the pride in his voice was unmistakable and hope made a mental note not to involve him beyond this particular aspect of the venture cooked up by the newspaper chief and the assistant district attorney , for despite being on a roof buffeted by a freezing wind and with perilous thunderstorms moments away , this was still the safest element of the entire scheme ; it was where this contrived publicity was intended to lead , however , that the occupation was liable to get skewed : places where the stoutest knots a rope had to offer would be of no use whatsoever .