Morale takes a big hit when we find out that every single family we planned on speaking with canceled on us.

This isn’t the first time an interview got canceled because of intimidation. It happens all the time, actually, and it’s not particularly surprising. But having every single person we planned on interviewing drop out… that’s incredibly unusual.

I tried making some calls. I even got a couple folks on the phone, but they wouldn’t talk to me except for saying they weren’t interested anymore. I could practically hear the fear in their voices, and I could definitely see it on Lucille’s face.

Nobody said for sure that it was the Strips who intimidated and scared them out of this. Obviously nobody wants to talk. But I think it’s pretty obvious. And that’s more than a little worrying.

“Why don’t we go to the police?” Vivian asks me. We’re sitting down in the lobby toward the back of the place, the whole group of us. Trace is picking nervously at his shirt and Bill’s looking out the window. Miller’s watching silently like always.

“We have no proof,” I say. “What can they do?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “Protect them maybe?”

“That’ll cost too much,” I say with a sigh. “Local police like these don’t have much of a budget to begin with. They’re probably stretched thin trying to fight back against the Strips, assuming they’re not just in the bastards’ pockets.”

“There has to be something. Maybe they can protect just one family?”

I shake my head. “It won’t happen. We’re on our own until we get some kind of real proof that the Strips are making threats.”

“So we’re fucked?” Trace speaks up.

“No,” I say forcefully. “Just means we have to tread a little… carefully.”

“Can’t see how we’re going forward,” Bill muses. “I mean, without some community support, this whole thing falls apart.”

I glance at Viv and she’s lost in thought. “We have other plans. We don’t need these interviews for this story,” I say.

Bill shakes his head. “Maybe not, but I’ve done enough of these to know that it won’t be as powerful without some family interviews.”

I know he’s right, and I’m frustrated. We just lost five families, all with really good, credible stories. I did a ton of groundwork putting these interviews together, verifying their stories, all that good shit. And now it’s all gone in the blink of an eye.

“We could always find new sources,” Miller says suddenly.

We all look at him. He shrugs a little sheepishly.

“He’s not wrong,” Bill says slowly. “I mean, there are a lot of people with a lot of stories in this town.”

“We’ll have to do a lot of groundwork,” I say slowly, but the gears are already churning. “It’s possible, though.”

“Dangerous work,” Trace says.

I hesitate. “Could be,” I say after a second.

“What if we make this part of the story?”

We all turn and look at Vivian. Her eyes are wide a bit.

“What do you mean?” I ask her.

“This whole intimidation thing, the interviews falling through. Why don’t we use it?”

I watch her, eyes narrowed. “I see where you’re going,” I say slowly. “But we don’t know for sure that the Strips intimidated them.”

“So we can be up front about that,” she says. “Look, it’s a powerful story. We can do a segment about the families, say what we know about them, maybe use different names so there’s no reprisals or something.”

I watch her and nod. It’s a good idea, honestly, and could be really powerful. Normally we try and avoid stories like that, where the journalists become a part of the reporting. We’re supposed to stay unbiased and apart from it all.

“Okay,” I say after a moment. “Here’s the plan. Viv, you go ahead and start writing some copy for your idea. In a few hours, we’ll meet back down here and go out to a local bar.”

“Now you’re talking,” Bill says, lighting up.

“With the express purpose of meeting new people,” I say to him, making myself clear. “This is a job. So no getting blackout wasted.”

He sighs. “Okay. Fine. Although I’m very friendly when blacked out.”

I roll my eyes. “So we’re going to go with both angles and see where it leads us. Understood?”

“Aye, aye,” Trace says.

Bill and Miller both grunt their assent. I look at Viv and she gives me a tight little nod.

“Okay, troops,” I say. “Get the fuck to work.”

* * *

We end up back at the Floorstander that night, and Bill posts up at the bar with Miller and Trace under the guise of trying to make friends. Really, they’re drinking on WBN’s tab, and I can’t blame them.

I don’t love this idea. I don’t think anyone is going to talk to us. Everyone in this town knows about the Strips and they all know what’ll happen if they talk. I’m feeling fucking down, but at least Viv looks incredible, sitting across from me at the booth.

She’s wearing this short skirt that emphasizes her ass in a way that makes my fucking cock hard. Her blouse is loose and slightly low cut, showing off her beautiful breasts, and I keep getting a glimpse of her black bra.

She raises her eyebrow at me. “What?” she asks.

I realize that I’ve been staring. “Nothing.” I sip my beer to cover it.

A little smile passes across her face and she looks out across the bar. “What are the chances that someone will talk to us?”

I shake my head. “Honestly?”

“Honestly.

“Not good.” I sigh and lean back against the booth’s patched and springy back. “You ever been to a town like this?”

“Henry, we grew up in a town like this.”

“Huh. Good point.”

“The only difference between where we grew up and here is the opioid epidemic, but who knows how it hit back home.” She shrugs a little bit. “It used to be just booze, but the world gets more complicated every day.”

“Strange when you wish for the good old days of alcoholics and bootleggers.”

She laughs lightly. “Seriously, though. I understand it. People wouldn’t want to rat on someone back home, either.”

“Still, this is big, Viv. Their kids are dying. Their families are getting torn to pieces.”

“You’re right. But what can we do?”

I shake my head and survey the room again. There are a few locals sitting at the bar. Bill’s talking to one, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. Most of the people here look rough, blue collar, but decent people. It’s not some dangerous biker bar. It’s just a dive in a small town. I bet the people that come here have been coming for years. Overall, the clientele is a little bit older.

Two guys catch my eye. They’re over by the back playing darts and slugging back whisky. The one guy is wearing a PBS hat and the other has a tweed jacket on. They don’t exactly fit in with the rest of the people here, but I can still see Sellersville all over them.

It’s in the way they move. It’s a weight, or maybe a comfort, it’s hard to pin down. “What about them?” I ask Viv, nodding over at the two.

“Could work,” she says. “How are you going to approach them?”

I grin at her. “I’m not going to do it. You are.”

She raises an eyebrow. “No way,” she says.

“Come on. You’re the most attractive girl in this place. Probably the most attractive girl in the whole damn town.”

“Uh, thanks, but I’m not going to, like… seduce them.”

I laugh and shake my head. “You don’t have to. Just walk over there, introduce yourself, and I’ll do the rest.”

She bites her lip but finally nods. “Okay, fine. Fuck it. This is why I took this job, right?”

“Right, sure,” I say. “You can do this. Just walk up to them, smile, introduce yourself, let them stare at your tits. Easy.”

She gives me a look. “Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need it. You’ve got that ass, instead.”

She can’t help but smile as she takes a deep breath, stands, and heads over to the two men.

I watch, my heart beating fast, as she approaches them. The guy with the PBS hat turns to her first and they start talking. She shakes their hands and twirls her hair a little bit, and I can tell that these idiots are going to fall right into her trap.

I have to admit, I’m proud of her. I didn’t think she’d do it, much less with such skill. She looks utterly comfortable, like picking up random locals in a dive bar is just part of her normal night out.

I give her a couple minutes to chat before getting up and ambling over. She notices me and turns my way, smiling.

“Henry, come meet John and Max.”

The guy in the PBS hat shakes my hand first. “John,” he says. The guy in the jacket shakes next.

“Guys, I’m Henry, nice to meet you both.”

“I was just saying how cute their town is,” Vivian says. “Turns out they both grew up here.”

“Sure did,” John says. “Nice place to live, I think.”

“It’s real nice,” I say. “We’re just passing through, but we like it here.” I hesitate a second. “Say John, where’d you get that hat?”

“Oh you know. One of those pledge drives.” He grins at me. “Guess I’m a sucker for that sort of thing.”

“He’s a sucker for more than just that,” Max says and I laugh loudly at his joke.

“I’ve got just about a million t-shirts and beer cozies from stuff like that, so you’re preaching to the choir,” I say, and both men grin at me.

We fall into a normal conversation. Viv pops in now and again, and eventually we start to play darts with the guys.

Viv keeps glancing at me, wondering when I’m going to bring up the opioid thing, but I know I have to be careful. I get them some more drinks, wait for them to have a few, and I let them win at darts.

After about an hour and another round, Viv lets her hair down, and I can tell she’s about to make her move. I lean across the table we’re sitting at and look Max in the eye.

“Listen, I gotta ask you somethin’. There are some weird rumors I heard about this place.”

He gives me an amused smile. “Like what?”

“Like drugs and gangs and stuff.” I shrug a little bit.

Max’s face falls a touch but he recovers himself. “I don’t know anything about that. Sellersville is really safe, you know.”

“You sure about that?” Viv asks, leaning over the table to look at him.

Max glances at John and I can see the looks on their faces.

“We’re thinking about moving into the area,” I say quickly. “Trying to get a sense of the place.”

“Thought you were just passing through,” John says.

“On our way to look at other towns near here,” Vivian quickly says. “But we were wondering… maybe you could talk to us? About some of this stuff.”

The two guys go silent for a second. “I don’t know about that,” Max says.

“Look, let’s be real.” I reach into my back pocket. “I’m a journalist, and we’re doing a story about the opioid thing. We want to interview you guys.” I hand Max my card.

He takes it and looks at it. “I’ve heard of WBN,” he says. “Watch it sometimes.”

“We’re doing a simple story. We won’t use your names or any identifying information. We just need some local perspective,” Viv says, smiling at him.

For a second, I think they’re going to get pissed because we lied to them for so long. But the two guys exchange looks again.

“I could talk,” John says finally. “Truth is, there’s shit in this town we don’t like.”

“Been talking about it for years,” Max adds.

“You’d really be helping us out,” Viv says.

Max nods. “Look, I gotta get going.”

“Yeah, me too.” John checks the time. “Wife expects me home.”

The two men stand and I’m worried we won’t be seeing them again, but I can’t be too pushy. “Listen, my number’s on that card. Call me. We’ll just talk, no names, no pictures.”

“Yeah, we’ll see.” Max nods at the two of us. “Take it easy.”

“Night,” John says, and the two guys leave.

Viv watches them go and sighs. “What do you think?”

“I think they’re never going to call.”

“Why’d you tell them we’re journalists?” she asks me.

“Had to,” I say. “How were we going to interview them, just lie about it?”

“Okay, good point.” She sighs. “I hope Bill’s having more luck.”

But Bill’s drunk and so are Miller and Trace. We head over and gather the three of them. The guy they were talking to shut down as soon as they said they were working with journalists, a lot like our two buddies just did, and we’re forced to leave.

We get into the van and I drive the whole lot of them back to the hotel. My mind is stuck back in that bar, wondering what I could have done differently, annoyed that I might have fucked things up. I don’t want to let Vivian down here, because I think she’s really invested in this story. I could have been a little better back there.

We head back up to our rooms. The guys all stop down in Miller’s for another drink, and so Viv and I are alone in the hallway together.

She looks at me as I head to my door. “You did good, back there.”

I stop, a little surprised. “I thought I fucked it all up.”

“No,” she says. “You were right to tell them the truth. We can’t do this by lying to people.”

“Yeah, we can’t,” I agree. “But it’d be a lot easier if we could.”

She smiles at me. “It’s not about easy, right?”

“Right.” I give her a sideways look and I suddenly can taste her lips again. I want to invite her back into my room for a drink, but because I can’t get the words out, she swipes her card and opens her door.

“Night,” she says, and disappears inside.

“Damn,” I say softly. I don’t know if this night worked out or not. I guess I’ll find out in the morning if one of those guys calls us.

Either way, I’m not giving up. Next time I’ll do better. But I am impressed with Viv. She’s clearly growing up, taking risks, doing some difficult things because she thinks it’s the right thing to do. She’s a strong person, stronger than I could have guessed.

I’m glad she’s back in my life. Even if shit just got so much more complicated.