Рита Браун - Tall Tail

“Cooper and I went through all that was left, the outtakes,” said Harry, then looked at Cooper. “Did I just say too much?”

Cooper shrugged. “No. It helped to have two sets of eyes looking at the discarded footage, or I should say unused footage.”

“The outtakes we saw from Ed Cunningham’s website had the governor in some of them,” said Harry. “Seeing him at Mom and Dad’s wedding, I’m reminded what a handsome man he was. Still is.”

“Many politicians are.” Susan poked her husband, who laughed.

“Hey, not me,” Ned replied.

“You are to me.” Susan blew him a kiss.

“Ned, you’re good-looking and not fat. That’s a victory.” Harry teased him. “I mean, you’re even older than I am, or your wife.”

“That reminds me.” Susan rose, left the room, returning with a wrapped tube, a big bow in the middle. “Happy Birthday.”

Harry shook the tube. “What’s this?”

“Open it. Then we’ll all find out,” Fair encouraged her.

“Leave the empty tube,” Pewter begged.

“Why? You’re too fat to fit into it,” said Tucker. A hint of malice pricked her ears.

Pewter shot over to the dog, boxed her ears, then returned to sitting under the coffee table.

“What was that all about?” BoomBoom wondered.

“Around here you never know.” Harry laughed as she gently edged out a piece of heavy paper. “What in the world?” Then she laughed. “I don’t believe you!”

Susan held up the paper, which was a birth certificate. But this birth certificate had been backdated three years, so that Harry would still be thirty-nine. “See, your mother lied on your birth certificate.”

Everyone crowded around to look and the certificate looked proper. They all laughed.

Alicia, unbelievably beautiful, like Sophia Loren is unbelievably beautiful, and who had been a movie star in the fifties and early sixties, studied the document. “Susan, can you get me one of these?”

Everyone laughed again and Fair poured more champagne. “To my wife. In my eyes, she will always be the most beautiful, the most fascinating, sometimes the most irritating, but always my girl.”

They cheered.

Mrs. Murphy somehow managed to wiggle into the tube. Pewter maliciously rolled it. Harsh words were spoken and the tiger cat backed out of the tube, intent on her revenge. Two cats flew out of the living room. A crash in the kitchen did not bode well.

Harry shook her head. “Oh, we’ll find it later.”

“Must be wonderful not to know how old you are.” Miranda laughed at the cats.

Tucker supplied an answer. “We don’t know like you know, but we know. Not so much years as memories. We remember everything.”

The humans talked, ate some more, drank some more, and loved every minute of being together, as old friends do.

Harry piped up. “Seeing the governor like I said earlier, young, handsome, makes you realize the power of time.”

“And burdens. Governor Holloway carried heavy burdens.” Miranda offered that insight. “His mistakes will stick to him, but I hope what he did for us will, too. He built so many state roads, he protected our battlefields from developments, he tried to keep the peace—unfortunately, in the wrong manner, but I think he brought prosperity to Virginia.”

“Being governor of Virginia means you have an easy or uneasy relationship with the president.” Ned spoke from his experience in the House of Delegates. “We are loaded with military bases and we all benefit from the huge shipyard in Norfolk. Federal money pours into this state, but the governor has to be wary of the president. If the president is not of the governor’s party, might not be a smooth ride. Anything affecting the military affects Virginia. And Governor Holloway’s record on that is outstanding.”

“Best to remember the good things. He’s not long for this world.” Miranda said what they all felt.

“They’ll bury him at Big Rawly, won’t they?” BoomBoom inquired.

Susan said, “Holloways are always buried there.”

Harry involuntarily shivered for an instant. “That cemetery gives me the creeps. That huge monument with the avenging angel on top, the flaming sword. Ugh.”

“The Selisse tomb, the ravens like to perch on it.” Reverend Jones laughed.

“It’s like the Bizarre Scandal, isn’t it?” Miranda considered the story. “The scandal about the missing infant which brought down the Randolph family, oh, 1793. The Selisse story is much the same. We will never know the details, except that a slave killed the master. So many stories.”

“All done now.” Fair smiled, feeling the glow of champagne.

Harry laughed. “Oh, Fair, nothing is ever done in Virginia. Everything always comes back to haunt us.”

A booming howl followed by a long hiss and a clatter turned their heads toward the kitchen.

Eddie’s voice carried into the living room. “This is an outrage. The state of Virginia must assign state troopers to protect my grandfather.”

“What the—” Harry hurried into the kitchen.

Mrs. Murphy and Pewter had knocked the TV remote off the counter. In running away, one of them had pushed the on button.

Eddie Cunningham angrily spoke to Bill Coates, the Channel 29 reporter. Given that Sunday’s news was usually tepid except for sports, this clip would blanket the state. “I believe my grandfather’s life is in danger. We now know that his nurse, Barbara Leader, was murdered. I demand that the state offer him protection.”

By now, everyone but the cats crowded into the kitchen.

Bill Coates pushed, “Why would anyone want to harm your grandfather?”

“You tell me!” Eddie’s face darkened. “I believe this goes back to his gubernatorial term when he refused desegregation. Racial tensions are again high and I fear this has provoked some unbalanced person to want to kill him.”

Bill Coates then looked at the camera and said, “Thank you, State Senator Cunningham. And now to the weather.”

“Is Eddie crazy?” Alicia wondered.

“No. Clever.” Ned calmly expounded. “It’s dramatic. Tensions are high and Ed means to capitalize on them. He’s throwing red meat to those people who want to turn back the clock, but he’s doing it in a way where he can’t be held to account.”

“Ned, he doesn’t need to do that,” said Fair.

“He’s laying his groundwork and the murder is a terrific gift. So many people are disaffected. Call attention to a racist event, a much-publicized racist event from the 1970s, make this murder look like revenge, you know, they got the wrong person, once he spins this out over the next week identifying Barbara Leader as the wrong person. Everyone will remember. He’ll dominate the news, he can vent anger, which even liberals can understand, since he’s defending his grandfather, worried about his safety. But Ed is aiming for a large constituency, much larger than he has now. It’s low, but it’s effective. To attack him for this makes the attacker look as though he has no family feeling. So Ed gets to have his cake and eat it, too.”

“Could Governor Holloway be part of this?” Miranda wondered.

“My grandfather would not countenance it,” Susan stoutly replied.

“True enough.” Ned agreed.

Cooper sighed. “Rick and I wanted to spare the governor stress due to his condition, plus his feelings over the loss of a nurse he liked very much. We’re going to have to call on him, though. Ed’s statement pushes us to it.”

“Obviously, my cousin doesn’t give a damn about G-Pop’s condition.” Susan could have strangled Ed right then.

“Politicians don’t care about people’s feelings. They want to manipulate them. They themselves don’t feel a thing except ambition.” Alicia felt cynical, and she’d seen a lot in her life to provoke that.