“You?” I stammered. “You’re the one who tossed out the watch?”
Marsha looked me in the eye and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I willfully attempted to conceal evidence in an active homicide investigation. When I realized Josh had been coming and going without my knowledge, I wondered if my girls had been pulling the same stunt. One bad apple and all that. Zoe told Gerry just a little while ago that she and Gizzy have been letting themselves and their friends in and out that way for years, long before Josh ever came to live with us.
“On a hunch, I decided to stage an impromptu search-and-destroy mission of my own in both girls’ rooms. I found that thing hidden in Gizzy’s room,” she said, nodding toward the bracelet, “along with a watch that seemed to be a duplicate of Josh’s. By then we had already found Josh’s body. I couldn’t understand why there would be two watches instead of one, but it seemed to me that finding it in Gizzy’s room meant that she was involved in what was going on, one way or the other.”
Marsha paused and shrugged again. “What was I supposed to do? I’m a mother. I wanted to protect my child, so I tossed it. This morning, after Gizzy didn’t come home last night, I mentioned to Monica that she might want to do the same thing-take a look in Gizzy’s room at her father’s house. This is what she found.”
Marsha reached into her pocket, pulled out a thumb drive, and placed it in Mel’s outstretched hand. “Monica dropped it off with Gerry while I was at the airport picking up my sister-in-law.”
“The same clip?” I asked.
Marsha swallowed before she answered. “I wish,” she said. “That one was faked. It’s the same girl, but I believe this one is real. Gerry and I watched it together this afternoon. As soon as we saw what was on it, we knew we’d have to turn it in to the authorities. I was hoping to conceal Gizzy’s involvement for a couple of days longer- long enough to get through Josh’s funeral tomorrow afternoon. I wanted to give the out-of-town relatives a chance to go back home before we have our coming-to-God session with Gizzy about it. Obviously it’s going to have to happen a whole lot sooner than that.”
Marsha paused long enough to grind out the remains of her cigarette in the ashtray and to draw a deep breath. Her hand lay limply next to the ashtray, as though she didn’t have the physical strength to move it. Gerry Willis reached out, took her hand in both of his, and sat there looking at her, nodding encouragingly. They were in this mess together, and they would deal with it together.
“I’ll be tendering my resignation as governor at a press conference immediately following Josh’s funeral,” Marsha continued. When no one made any comment to that announcement, she smiled wanly and continued.
“That’s always the best time to come out with bad news-Friday afternoon, preferably after most of the news shows have put their evening newscasts to bed. I’ll be saying that I’m resigning in the aftermath of a family tragedy to focus on my family. That will be true regardless of how deeply involved Gizzy was in everything that’s happened. If you decide to lodge formal charges against me for tampering with evidence, that will be up to you and, of course, to the attorney general.”
With that, Marsha plucked a cell phone out of her pocket and dialed a number.
“Hi, Liz,” she said to her chief of staff. “I believe Giselle is upstairs in her room. Would you please tap on her bedroom door and ask her to join Gerry and me out on the kitchen patio? Thanks.”
Mel waited until Governor Longmire closed her phone. “Is your daughter aware that Ron has been taken into custody?”
Marsha shrugged. “I’m not sure. If any of the other kids realize it, they might have sent her a message by now, but we haven’t mentioned it to her or to anyone else.”
“All right,” Mel said.
We spent most of the next two minutes sitting there in uneasy silence. The birds that lived in the greenery around the governor’s mansion were talking up a storm while the four of us had nothing to say. Eventually the kitchen door opened and Giselle Longmire stepped out onto the patio.
I had voted for Marsha Gray Longmire twice, both times she ran for governor, and both times she won. I had done it more for old times’ sake-because she and I were both Ballard Beavers-than out of any particular party loyalty. I have to say, however, that I was never prouder of her conduct in the governor’s office than in her decision to leave it. And the First Husband’s behavior was amazing in its own right. To see him disregarding his own loss in favor of helping Marsha deal with hers is something I’ll never forget and something I hope to emulate should I ever be called upon to do so. It offered mute testimony to the healing power of love between two people and how it can sustain us when everything else we hold dear is ripped away.
Gizzy appeared among us dressed a little more conservatively than she had been earlier at Janie’s House. She approached the picnic table tossing her hair and smiling confidently, totally unaware that the damage she and Ron Miller had wreaked on others was about to come back and nail them both.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked cheerfully.
When Gizzy caught a glimpse of Mel and me sitting there at the picnic table with her parents, she hesitated. Her air of unquestioning confidence faltered a little.
“Mom,” she protested. “These people are cops. What are they doing here?”
“They came to talk to you, Giselle,” Marsha said.
It was June. Morning cloud cover had burned off during the course of the afternoon. Outside temperatures hovered in the low eighties, but Governor Longmire’s voice was pure ice.
“I’ve spoken to both your father and to Monica,” Marsha added. “They both agreed that due to the seriousness of the situation they would abide by my decision, and I have made it.”
“What situation?” Gizzy asked, feigning innocence.
“Ron has been taken into custody,” Marsha announced, making no effort to soften the blow. Gizzy’s sudden sharp intake of breath showed it had landed.
“Initial charges have to do with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest,” Marsha continued, “but my understanding is that there are far more serious charges coming-something about the murder of a girl named Rachel Camber and about the fire at Janie’s House last night.”
“I don’t know anyone named Rachel Camber,” Gizzy protested. It was a halfhearted denial. I didn’t buy it; neither did anyone else.
“She was from Packwood,” Mel inserted quietly. “You may have known her as Amber Wilson.”
Giselle Longmire suddenly looked stricken, but only because the seriousness of her situation was finally beginning to dawn on her. “You mean she’s really dead?”
“Yes,” Marsha replied coldly. “Like on the video clip I found hidden in your underwear drawer, as opposed to the pretend dead in the video we found on Josh’s cell phone.”
Gizzy stood very still and said nothing.
“Right this moment the authorities don’t know what all is involved, who did what, or how much you participated,” Marsha continued. “If we’re lucky, you’ll be considered an accessory after the fact. I’m telling you straight out that though you may be my daughter, you are not above the law. You could do yourself some good and speed the process considerably if you’d simply tell these investigators what you know.”
Gizzy looked at her mother incredulously. “You think I should just talk to them? Shouldn’t I, like, have a lawyer present or something?”
Marsha stood up.
“That’s entirely up to you,” she said. “If you want to ask for an attorney, that’s certainly your prerogative, but if you want our support-Gerry’s and my support, your father’s and Monica’s support-then you’ll grow up and start taking responsibility for whatever part you played in all this.
“That means you need to come clean and to tell the truth. If you’re not prepared to do that, you must understand that your father and I are fully prepared to cut you loose. Yes, we love you, but don’t believe everything they tell you about unconditional love. There are conditions. We refuse to squander anything more on someone who has no respect for us or for our values.
“If you demand an attorney, fine, but be prepared to have one that is appointed for you by the courts. We won’t be paying for it; neither will your father or Monica. Gerry and I took Josh into our home thinking we’d be able to give him a better life than what he’d had before. Your behavior and that of your friends took that chance away from him. Zoe has always looked up to you, but she’s evidently known all along what you and Ron were doing to Josh. She finally told Gerry about that ugly texting nonsense this afternoon. She kept quiet about it out of misplaced loyalty to you, but the secret has been eating away at her for months, tearing her apart. So you’ve destroyed Josh, you’ve harmed your sister, and you’ve ruined me as well. As of tomorrow at this time, I will no longer be governor-
