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face off in front of everyone. Yes, it had been a mistake to book Baylor, but not one that justified a public reaming. And why had Carter felt the need to come to my rescue? Who did he think I was, Bambi ? Maybe he’d been trying to demonstrate solidarity as my coanchor. But he also might have been showing off.
    My one consolation about the whole episode: Vicky had looked like the real fool, standing there in a headful of rollers with her whole face covered in what appeared to be spackle.
    I probably should have known that Baylor was a regular on Vicky’s show, but I rarely watched it: too much braying and pontificating for my taste. I wondered why Maddy hadn’t figured it out when she’d vetted the guests. Surely Tom would have known about Baylor. He’d been at the network for ten years. Speaking of Tom, where was he during the shit storm?
    I massaged my temples with the tips of my fingers. Had I sustained any damage tonight? Vicky wielded huge power at the network, and I didn’t want to end up on the wrong side of her. She was the type who probably kept an enemies list on her BlackBerry.
    I glanced at my watch. It was after eight, but Ann frequently worked this late. I grabbed my phone and tapped her office number.
    “So you’re still here?” I said when she answered.
    “Yeah, I’m about to jump on a conference call with the West Coast. Everything okay?”
    “Not really. I stepped in some doo-doo tonight after the show.”
    “With Carter?”
    “No. Believe it or not, with Vicky Cruz. I’d love your advice.”
    “This call won’t take long. Why don’t you come up in about ten minutes?”
    Disconnecting, I looked up to see Alex standing in the doorway of my office. “Have you got time to talk about what happened?” he asked.
    “Yeah, we definitely need to talk.”
    He dragged over the spare chair and sat down. He looked concerned but not rattled. Obviously, a few years in the DA’s office had been like a course in unflappability.
    “I’m really sorry about what happened tonight,” he said. “I’m not going to make any excuses.”
    “Actually, I’d like to hear a few excuses,” I said. “What the hell happened?”
    “I try to watch Vicky’s show, but I’ve never seen Baylor on it, and the guy said nothing to the booker about being under contract—or to me during the pre-interview. I have a feeling he assumed we knew he was a Vicky regular and had cleared it with her EP.”
    “And Maddy didn’t discover the connection when she checked him out?”
    He sighed. “Actually, she did. She admitted to me a few minutes ago that she found video on YouTube of Baylor on Vicky’s show, but since it was the same network, it didn’t cross her mind that there would be a problem. It’s hard to fault her. At most networks, people share guests.”
    “Yeah, well, this isn’t most networks,” I said. “At this one there’s Vicky, and then there’s the rest of us. You’ve got to tell Maddy not to make assumptions—ever.”
    “I already have.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t get why Tom didn’t warn us. He knows everything that goes on around here.”
    Alex didn’t say anything.
    “You told him, right?” I said. I was going to clobber him if he hadn’t.
    “Of course,” Alex said, bristling. “I may be fairly new at the game, but I know what the rules are. I sent him an email saying we liked Baylor, and then a follow-up after I did the pre-interview.”
    “And he said Baylor was okay?”
    “He never responded. But that’s the way it’s been working at the moment. He says he’s too busy right now to respond to all emails, but we should consider them read. If there’s a problem, he gets in touch.”
    I could sense there was something Alex wasn’t saying. From what I’d seen so far, he was the master of discretion, and I’d need a crowbar to extract anything else. “So does he know about Vicky’s outburst?” I asked.
    “He didn’t seem to be around after the show. Carter said he’d