"A cell phone, business cards, some feminine products, and some change."
"How did you deal with these items?"
"I used the change, hid the phone and the backpack, planning to exchange them for money later, and I also sold one of the business cards to Pari Jones."
"How much did you sell it for?"
"The video for four thousand US dollars, and the business card for one thousand US dollars."
Michael laughed, "You really missed your calling in business."
"Do you realize these are evidence from a crime scene?"
"Does Pari Jones know?"
"How could that cunning woman not know?" Michael pleaded, "Detective Chief Luke, I've told you everything I know, should we start talking about a plea deal now?"
Luke pressed on, "You should know the importance of this video. If you could sell the video and the business card to Pari Jones, why not give one to the police?
You could have sent it anonymously to the police, without disrupting your side business."
Michael was taken aback, "That woman told me not to do it. She wanted it as an exclusive news story, said that the video should not be seen by anyone else, let alone reported to the police until the news station had broadcast it.
That was part of our deal, that woman wanted to make a big splash with the news."
"Is what you just said true?"
"Are you willing to become a cooperating witness and testify against Pari Jones?"
After leaving the interrogation room, Michael muttered, "That video is really weird, why did that person try to bite Nicole.
'Could it actually be a vampire?'"
Luke glanced at him and sighed, "What's going on in your head?"
Michael said, "You saw it too, that guy just lunged and started biting Nicole. How could a normal person do that? What was the motive?"
"We'll know once we catch the perpetrator."
"I didn't even see his face. How are we going to catch him?"
"We can put that aside for now, we need to deal with Pari Jones first. If the police department's top brass see the 'vampire' biting people on TV, we're done for."
Reid and Susan would be the first to take the fallout.
Luke's promotion to assistant squad leader would likely go down the drain."
CBE News Television Station.
The United States could be considered as the birthplace of TV hosts, yet interestingly, the United States neither hosts competitions for selecting hosts nor does it have special schools or programs for training them.
Most news hosts in the US start as journalists, and it is rare to find hosts who only work as presenters without being able to conduct interviews.
Major media seldom hire fresh graduates directly.
Being a reporter is one of the most error-prone professions; novices sometimes mishandle interviews or misreport news, easily misspeaking and frequently causing troubles or even legal issues.
Pari Jones is a spirited reporter; she has dreams and clear goals.
She aspires to become a real news show host.
Competition in this industry is fierce; to rise through the ranks, one needs sufficiently sensational exclusive stories that can captivate audiences and boost ratings.
Pari Jones always believed she had the capability, just lacking a chance to advance.
She has keen judgement and knows what the audience wants, like in the school Y shooting case where anything related to children and education easily resonates with the public.
A cop exposing himself at the shooting scene would definitely catch viewers' eyes.
She had hoped to make a name for herself with the school Y shooting case, but the police quickly solved the case after the second shooting incident.
The exhibitionist cop was even labeled a lone hero.
Pari Jones's plans were ruined.
She felt frustrated internally.
She needed to land a bigger, more sensational news story than the school Y shooting.
She was determined to rise up!
This time, no one was going to stop her!
Not even a real vampire.
At seven in the evening, one hour until the evening news.
Pari Jones was in the studio checking her script, which marked her live debut. It was natural to feel nervous.
To avoid forgetting her lines, she had to be thoroughly familiar with them.
Introduction, opening remarks, then play the biting video, comment on the event, the style should be humorous and mocking...
Pari Jones knew the sequence of the broadcast by heart, she had made extensive preparations for this live show.
She had even taken some actions that broke the rules...
In Pari Jones's view, rules were made by the powerful; to climb higher, you either need to be very lucky, rely on external forces, or break the rules.
Rules were made to restrict the weak and stratify society; if you follow them step by step, you'll never be able to cross the barriers.
Taking some risks for the sake of your career is worth it.
The "golden age" for news show hosts is around forty, a time when individuals are mature, composed, authoritative, and sexually alluring, making it easier to earn people's favor and trust.
If you fail to become a news show host by your thirties, everything becomes too late.
The news show director came over and reminded, "Pari, the show starts in a few minutes, you need to hand over that video to the director for editing beforehand."
Pari, a shrewd woman, knew that video was her leverage; she wasn't willing to release it until the last moment.
"OK, I have the video here." Pari opened her purse and took out a hard drive.