As far as Koesler was concerned, she didn’t have to complete the sentence. Cameron had told him about receiving a copy of the tape from Green. But she had no way of knowing what Cameron had told Koesler. “You see … the seduction … when I was … with Jake … they filmed it. They taped it. I didn’t know. I never knew. Not until Daddy and I had our final confrontation.”
“Final?”
“I considered it to be. I think he did, too. It was blackmail, I guess. He showed me the tape. He didn’t have to spend much time on that. I couldn’t stand to watch it. But he threatened that if I went ahead with my marriage plans, not only would Bill see the tape, the copies would circulate to most of the people we know.
“I didn’t know what to do. There was no serious problem as far as Bill was concerned; he’s well aware of Daddy’s cruelty, lack of any kind of conscience. But, what would it do to his career? We knew that whichever firm interviewed him would immediately receive a copy of the tape. If the managing partner and the hiring committee could overlook my … indiscretion, then clients and prospective clients could receive a copy. It was a threat that just hung over my head.”
“And now,” Koesler concluded, “that threat is gone.”
“Yes, it is!” Her tone bordered on the defiant. “At the time my father and I parted, after he made his threat, I considered that our final confrontation. There was no room for any compromise. Either I married Bill or I called it off. Depending on that decision, he would either sit on the tapes or circulate them. Now, of course, there’s no doubt. That was, for sure, our last confrontation.”
First Cameron, then Claire and Stan, now Judith. Each had reason to hate Moe Green. But, more than that, each had recently been grievously threatened and/or grossly mistreated by Green. With Green alive, Cameron stood to lose his most precious achievement, his Virago. With what Claire and Stan had recently learned, they would have to live with the awareness of Green as the unindictable murderer of Claire’s child.
And now Judith. If her father had lived, she would have had to wrestle with the dilemma of calling off her marriage to the man she loved, or see both herself and her husband destroyed by the vengeful Moses Green.
Once again the serendipity of Green’s death of natural causes. These
But it was growing late. Glancing toward the widow Green, Koesler noted a break in the line of mourners. Though “mourners” seemed an inappropriate term in the present case.
Koesler thanked Judith for her attempt to set the record straighter. He moved toward Margie, but had taken only a few steps when a young man blocked his path.
Koesler had no memory of having met this man before. But, if the priest had a last dollar, he would have bet that this was Moe Green’s only son, David.
Chapter Eight
Any doubt was dissolved as the young man introduced himself. David Green, a student at Detroit College of Law.
“You must be the priest that mother’s been talking to everyone about,” David said. “Father Koesler, isn’t it?”
“Yes. And it’s your father who died.” On the one hand Koesler was concerned about starting the eulogy on time. On the other, he was interested to learn what Green’s son might contribute to the rather bleak image the others had depicted. “My sympathy,” Koesler offered. He hoped that the widow was speaking kindly of him.
David looked about. “Quite a turnout.”
“On very short notice,” Koesler said. “I take it from your mother that you are at least partially responsible.”
“A little. Judy was on the horn too, plus a lot of our friends. But, realistically, I think a healthy percentage are here out of curiosity.”
“Curiosity?”
“Yeah. They just want to see what happens. You know: Who’s here and why; who isn’t here and why. Who, if anyone, will speak-I guess that would be you, Father-and if anyone will shed a tear for the old fart … that’s a snowball’s chance in hell.”
“From what I’ve been able to gather so far,” Koesler said, “I get the impression that your father was not particularly lovable.”
“Likable,” David amended. “Not even likable. I can’t think of anyone who found Dad lovable. No. Nobody. Not even likeable,” he repeated.
Koesler had no reason to question David’s assessment. And that, he thought, was sad if not tragic. What sort of life has no redeeming quality?
“Since you brought it up, I am supposed to speak in”-Koesler glanced at his watch-“just a little while. And I’ve been having a tough time gathering any good words. Probably I haven’t been talking to the right people. I was trying to get through to your mother ….”
“She would be the one. Not that she didn’t have as negative an experience with Dad as everyone else here. My God, she had to actually live with the son-of-a-bitch for twenty-one years. At least Judy and I were able to move out.
“But, Mother is a great one for making accommodations. Yes-” He nodded. “-Mother would brazen it out. She’d find something at least neutral to say. Something like, ‘He wasn’t as bad as his brother.’ Except that Dad didn’t have a brother. Which, now that I think of it, might be a plus. Maybe the brother-that-never-was would’ve been even nastier than Dad. God, what a horror that would’ve been!
“Let’s see ….” David scratched his heavy five o’clock shadow. “There was the time-no, he
Suddenly, Koesler had an inspiration. “Wait a minute: You’re in law school. Didn’t your father foot the bill?”
David nodded. “Partially. A little more than half-almost three-quarters of the tuition came from Dad. The rest I earned-working for him … working it off.
“You see, the thing you have to remember about Dad is there was no word for ‘gift’ in his lexicon. I was to be sort of ‘his’ lawyer-in somewhat the same way as an indentured servant relates to his master. It would keep Dad’s retainer fees down a bit.”
Some of the people who had been milling about were finding seats. Koesler would have to end this conversation soon.
So far, unlike the previous reencounters, David appeared to have no strong motive for violence. “I can’t help wondering, David, why you felt almost like a slave. You’ll graduate eventually. Say you pass the bar-a safe assumption, I think. You have a readily recognizable name, at least to Detroit’s movers and shakers. Probably you’ll begin your career with a prestigious firm. It wouldn’t have been long before you could have paid back your father’s investment. Wouldn’t that about do it?”
David jingled some coins in his pocket. It seemed he had to be busy with something virtually all the time. “There are complications. I don’t want to get into them specifically. When I was a bit younger I was also a bit more foolish. There were some DUIs, and a couple of drug arrests. All of which Dad was able to quash. All of which he continued to hold over my head.
“If he took the cork out of the bottle, I could have problems at the bar, and certainly in any practice I tried to build.
“So, you see, he carried a big stick.”
“But no more,” Koesler observed.
David hesitated, then chuckled. “If I didn’t know better, the way you said that could imply that Dad’s death was very convenient for me. Like, if this were a murder case, I’d be a suspect.”
It was Koesler’s turn to hesitate. That had not been his meaning ….at least not consciously. Subconsciously?
