The satellite truck had set up in the sprawling parking lot of an enterprising gas station owner. The KEY News team arrived to find that trucks devoted to Entertainment Tonight, ABC, NBC, and CBS were parked there as well. Caroline recognized several on-air talents standing outside their respective rigs, some of them talking on cell phones, others checking their BlackBerries and pacing as they practiced their lines for live transmission at airtime.
“Having the field to ourselves couldn’t last forever,” said Annabelle.
Inside the truck, Lamar fed almost a half hour of raw video to the KEY News Broadcast Center in New York City while Caroline sent her script to the Fishbowl for approval via computer. She felt relief and satisfaction that the senior producers sitting in the glass-walled Evening Headlines nerve center suggested only minor tweaking.
“All set, Caroline?” Boomer held out a lip mike.
Caroline nodded and cleared her throat. “Belinda Winthrop, Remington Peters track for Evening Headlines in three, two, one.”
Even as she heard herself say the words, Caroline couldn’t quite believe she was reporting for the network’s flagship broadcast. She, who had no experience in hard news, would be telling millions of people what was going on up here.
“The Berkshires are known for two things: nature and culture. People who live here year-round, or come to vacation, value beauty and serenity. But in Warrenstown, Massachusetts, home of the legendary Warrenstown Summer Playhouse, loveliness and tranquillity have been shattered this summer. Two young theater apprentices were killed in a car accident last weekend, a town librarian was found murdered Thursday morning, and the Academy, Emmy, and Tony award winner Belinda Winthrop has been missing for two days.
“Insert sound bite of woman in theater lobby: ‘I can’t even let myself think about something happening to Belinda Winthrop. She’s been bringing me, and so many other people, happiness for years. She’s an extraordinary talent.’”
Caroline paused to give further editing instructions. “Okay, this is the place to bring up some sound from the video we just fed in of Belinda onstage opening night.”
After clearing her throat again, she continued her narration. “Winthrop has been coming to Warrenstown every summer for the last twenty years. This season, she was starring in the premiere of Devil in the Details, a new play that is expected to be headed for literary awards and Hollywood glory.
“Insert sound bite from interview done with Belinda Winthrop on opening night: ‘Imagine being associated with someone who has no conscience. Victoria Sterling has given us a staggering view of the true terror it must be to be joined to a sociopath. I count myself fortunate to be able to interpret this rich and fabulous material.’
“Back to track: But after an opening-night performance which was hailed as a triumph, Belinda Winthrop disappeared following a cast party at her home. Today, police and volunteers combed her one-hundred-fifty-acre country estate. One of the actress’s shoes was found in the woods. Police also found eighty pounds of marijuana stored in the cellar of a carriage house on Winthrop’s property. The carriage house is the home and studio of acclaimed Berkshire landscape artist and Winthrop portraitist, Remington Peters. He was taken into custody and then released on bail.
“Edit in my question and his answer,” Caroline instructed into the microphone. “I ask: ‘Do you have any speculation about how the marijuana got there?’ He answers: ‘I don’t know for sure, but I’ve seen things at night, things falling from the sky. Maybe that has something to do with it.’
“More track: The artist is known for being reclusive and somewhat eccentric. He came to live on the Winthrop estate after a fire destroyed his previous studio, incinerating all of his portraits of Belinda Winthrop in seventeen successive roles on the Warrenstown Summer Playhouse stage. Peters’s latest portrait, of Winthrop as Valerie in Devil in the Details, was scheduled to be unveiled this week, but at the last minute, Peters refused to show the work, claiming it wasn’t ready. KEY News has obtained exclusive video of the current portrait.
“Okay,” said Caroline. “Cover that last sentence with the video taken with the camcorder of the painting on the easel in Remington’s studio, and let it run over the next sentences as well.
“These alarming images show a character in direct opposition to the role Belinda Winthrop is playing onstage. Valerie is a fear-tortured character as she comes to realize her husband is a sociopath. In Peters’s portrait, Valerie looks like the one who is doing the torturing. Remington Peters has never made any secret of the fact that he fell in love with Belinda Winthrop twenty years ago, when they were working together at the Summer Playhouse. The actress rejected him.
“Now put in the Remington sound bite; pick it up at: ‘An artist’s feelings for his subject influence his work.’
“And finally, edit in the stand-up close shot in front of Winthrop’s farmhouse with the carriage house in the background.
“Still, a disturbing painting and some marijuana do not prove anything. It will be up to the police to unravel this case as the search for Belinda Winthrop continues. Caroline Enright, KEY News, Warrenstown.”