Red White and Black and Blue - Stevenson Richard (читать книги бесплатно полностью без регистрации сокращений .txt) 📗
For a long moment, we all sat staring at nothing, each of us lost in his own thoughts.
It was Dunphy who finally spoke.
He said, "What about Andrew Cuomo? They say he's tired of being AG and eager to follow in his semi-beloved father's footsteps. And he'd be a terrific governor. I know I'd work to get him elected."
"Tom," McCloskey said, "I want you to stand up, walk through that door, and get out of my sight!"
Me, I wasn't even worth noticing anymore.
* * * *
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Epilogue
Timmy was able to wangle extra tickets to the Cuomo inaugural celebration, a modest event owing to the state budget crisis. Bud Giannopolous came along, and also his cousin Ephram.
Afterward, we all went down for dinner at Da Vinci. The place was packed with Democrats, all whooping it up and getting their political victory jollies. Tom Dunphy came over to our table and told us how ecstatic he was to finally be part of a winning gubernatorial campaign in New York State. When I introduced him to Bud, he turned pale, mumbled a terse greeting, and fled.
The papers that day were also full of news of Kenyon Louderbush's having been charged with assault by seven young men. One of them was Trey Bigelow. He had asked the DA if the presiding judge in the trial might be Judge Judy, but an assistant DA told Bigelow she was sorry that her office could make no promises in that regard.
Janie Insinger had the satisfaction of seeing Louderbush brought to justice without having to trouble her employer.
She would not be called to testify. Virgil Jackman, on the other hand, was a major source for Vicki Jablonski in her extensive explosive reporting, and he was helpful to APD
when it reopened the Greg Stiver suicide case. Of the eighteen young men who were discovered to have been beaten by Louderbush—only seven wished to press charges—
three told prosecutors Louderbush had once gotten drunk and 266
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bragged about having thrown a college student off a high building and killed him. None of that could be proved, of course, but the multiple assault convictions would undoubtedly land Louderbush in Attica for what would be in effect a life term. It looked as if it would be justice OJ-style.
Imperfect, but there you are.
Jennifer Stiver tried to get Shenango Life to reconsider its denial of her life insurance claim. But since a Louderbush murder conviction seemed unlikely, the company told her to take a hike. She later told me that as disappointed as she was, at least she didn't have to turn on her TV and watch Shy McCloskey sworn in as governor.
The Tea Party, left in the lurch by Louderbush's exposure as a sadistic criminal, famously came up with a gubernatorial candidate—a rich, obnoxious real estate mogul from Buffalo—
to run on the Republican instead of the Democratic ticket, but that turned out badly for them, too.
At the Da Vinci Democratic victory dinner, Timmy, ever the evangelical Jesuit I love, tried to talk Bud Giannopolous into going straight and avoiding ending up in the federal pen.
"Maybe," Timmy said, "you could do cybersecurity for some good outfit like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch."
Plainly, this did not get Bud's blood coursing. He sat slumped in his chair and nodded glumly.
"Or, what about working for some revolutionary movement in the Middle East? There's an American political theorist named Gene Sharp whose ideas on nonviolent resistance in right-wing police states are being studied by young people in 267
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Tunisia and Egypt. I'm sure these people will need technical help with the social networks they'll use when the time comes to try to overthrow evil regimes like Ben Ali's and Mubarak's.
That all sounds like a natural for you, Bud."
Bud sat up. He said he'd like to hear more.
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About the Author
Richard Stevenson is the pseudonym of Richard Lipez, author of thirteen books, including the Don Strachey private eye series. He also cowrote Grand Scam with Peter Stein, and contributed to Crimes of the Scene: A Mystery Novel Guide for the International Traveler. He is a mystery reviewer for The Washington Post and a former editorial writer for The Berkshire Eagle. Lipez's reporting, reviews, and fiction have appeared in Newsday, the Boston Globe, The Progressive, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and many other publications. Four Don Strachey books have been filmed by here!TV. Lipez grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college there, and served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia from 1962—64. He is married to sculptor Joe Wheaton and lives in Becket, Massachusetts.
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Trademarks Acknowledgment
The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
7-Eleven by 7-Eleven, Inc.
ACLU by American Civil Liberties Union American Federation of Teachers by American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
Bank of America by Bank of America Corporation BBC America by British Broadcasting Corporation Blackberry by Research In Motion Limited Cadillac Escalade by General Motors LLC
Cinnabon by Cinnabon, Inc.
Cessna by Textron Innovations Inc.
Colgate by Colgate-Palmolive Company Comfort Inn by Choice Hotels International, Inc.
CNBC by by CNBC, Inc.
CNN by Cable News Network, Inc.
Crowne Plaza by Six Continents Hotels, Inc.
Cutty Sark by Edrington Distillers Limited Dasani by Coca-Cola Company
Denny's by DFO, LLC Limited Liability Company Diebold by Diebold Incorporated
Facebook by Facebook Inc.
The Federalist Society by the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies
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Fox Business by by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Fox News by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation GE by General Electric Company
Good Housekeeping by Hearst Communications, Inc.
Hallmark Channel by Crown Media Holdings Heinz by H.J. Heinz Company
The Home Depot by Homer TLC, Inc.
Honda by Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Hyundai by Hyundai Corporation
KFC by KFC Corporation
Lincoln Navigator by the Ford Motor Company Log Cabin Republicans by Log Cabin Republicans Maalox by Aventis Pharmaceuticals Products Inc.
Motel 6 by Societe de Participations et D'Investissements de Motels
MSNBC by MSNBC
National Review by National Review Inc.
The New York Post by NYP Holdings, Inc.
New York Giants by New York Football Giants, Inc.
New York Yankees by New York Yankees Partnership NPR by National Public Radio, Inc.
Outback Steakhouse by OS Asset, Inc.
Phi Beta Kappa by Phi Beta Kappa Society Philadelphia Phillies by The Phillies Poland Springs by Great Spring Waters of America Inc Price Chopper by Golub Corporation
The Price is Right by Fremantlemedia Operations B.V.
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Rutgers by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Instrumentality
