Chapter 8
Edie Edwards hadn't had much luck on following up on the tip from her jail guard source; she had contacted the media office at Domestic Relations, but no one had returned her calls.
Next, she tried both Judge Freeman's court clerk and secretary, both who had declined to comment on the case, and with what little she had gleaned from both her jail guard connection and the arrest report she'd managed to ferret out from yet another connection, Edie hadn't had much to piece together a juicy story after all.
And then her cell phone rang with a call that would change her luck for the better.
Karen Hurley had not only been one of the friends from Lori Anne's coffee klatch, she had also been a sorority sister of Edie's in college and kept in touch with her on a regular basis.
When she'd gotten word that Paul had been tossed behind bars, Karen had dialed Edie's phone most of the afternoon, getting the voice mail. Now her old sorority sister picked up.
"Finally!" she cried. "I've been trying to get you all afternoon!"
"Karen, I may be on to a big story here; I don't have much time for chit chat," Edie responded.
"Which is exactly why I called you. That story wouldn't be about London in the slammer for being a deadbeat, would it?"
Edie stopped short. "How did you guess? Do you know something?"
"Let's just say I know someone that can give you some additional gory details."
"I already talked to people at the jail and saw the police report, Karen. You have to do better than that."
"Will you keep your thong on, Edie? I happen to be a very good friend of the mother."
Edie grabbed a pad and pen quickly. "Did you say….the mother?"
"What, did I stutter? Yes, the kid's mother. She and I are good friends. As a matter of fact, we kind of have this coffee circle thing every Friday morning, which is how I found out Mr. Deadbeat Dad got his ass tossed in the clink by two linebacker sized coppers."
"Well, does Mom have a name?"
"I can not only give you a name, but also an address and phone number. I can also bet as pissed off as she is, she'll sing like a canary and give you one hell of a story. Nothing like a mad mama who gets both screwed out of her child support and the old man skipping out on seeing his kid to have the woman spill it all, trust me."
"A name and phone number will suffice for now, Karen."
"Name's Lori Anne Remington," Karen said, giving out a phone number to Edie. "She just started a new job, but is off until Monday because they're painting the offices. Kid's away at camp, so it's a good time as any to catch her if you want that story. As you used to say when you worked on the college paper, always strike while the iron is hot."
"Oh the iron has definitely gotten hot again, thanks to you, Miss Hurley," Edie laughed. "And I am about to strike it big time."
"Let me know when all hell is about to break loose," Karen chuckled back.
"Trust me, Karen, in this day of the information age, it will be sooner than you think once Tim gets hold of all of this."
Later:
Lori Anne hadn't really wanted to do the interview with the woman reporter at first; she wasn't keen on wrestling news and rumor sites and often discouraged Brittany from reading them, blocking the majority of them from her daughter's computer.
But when the woman identified herself as Edie Edwards, Lori Anne knew who she was immediately. Even the most novice visitor to news sites knew about Edie and the website where she did reporting and her columns; she was perhaps one of the most powerful women writers online.
Lori Anne had seen many a star pushed or de-pushed just by an Edie Edwards article alone, that was how well respected (or feared, depending on whom one asked) the woman was, and though she'd blocked many sites from Brittany's computer, Lori Anne didn't block WrestleNews, especially Edie's features.
The site's owner and editor, Tim Sullivan, was a stickler for accuracy and the truth; having such a stellar reputation, he'd developed good relationships with several wrestling promotions, a feat not done by many sites.
And being his top reporter, Edie spoke nothing less than the truth, though her readers may not have always liked it.
Sullivan was also a hound for a good news story, and when Edie had told him about Paul being locked up for child support issues and about the tip from Karen, Sullivan gave her carte blanche to call Lori Anne for an interview. It would a story of the month and get tongues wagging, he said.
A wholesome-appearing dude as a deadbeat dad? Maybe not as big as the whole Benoit sturm und drang, but big nevertheless.
So when Edie called her about Paul's arrest on falling behind on child support, Lori Anne agreed to talk to her—on the condition that her child was not brought up. She valued the child's privacy and wanted it kept that way.
Edie agreed, and the interview proceeded. She was more interested in how the deadbeat son of a bitch cheated this poor, hard-working woman out of her rightful support anyway.
Later that night:
"You never did say where you came up with the three grand," Paul said.
"Like I said, for me to know and you to find out. You got sprung from the joint, didn't you?" Brian said, raising an eyebrow. "And barely in time for that house show or both our asses would have been on the line."
"For all that was worth. We lost anyway."
"Nice to see you still have such a sunny attitude."
"If you spent ten hours in jail, you wouldn't exactly be Mr. Smiley either, Midget."
"If you'd paid your fucking support on time like you were supposed to, you wouldn't have sat in jail for ten hours and I wouldn't have had to gone around like my ass was on fire scraping up three grand to get you out in order to save our jobs," Brian countered. "You're hanging on a string as it is. Instead of bitching, you should be kissing my ass. If it weren't for me, you'd be having 'we wish him luck in future endeavors' under your name right now and on your way back to Urban Outfitters."
"Okay, okay, you're right; I shouldn't be such a downer. It's been a shitty day. But wherever you got that money, thanks, man. I owe you one."
"Damn right you do, especially after I had to make excuses to people as to where you were all day, not to mention the weird looks I noticed when we came back to the hotel earlier."
"What weird looks?" Paul wondered.
"It's kind of hard to describe, but people kept staring."
"Dude, we've been in this company how long; people stare all the time. You just now figured that out?"
"I know that, dumb fuck," Brian rolled his eyes. "But these were different looks, most of them aimed at you."
"What, did I have toilet paper hanging off my shoe or something?"
"Who the hell knows with some people. Anyway, what's up tonight? You going to mess with your teen bimbos again?"
"Either that or deal with the loons downstairs," Paul said, opening his laptop and booted it. "And I'm not in the mood to deal with a crowd of idiots tonight."
"Good point. I'll get us some food in the meantime."
Several minutes passed while each was doing their own thing before Paul came across WrestleNews and went white.
"Fucking hell!" he bellowed.
"What?" Brian said, coming back over.
"Oh, God. Fucking WrestleNews. That skank Edie Edwards got hold of me being in jail today. Even the damn mug shot. It's all over the site as their top story. Christ!"
"Oh shit…" Brian muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"And that's just the beginning. Lori Anne talked to the fucking bitch! Not only is me being locked up on here for the world to see, but the whole bullshit from ten years ago too! Wasn't it enough she had me locked up? Did she have to have me barbecued on a spit via Edie Edwards too?"
"There has to be a reason she talked to the woman."
"Yeah, she's got a bug up her ass that I didn't write the checks fast enough to satisfy her so this was her way of getting even. That and having me thrown in jail."
"No, I don't think that's it, PL," Brian shook his head. "It has to go deeper than that. Granted she's got a bad temper and bullheaded as hell, but I don't think she had any say in you being locked up. And judging from what I read on this thing so far, if she was pissed off about the support thing, she'd mentioned the kid at least once. There's nothing in here at all about Brittany."
"What?"
"Nope. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada."
"Then why the hell would she agree to talk to that Edwards bitch if Britt wasn't mentioned?"
"I have a feeling it was for that exact reason," Brian replied. "Her issue isn't with the child support and she probably agreed to talk only if Brittany wasn't brought into it. Her issue is likely with you, and something tells me you better find out what the hell it is before it blows up in all your faces, including your kid's."
