Cockeyed

Sanders said, “Well, it’s your family, Mr. Van Horn. And your money.”

“Right on both counts.”

“But why did you say on Bill O’Malley that if the disappearance had anything to do with the Brienings, your Mom shouldn’t worry, you would deal with them?”

Hu

“I beg your pardon?”

“Look, I was drunk on O’Malley. I didn’t know what I was talking about. I don’t have any kind of serious drinking problem, but I sometimes do toss a few back when I probably shouldn’t, and then I say things that are confused or inappropriate. Arthur and I were just having a heart-to-heart about that subject this morning. I am actually off the sauce until Mom is back with me, and then we are going to cele- brate. And you are certainly invited to join us, Lieutenant.”

Sanders looked over at me. I said, “Like Hu

He kept looking at me. “Do I?”

“You know as much as I do.”

Art said something about the day heating up again and asked us if anybody would like a root beer. We all accepted this nice offer, except for Detective Sanders, who left looking thoughtful.

ChAPteR twenty

Just after five in the afternoon, Nelson phoned with the news that the body of an elderly woman had been found in a wooded area in the town of Nassau. This was about six miles from East Greenbush. The dead woman was said to have been clad in a bathrobe and had no identification on her. She had not been dead long, and it was unclear whether the death had been from natural or other causes. The body was being kept temporarily in an ambulance near the site where it had been discovered, and Nelson said he was about to be driven over there to view the corpse and declare whether or not it was Rita Van Horn.

Hu

Quentin Shoemaker had already driven back to Vermont to consult with the Rdq psychic and the commune’s astrologer, but Marylou and the twins had arrived at the house. They stayed in the living room monitoring the local TV news. There had been a brief report about a woman’s body being found in Nassau, but no details were yet available.

Hu

Before the call from Nelson came, I had brought up the laundry basket from the basement and organized its contents on one end of the kitchen table. This was the heap of hundreds of letters, phone messages and e-mails that had arrived in the days following Hu

“jeopardized the gains in public opinion and acceptance of gay men and women over recent decades,” as one organization put it.

I made three piles, one called Deal With, another called Not Urgent, and a third — which included the letters from national gay organizations — called Go Fuck Yourself.

The Deal With pile contained a number of blackmail threats I had already defused. Or thought I had — Mason Doebler’s lawsuit came as a rude surprise, and I could only surmise that he had been co

This guy owed me a favor.

While we waited to hear from Nelson, I sifted through the letters and notes looking for any possible co

Two of the Deal With messages did seem worrisome. One was from an Albany man who claimed Hu

— his threat was legally moronic — but I noted his name and contact information so that we could have a talk. Also in need of attention was the phone message left by an Albany man who claimed Hu

ten dollars and a wedgie.

The Not Urgent pile consisted mainly of pleas for financial aid for good causes, less good causes and individuals whose requests would have to be considered case by case. Hu

The Go Fuck Yourself pile of messages included the ones from the gay organizations that were politely begging Hu

Sadly, the contents of the laundry basket were going to have to be dealt with in their various ways no matter how things went with Hu

The phone rang four times while we waited to hear from Nelson. Two were press inquiries, and one was the Democratic Senate Campaign Fund calling again. Hu

The fourth call was from Stu Hood. Hu

Out on Hu

148 Richard Stevenson

“I don’t think they get that cha

They just get wrestling.”

“Well, it’s a serious situation. A woman’s body was discovered over in Nassau this afternoon, and it might be Mrs. Van Horn.

We’re waiting to hear from someone who went out to possibly identify the body. So you have to cool it, Stu. We’ll be in touch later in the week about your thousand, and I’m guessing that you can figure out a way to scare up forty or fifty to tide you over in the meantime.”

“Okay,” Hood said, “but anyway I am seriously thinking of backing out of that agreement. A thousand dollars is not go