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white noise, but he’d grown accustomed to the space it filled up.
    After Kristal was born, he became more particular about what they watched as a family—the History Channel or Discovery mostly.
    Today, the TV was turned to National Geographic while Landry went through the tabloids.
    He knew a lot more about Brienne Cross now. She was unknown until she appeared on America’s Newest Star , which helped her single, “Stealthy Lovin’,” make it to the top of the country charts. She appeared in some movies and released a Grammy-winning country album, Marfa Lights . When she became a judge on America’s Newest Star , Brienne became an even bigger celebrity. Eventually this led to her own reality show, Soul Mate .
    Landry had gone out and bought up every celebrity magazine with Brienne Cross on the cover. He’d printed up reams of information from TMZ and sites like it. Her death still generated publicity all these weeks later. The family had yet to arrange for a burial; for some reason there had been a holdup at the medical examiner’s office in LA. This created a great deal of hysteria. People wanted to see America’s Princess squared away. They wanted a big funeral they could all participate in from their living rooms. Half the tabloids hinted at a conspiracy theory.
    He read about the lone survivor, Nick Holloway. Landry had been briefed about the survivor one day later, after he had gone to Salida, Colorado, to carry out the rest of the mission. The sheriff’s cars racing by on Castle Creek Road had distracted them from going back into the house and checking everywhere.
    A black mark on Landry’s once-pristine record.
    But lucky for Nick Holloway.
    They’d let it go. A reporter for Esquire wasn’t important in the scheme of things.
    Nick Holloway was a lucky man.
    Back to Brienne Cross. The Internet generated lots of stories, but most of them harped on the same themes. They concentrated either on her extreme behavior, or the idea that in most ways she was just like regular people. For example, she liked Burger King. Apparently, the idea that she was just like a regular person was very important to the people who read the fan magazines.
    There was little point in reading this garbage, so he just looked at the photos—inhaled them. Even the ones where Brienne was featured as the “worst dressed” celeb for the week. In fact, he liked these photos best because he could see a little more of her as a person. Her inner conflict showed on her face; she knew she was dressed like a trailer park hooker. He wondered why she did it. In the photos she would look at turns tentative, defiant, and worried. Sometimes, it was clear she’d made a clothing mistake but was going out there anyway.
    He admired that.
    “Anyone who has ever had a personal encounter with a Florida cottonmouth knows where it got its name,” the announcer on National Geographic said.
    Landry looked at the television. He’d encountered a cottonmouth once, when he was at SDV school outside Panama City, Florida.
    Landry opened to the article in US Weekly magazine. There she was with her golden retriever, Charlie, and her teacup Chihuahua, Spike.
    “Contrary to popular belief, a venomous snake’s bite is rarely life-threatening…”
    Landry knew of people who had been bitten by venomous snakes. Most of them did fine because there was so little snake venom actually injected into their wounds. This was because snakes had only so much venom, and they used it to paralyze prey. They didn’t like to waste it.
    Landry turned the page. There was a story about the reality show, Soul Mate . Below were the photos of the four remaining contestants. He remembered them in a different context. He read their stories, seeing them for the first time as human beings with petty problems and lofty aspirations. He read each of their names aloud—the show producer, Justin Balough, Brendan Shayles, Amber Redmond, Connor Fallon, and Tanya Williams.
    Brendan Shayles was the