Alexandra Waring

by Laura Van Wormer

  Alexandra Waring

  A NOVEL BY

  Table of Contents

  Begin Reading

  Connecticut ● New York ● Colorado

  Table of Contents

  COVER

  TITLE PAGE & PREFACE

  Copyright Notices

  About the Author

  Novels by Laura Van Wormer

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  PART I

  1 - Alexandra Waring

  2 - Jackson Darenbrook

  3 - Gordon Strenn

  4 - Langley Peterson

  5 - Cassy Cochran

  6 - Jackson’s Contemplation of Alexandra Grows More Serious

  7 - The Ball Starts Rolling

  8 - Alexandra, Cassy, Stolen Money, Weddings and His Wife:

  Langley Tries to Stay on Top of Things

  9 - Cassy Uses Alexandra’s Hideaway

  10 - Jessica Wright

  11 - What Happened That Night

  Part I: Jackson Gives Alexandra a Ride Home

  12 - What Happened That Night

  Part II: Alexandra Returns Lisa Connors’ Call

  13 - What Happened That Night

  Part III: Gordon and Alexandra Try to Resolve an Issue

  PART II

  14 - Langley’s in for a Number of Surprises

  15 - Alexandra and the Marilyn Monroe of TV News

  16 - Jessica at Work

  17 - Gordon and Jessica Watch the Rehearsal

  18 - Jessica Has to Tell Alexandra Something

  19 - The Changing Times of Cassy Cochran

  20 - Langley’s Luncheon

  21 - In Which Jackson Flees Alexandra and Flies to Hilleanderville

  22 - Jessica Has Two Visitors in Her Office

  23 - Alexandra Tells Gordon She Doesn’t Like to Disappoint Him

  24 - What Cassy Wanted

  PART III

  25 - The Unveiling

  Part I: Jackson

  26 - The Unveiling

  Part II: Jessica

  27 - The Unveiling

  Part III: Gordon

  28 - The Unveiling

  Part IV: Langley

  29 - The Unveiling

  Part V: Cassy

  30 - DBS Unveiled

  Part VI- Alexandra

  31 - DBS Mail and Memorandums

  32 - The Boat Party

  33 - After the Party

  Part I: Rendezvous

  34 - After the Party

  Part II: Alexandra Has a Long Night

  35 - Lovers

  36 - Langley Asks What He Should Do

  37 - The Strange New Life of Jessica Wright

  PART IV

  38 - Alexandra Across America

  39 - Cassy Flies to Detroit

  40 - Jackson Can’t Believe It

  41 - The Complicated Feelings of Gordon Strenn

  42 - Alexandra Across America—Again

  43 - Alexandra’s Visit with Her Parents

  44 - The Reunion

  45 - Alexandra’s Dinner with Lisa Connors

  Part I

  46 - Alexandra’s Dinner with Lisa Connors

  Part II

  47 - Jackson Decides to Kick Up a Fuss

  48 - Alexandra Goes to London

  49 - Alexandra and Cassy Have a Talk

  50 - Langley Has It Out with Belinda

  51 - Gordon and Alexandra Plan Their Future

  52 - Jessica Is a Very Good Friend

  53 - West End

  54 - Conclusion

  Copyright Notices

  LAURA VAN WORMER

  Alexandra Waring

  Copyright © 1989, 2013 by Laura Van Wormer

  Int’l ISBN: 978-1-62071-027-2

  ISBN: 1-62071-027-7

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic means is forbidden unless written permission has been received from the publisher

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Van Wormer, Laura, 1955-

  Alexandria Waring: a novel / Laura Van Wormer.

  1st ed.

  Women television personalities —Fiction.;

  Television news anchors —Fiction.)

  New York : Doubleday, c1989.

  PS3572.A42285 W4 1989 813/.54 89-32676

  ISBN:0385244681

  For information address:

  Author & Company, LLC

  P.O. Box 291

  Cheshire, CT 06410-9998

  This eBook was designed by iLN™

  and manufactured in the United States of America.

  About the Author

  Laura Van Wormer has been a force in fiction since the publication of Riverside Drive in 1988. A best-selling author of fourteen novels, her engrossing plots, memorable characters and insider knowledge of the media professions have won praise from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Good Housekeeping, and People Magazine. Today she is Publisher of Author & Company, dividing her time between Connecticut and New York.

  Novels by

  LAURA VAN WORMER

  Benedict Canyon / Jury Duty / Just for the Summer

  The Alexandra Chronicles:

  Riverside Drive / Alexandra Waring / Any Given Moment / Talk

  Exposé* / The Last Lover* / Trouble Becomes Her*

  The Bad Witness* / The Kill Fee* / Mr. Murder*

  Riverside Park

  *A Sally Harrington Mystery

  To learn more about Laura Van Wormer and

  all of her books please visit:

  http://lauravanwormer.com

  Dedication

  For

  Loretta Barrett

  and

  Nancy Evans

  with heartfelt thanks to

  Dianna Whitley, Shaye Areheart, Paul Aron, David Burr,Patricia Elliott, Nell Hanson, Lindy Hess, Sara Maxwell and Betty Prashker

  for everything, 1983-84 especially.

  Author’s Note

  At the time I wrote this novel, Ronald Reagan was leaving office, George Bush senior was coming in, CNN was gaining traction on cable but the news groups at The Big Three broadcast networks were still the be-all and end-all. Clearly much has changed since 1988 (!), perhaps most of all the ages of Alexandra Waring, Cassy Cochran and Jessica Wright from book to book over the years because I didn’t want them to age as fast as I was! So I strongly advise you to stop doing the math about their ages in the novels because it will only drive you mad.

  For those of you who read this book as WEST END, you may notice a different feel to the ending. That is because I have tried to restore it to something closer to the way I originally intended it, but was pushed to change. For younger readers, the notion that anyone ever cared about who slept with whom (or what) must seem rather quaint, but I assure you that everybody in mainstream American did care, and many careers were abruptly sidelined because of it.

  ALEXANDRA WARING is by far my longest novel but is the usual mix of fun, sex and seriousness that became my hallmark. I hope you enjoy it.

  Meriden, Connecticut

  August, 2013

  PART I

  1

  Alexandra Waring

  Alexandra Waring was just one of those women America decided to fall in love with.

  In January of 1988, in Washington, D.C., Alexandra and a film crew from The Network received clearance to tape an interview on the back steps of the Capitol. To
go through the hassle of obtaining permission to tape there—instead of at the usual Elmsite around front or down by the iron horse—was yet another extra effort made by her producer, Will Rafferty, to make Alexandra’s reports look just that much better than anyone else’s.

  It was hard enough for any correspondent to get air time on the evening news, but nearly impossible for one who had alienated The Network’s anchorman, Clark Smith—which is exactly what Alexandra had done the previous summer when she refused to let him steal an exclusive from her. And so, as the Washington Post noted, even though Alexandra had been hired as a special congressional correspondent for the evening news, presumably to make use of the contacts that came from being the daughter of an influential former congressman, “Ms. Waring has evidently been stricken from Smith’s ‘A Correspondent’ list and added to his ‘S’ list—’S’ as in SEND TO SIBERIA—because her reports are rarely to be seen after nine o’clock in the morning.”

  Still, Alexandra had managed to develop a national following through her work for the morning news group and through the “Washington Report” segments she did for The Network’s radio division every drive-time evening. But most important, in terms of her stature and exposure, was her ability to crack the evening news —despite Clark Smith—every five weeks or so with a scoop. And this, the interview she was now working on, would hopefully produce such a scoop.

  The wind was very high in Washington this day and was wreaking havoc on camera with Alexandra’s hair. (It was rather wildly gorgeous to begin with, Alexandra’s dark hair was, and Will Rafferty smiled, knowing how fan mail always surged into The Network whenever the wind messed up Alexandra’s hair, even if just a little.)

  Holding her hair back off her face with one hand and extending the microphone with the other, Alexandra was talking with Congressman Alvin Maurier. The congressman was going on and on—talking in one long sentence, it seemed—when suddenly he stopped, appearing to be slightly mesmerized by Alexandra’s extraordinary blue-gray eyes.

  “Do you or don’t you believe the Pentagon’s report is truthful?” Alexandra took the moment to ask.

  “Uhhh,” the congressman said, snapping out of wherever it was he had just been, “at this time I can only say that I believe the allegations merit a thorough investigation.”

  “If now you’re calling for a full investigation,” Alexandra said, taking a breath, “what else are we to assume, Congressman, then you don’t believe the Pentagon’s report is entirely truthful about what’s been happening on those Army transport planes flying out of Panama?”

  He hesitated and then smiled a little, looking as though he might reach out and tweak Alexandra’s nose. “Okay,” he said, nodding once. “I think the Pentagon can tell us more about these allegations concerning cocaine trafficking by Army personnel.”

  Something caught Alexandra’s eye and she turned suddenly, squinting down the stairs at something off camera. Following her gaze, the congressman took a step down to see better, saying, “What the heck is he…?”

  “Careful,” Alexandra said, taking his arm and pulling him back.

  On the videotape a man could be heard shouting something in the distance and then there was a shot. There were screams and the camera reeled, showing the Capitol dome and the sky. There was another shot and the camera swept dizzily down the stairs. The scene came into focus: a uniformed cop and a plainclothesman were wrestling a man in an orange poncho down to the ground.

  “Waring’s hit!” someone yelled in the background. “He shot Waring!”

  The camera flew back up the stairs to Alexandra and the congressman. Alexandra seemed distracted; she was just standing there, frowning, still holding the microphone, staring down at a small hole in the shoulder of her raincoat. When she raised her head to look at the congressman, a spurt of blood spilled down her chest.

  Oh Jesus God, oh Jesus God,” the congressman said, lunging to help hold her up.

  Alexandra looked down at her shoulder, inhaled sharply and looked away, the color in her face draining to white. She brought her free hand up to cover her wound and, closing her eyes, slowly sank to the stairs, the congressman sinking with her, holding her as best he could.

  “Are we rolling? Are we rolling?” a correspondent from a rival network screamed at his cameraman as they came dashing up the stairs.

  Alexandra’s eyes flew open. “No way,” she said, struggling to turn toward her own camera. She winced slightly and then tried to smile. “This is Alexandra Waring reporting from the Capitol Building in Washington,” she said. And then she fainted.

  All afternoon The Network showed Alexandra getting shot and that evening Clark Smith’s newscast came in first in the ratings for the first time in three years. (“Sure beats the Persian Gulf,” the director said in the New York control room.) Audience response was so tremendous to the footage, in fact, that The Network ran part of it as a news break throughout prime time as a promo for a half-hour special they threw together for eleven-thirty, “The Shooting of an American Newswoman.” (“Hey,” a researcher in The Network newsroom said, looking at his computer screen, “we’re in luck—Waring’s good copy.”)

  WARING, ALEXANDRA BONNER. Broadcast journalist; b. Lawrence, Kansas, October 30, 1957; daughter of Paul Allen and Elizabeth Lynn (Bonner). B.A., Stanford Univ., 1980, Phi Beta Kappa. Station reporter, KCLI-Radio, San Francisco, 1976—77; sta. researcher, news writer, reporter, KFFK-TV, San Francisco, 1977—81; sta. reporter, weekend anchor, KSCT-TV, Kansas City, 1981—86; sta. anchor, WWKK-TV, New York City, 1986—87; Capitol Hill correspondent, The Network, 1987 Western Women in Communications Award, 1983; Emmy Award (Midwest), Taylor-Bainbridge Award for Documentary, 1984; Communicator of the Year (Midwest), 1984; Women in Broadcasting Award (Midwest), 1985; Handerville Award, Investigative Reporting, 1985; American Farmer’s Award for Excellence in Reporting, 1985; Kansas Women’s Caucus Award for Individual Achievement, 1985; Emmy Award (N.Y.G), 1986; New York City Press Club Citation, Best Newcomer, 1986; Independent Allied Press Award, 1986; Press Corps America Citation for Feature Reporting, 1987.

  As the evening progressed, so did the other half of the story, in the person of the assailant, Rudolph Gadulaher. Mr. Gadulaher, it seemed, had become quite taken with the lovely network correspondent and, to bolster his courage to ask her out on a date, had taken a pistol and some Quaaludes with him on his quest. After following Ms. Waring and her camera crew to the Capitol, Mr. Gadulaher had taken the Quaaludes and then after about an hour it just seemed to him that the best way to get Ms. Waring’s attention would be to shoot her. And so he shot her. Mr. Gadulaher told authorities he had purchased the handgun for self-protection. He said he lived in a dangerous neighborhood.

  But the first American newswoman to be shot on television was the big story, and The Network was by no means the only news organization on it. As Newsweek reported in its next issue, when her stretcher was unloaded from the ambulance at Capitol Hill Hospital, “more media cables were swarming around Waring’s unconscious body than snakes around St. Patrick.”

  And with the coverage came the crowds. Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital to publicly wish Alexandra well. The police arrived, setting up barricades for crowd control and roping off special areas to accommodate the press. Network officials scurried in and out, truckloads of flowers began arriving and miles of electrical cables crisscrossed the parking lot. By the time the floodlights came on at four forty-five, the main entrance of Capitol Hill Hospital had taken on an uncanny resemblance to a Hollywood premiere.

  After X rays and stabilization, Alexandra was rushed onto the operating table, where a team of orthopedic surgeons removed two bullet fragments that had lodged in her lower left collarbone. The news that Alexandra was going to be absolutely fine did not get confirmed for hours (“NO REPORTS!” Head Nurse Badaglia was seen and heard screaming down the hall on TV—live), and so the press continued to stand vigil outside.

  The first personal friend of Alexandra’s arriv
ed around five o’clock in an airport station wagon. After honking frantically to get through the mess of cars, flower trucks and microwave media vans, the station wagon pulled up to the entrance and let out a good-looking though obviously distressed man with blondish-brown hair. The lights for the TV cameras came blazing on and some photographers’ flashes went off in the man’s face and he ran straight into the reporter from the Inquiring Eye. “Hey!” the reporter said, grabbing the man by the tie. “Didn’t you used to be married to Julie Stantree? Aren’t you…?” He let go of the tie to snap his fingers twice.

  “Please,” the man said, great brown eyes pleading, “let me see her first. I swear I’ll come back out and talk to you.” He turned to the policemen. “Please,” he said again, I’m Gordon Strenn. I’m Alexandra’s—”

  “This way, Mr. Strenn,” a plainclothes cop said to him.

  [“Gordon Strenn arrives at Capitol Hill Hospital from New York Tuesday night,” read the photo caption in the next issue of the Inquiring Eye. “Strenn, 35, producer of TV’s 1987 movie, This Side of Paradise, enjoys another kind of paradise as Alexandra’s longtime on-again, off-again boyfriend. The ex-husband of glamorous TV star Julie Stantree is hoping to make the equally glamorous TV journalist Wife No. 2.”]

  At seven-fifteen a dark blue limo pulled up under the lights of the hospital and a very tall, dark-haired man and a very beautiful blond woman got out. The lights glared and flashes flashed and one of the reporters yelled, “Michael, Michael Cochran!” and another called, “Hey, Cassy! Cassy, hi, over here!” and then all the TV people were closing in on the couple, pleading for assistance to get inside, or get info.

  “We’ll do our best,” the man promised, pushing people aside, pulling the woman along behind him.