have told Elliot Cromwell why. Other newscasters were talking at—not to—audiences of millions, announcing the news. Dana had decided to make it personal. In her mind, she would be talking one night to a lonely widow, the next night to a shut-in, lying helpless in bed, and the next to a solitary salesman somewhere far away from his home and family. Her news reports sounded private and intimate, and viewers loved them and responded to them.

«I understand you're going to have an exciting guest to interview tonight,» Matt Baker said.

Dana nodded. «Gary Winthrop.»

Gary Winthrop was America's Prince Charming. A member of one of the country's most prominent families, he was young, handsome, charismatic.

«He doesn't like personal publicity,» Cromwell said. «How did you get him to agree?»

«We have a common hobby,» Dana told him.

Cromwell's brows furled. «Really?»

«Yes.» Dana smiled. «I like to look at Monets and vanGoghs, and he likes to buy them. Seriously, I've interviewed him before, and we've become friendly. We'll run a tape of his news conference, which we'll cover this afternoon. My interview will be a follow-up.»