Project Bowl: The Typewriter Trials

After speaking with Silk the other week, I have been kindly welcomed into the Fictional Friday group. The stories will follow a series of letters written between to rival newspaper editors in The Great Metropolis region... enjoy!

Dear Mr Rittenborg

The news of your daughter's death struck me with great pain. Seeing her photo in your editorial this morning reminded me that we both, perhaps, can lay aside our differences and find the person who murdered her. Yes, that is right, I said murdered. Her death was no accident. The clandestine nature of her job was something that she had tried to keep from you. When she learned that you had discovered her involvement with Tidy Box Inc. and that you were writing an article for The Exposer revealing what takes place in the company, she feared for her life. She feared the work that had gone into extracting hardcore evidence would go to waste should you publish. But at the same time she had failed you, her father, because of your views of this organization and their obvious immoral stance.

Despite my dislike for you and your work, you do, however, deserve to know the truth. Firstly, let me inform you that she was not actually working for this firm but rather for me and my paper, The Daily Sleaze, and working as an undercover reporter to gather factual evidence we could present to the authorities. Your paper is known for printing fabricated stories based on falsified sources and your daughter - a woman I would define as a real journalist - worked for us to print what the people of this world want to hear: the cold hard truth! But we were never going to even attempt to run the presses without giving the authorities the evidence we had gathered and a chance to act before tipping off the criminals who had weaseled their way into politics.

She knows you would have spurned her had you discovered she was working for me - your nemesis and sworn arch-enemy - and the owner of the paper you have, in public, referred to as corrupt. She would rather risk you thinking she was nothing more than a high-act whore who slept with senators in an attempt to buy votes and opinions than let you know she was working for me.

But now is not the time for our differences to set in. Your son-in-law, Jack, is in great danger and his life is apparently at risk too. Yes, he worked for me also. He sent me this postcard which I received from China telling me, in code, to check his private web site. He had given me the password several years ago and I actually thought it was since a defunct URL. It appears not. His private and secure diary states that Elgar Erwitt is the man who murdered his wife - your daughter. I just heard that Jack's hideout was burned to the ground this morning in a freak fire accident and, indeed, I found this photo on the AP news wire. You can check these facts out for yourself. I do not know if he is now dead or alive and I have heard no confirmation from my correspondent over there.

I suggest you do not publish your planned article yet on Tidy Box Inc. because there is something far more sinister going on. The loss of Mary-Jo's life is a testament to that fact! Together we can expose the truth and I am not interested in trying to trump you by publishing a story first. I do not trust any form of communication right now - especially telecommunication or e-mail - and I recommend we keep in contact via snail mail for now. I hate typewriters but it does feel a little like those old days - you remember them, right? We can use our personal couriers to deliver them and for added security we can seal them with our rings. You still have your graduation seal ring I assume?

In closing I want to include perhaps the last photograph of your daughter taken just five day ago when she performed at the Light Sabre Exotic Dance Convention in Toronto. I know you will not approve of her involvement but I felt you should at least see her. She was as divine and beautiful as her mother. You are a lucky man but your bitterness has driven some great people away from you in your life. It is time for some redemption

Sincerely yours

(Signed) Albert Minterjok

Check out the other Fictional Friday publications from this week:
(If I have not listed you please shout and let me know!)

Phoenix - Spy Sistah Chronicles Chapter Six builds on the amazing series we have been experiencing over the past month(ish) and is, I confess, something of an addiction. Excellent writing!

Jeffers - The Home Fires Burn Brightly remains true to what I call 'honest-to-life' writing and we can see that dark endings are sometimes what we need as a readers.

Silk - Sword of Honor is, once again, a crafted work of art from the woman who sets these literary tasks and, I must confess, I had heard a rumor she was going to not write any more fiction... I am glad it was only a rumor!

Dawn - Family Inferno shows a more compassion tie-up to a tale than the words formed from by her other half.