Stevenson - Red White and Black and Blue

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

MLR Press, LLC

www.mlrpress.com

Copyright

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Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

CONTENTS

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

* * * *

4

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

RED WHITE BLACK AND BLUE

RICHARD STEVENSON

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www.mlrpress.com

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

Praise for other Don Strachey novels

* * * *

"Lively, skillful...highly recommended."

The New York Times on On the Other Hand, Death

"As much travel memoir as mystery, this tenth in a series spanning three decades is supremely satisfying as both."

Bookmarks on The 38 Million Dollar Smile

"As always with the Strachey novels, the murder and mayhem takes a back seat to the keen social criticism and defiant wit of our detective."

Maureen Corrigan of NPR,

naming Death Vows one of the top five mysteries of 2008

"A gripping, fast-paced mystery."

Booklist, on Strachey's Folly

"A joyous ride...the novel is like a classic screwball comedy of the 1930s."

The Berkshire Eagle on Cockeyed

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2011 by Richard Stevenson All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Published by

MLR Press, LLC

3052 Gaines Waterport Rd.

Albion, NY 14411

Visit ManLoveRomance Press, LLC on the Internet: www.mlrpress.com

Cover Art by Deana C. Jamroz

Editing by Judith David

Print format

ISBN# 978-1-60820-362-8

Also available in ebook format

ISBN#978-1-60820-363-5

Issued 2011

This book is licensed to the original purchaser only.

Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment.

This eBook cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this eBook can be shared or reproduced without the express permission of the publisher.

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

Two apologies

One for reinventing recent New York State political history for my own purposes; another for inventing a Motel 6 in Troy, New York, whose TV channel selections include Turner Classic Movies. Never happened, never will.

My thanks to the organization Democrats in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where Joe Wheaton and I volunteered on the Kerry and Obama presidential campaigns.

Thanks especially to Kathy and Allen, Richard and Elin.

This estimable gang is more ethical than the Dems in this novel, and a lot more fun.

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

"Don, my man! Thanks so much for coming in. I'd've shlepped out to your office on CentralChrist, that's how important I think this isbut as you can see it's already pre-election shock 'n' awe around here, and I'm lucky if I can drag my sorry ass out of this madhouse before the bar shuts down at Jack's at ten. What can Beryl get you? Coffee? Green tea? A Cinnibon from downstairs? You're not vegan, are you?"

Loosening his damp grip, Dunphy chuckled at his meant-to-be mot, and I seated myself on the office chair nearest his commodious desk, which was about as orderly as mine.

"Albany tap water would be fine. I walked over here, and it's warm for June."

"What, water that comes out of a pipe? That's novel. I'm not sure we have any of that. We do have about forty crates of water that comes out of plastic bottles that might or might not cause liver cancer. In fact, every time I see the senator swig from a bottle of Dasani at an event, I think, fuck, some nasty tumor he picked up from all the plastic shit we all drink out of is metastasizing at that very moment, and just about the time Shy is elected governor he's going to get a diagnosis that says he has about six weeks to live." Dunphy yelled toward his open office door, "Beryl, can you get Don some H2O?"

"Okay, commander," a strained voice came back.

"Beryl's eleven years old and has a master's in political science from NYU. I depend on her for everything. Politically, 9

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

she knows where all the bodies are buried in the state of New York, and she's got it all on her laptop."

"Good for Beryl. But if she already knows where the bodies are buried, I'm not sure why you need me."

"We'll get to that," Dunphy said off-handedly as one of the multiethnic array of slender young women and men who sat punching things into laptops in the outer office trotted through the doorway with a foam cup and a bottle of Poland Spring water.

"Don here only drinks Albany tap water, but he'll just have to adjust down," Dunphy said as the young woman gave her boss a look.

"Shut the door, would you please, Beryl?"

Dunphy was as quick and alert as his young assistant, but his appearance wasn't nearly so fresh. In chinos, loafers, and a pale blue sports shirt, the director of State Senator Sylvester "Shy" McCloskey's gubernatorial campaign was one of those men who had probably looked fifty-five when he was twenty-fivepaunchy, jowly, bright-eyed and cheerfully pink-facedand would continue to appear to be about fifty-five until a heart attack killed him at seventy-one. The view out the ninth-floor window behind Dunphy looked up State Street at the New York State Capitol, gray and dungeonlike even in the late spring sunshine, a structure as inert on its foundations as its legislative inhabitants, now more than two months late, as usual, with the state budget.

"Before we go any further," Dunphy said, "I take it that you support the senator's candidacy for governor. The people who recommended you for this project said they assumed you 10

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

would, but of course I have to ask. Otherwise, there's no point in our going on."

"Sure. I'll vote for McCloskey."

"You don't sound one hundred percent convinced."

"I don't agree with your guy on everything. He's too timid, I think, on getting redistricting out of the hands of the Legislature. And on public financing for campaigns he's as retrograde as everybody else. There are a couple of other things, too. But who else could I support? Louderbush is way out in right field, and in the general election it's likely to be Merle Ostwind. I'm trying to recall, but the last Republican I can think of who I might have voted for was Abraham Lincoln."

"Yeah, the other party peaked in 1865. It's a shame. A healthy democracy needs two parties both working for the common good. Not one dedicated to screwing the poor and the middle class and the other one busy screwing itself every chance it gets."

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