One of the small luxuries of working for a weekly magazine is the extra increment of time, denied to daily journalists --an advantage especially useful in dealing with an event that unfolds on several fronts. This week's cover story on the damaging indiscretions of First Brother Billy Carter was just such a case. Senior Writer Ed Magnuson, who wrote the main narrative, weighed reports from every TIME domestic news bureau on the political repercussions of the scandal. In addition, members of the Washington bureau handled various aspects of the story as it developed. White House Correspondent Christopher Ogden reported the Administration's revelations and evasions. Eileen Shields and Richard Hornik interviewed congressional sources about the Senate investigation. Roberto Suro supplied a diplomatic context for the White House decision to use Billy Carter as an intermediary with the Libyans. Justice Department Correspondent Evan Thomas badgered officials there about their investigations of Billy's dealings. Simmons Fentress assessed the moral, legal and political issues involved in the scandal.

White House Correspondent Johanna McGeary had a less rewarding assignment as the storm grew and evasive tactics became more common: find Billy. In midweek she set off for Plains, Ga., to where the President's brother had also headed. She almost caught him. "Alas," McGeary reports, "he ate breakfast at his regular table at the Best Western motel in nearby Americus, but the sight of a familiar TIME photographer, Jay Leviton, had alerted Billy to the press hunt. He zoomed out of the motel and hasn't been seen here since." McGeary staked out Billy's gas station in Plains and his house 20 miles out of town, where she found a pickup truck parked across the driveway to block access. McGeary took all her meals at the Best Western in the hope Billy might resurface there, and talked with Carter neighbors and friends. Says she: "My quest ended the way journalism too often does--failure." Not really. McGeary's firsthand knowledge of the hometown scene, and the lives and personalities of the two Carter brothers, formed one piece of the mosaic that became TIME's cover story.

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