Henry emerged from a side door and stood on the stone patio.\u00a0 Sam and I were about 50 years away and down a small dip in the landscaping overlooking the canyon.\u00a0 But even at this distance in the dark, I made out the unmistakable shape of a small hand gun.\u00a0 Sam stopped moving toward the house, but stood up straight and said in a loud voice, \u201cHenry, do you always bring a gun to a family reunion? \u00a0It is a somewhat unusual choice, don\u2019t you think, but it seems to be the one thing that we have ever agreed on.\u00a0 You see, I never come to a family reunion without a gun either.\u201d\u00a0 He reached into his pocket and now the two men \u00a0vaguely pointed a gun at each other.\u00a0 I wonder if Henry had ever shot a gun.\u00a0 I was sure that Sam had pulled a few triggers, but all bets were off since both men were wavering unsteadily in the moonlight.<\/p>\n
I instinctively backed off to the side and tried to slip into the shadows, which seemed to be a safer place to make my little speech.\u00a0 \u201cHenry and Sam, put the guns down.\u00a0 You\u2019re both under a lot of stress, but violence is obviously not the answer.\u00a0 Put the guns down and let\u2019s talk this through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam let out a hearty laugh, \u201cLiza is that the best you\u2019ve got?\u00a0\u00a0 That violence is not the answer?\u00a0 Can\u2019t you be more creative than that? \u00a0Blah, blah, blah, blah, violence is not the answer.\u00a0 What do you think Henry?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you think that violence is just the perfect answer in some situations?\u201d\u00a0 Sam then pointed his gun directly over his back shoulder into the black canyon and pulled the trigger.\u00a0 The shot startled Henry and he stumbled backward a couple of steps, but still held the gun out in front of him.\u00a0 \u201cC\u2019mon Henry, c\u2019mon old Polly Waddle, don\u2019t you think that violence could just be the answer? \u00a0Let\u2019s settle this once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
He took one step forward toward Henry, and then all of a sudden the side door slammed open and someone rushed out and stood exactly between in the direct fire of both guns between the two men.\u00a0 It was Dessa.\u00a0\u00a0 I had only seen her photographs before.\u00a0 At the very least the pictures were of a timid, fearful child sitting on her brother\u2019s lap.\u00a0 At the worst an uncomfortable pictures with a terrible undercurrent of perverse sexuality.\u00a0 But now as she stood in the line of fire she looked like a picture of utter confidence.\u00a0 I also could not help but notice that Dessa was beautiful.\u00a0 A full moon was casting shadows across the lawn, and her elongated shadow showcased her willowy legs and enlarged her confident pose with her hands resting on her waist.\u00a0\u00a0 She was barefoot, and as her feet pressed into the wet grass, I could even seen small wisps of shadows on the side of her foot.\u00a0 She was wearing a simple black skirt, not too short, and a loose fitting white sleeveless blouse.\u00a0 This was the picture that Goddard should have put in his gallery.\u00a0 I knew in that minute that Dessa had emerged as the head of this family, and that whatever she said in the next few minutes would dictate the end game of this drama.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tell you two enough, and the others in the kitchen in there, can you hear me?\u201d she said as she raised her voice.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how tired I am of all of you.\u00a0 I have tried to love you individually, but I am unable to love you as a family.\u00a0 It has just gotten too complicated.\u00a0 I think that I have successfully loved two people in my life, Grandma Chloe and Penny, and now both of them are dead, both tragically \u2013 one of a broken heart, and the other might have been murdered.\u00a0 So now I am left alone with all of you forcing me to pick and choose sides and I just won\u2019t.\u00a0 So you can all stop trying to make me.\u00a0 I mean it.\u00a0 I am not a little doll that can be poked and pulled and traded.\u00a0 I used to be, until Penny taught me how to stand up for myself.\u00a0 I really loved her, you know. And I think that I was the only person who really loved her.\u00a0 We were really very much the same that way.\u201d\u00a0 She spoke with a sure and clear voice, and made no effort to address the guns pointed at her.\u00a0 I suspected that she didn\u2019t really care at this point.<\/p>\n
Henry lowered his gun and motioned with it, directing Dessa out of the line of fire.\u00a0 \u201cMy issue is not with you Dessa,\u201d he said, \u201cyou are really the only part of this family that I care about.\u00a0 It is your father there.\u00a0 He is not a nice man you know, and he has made my life a living hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dessa did not move.\u00a0 \u201cUncle Polly,\u201d she said , \u201cI am perfectly aware that he is not a nice man. \u00a0I think that we all know that.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that true mother?\u201d she called out.\u00a0 \u201cHow about you father, do you think that you are a nice man?\u201d<\/p>\n
Simba stepped just outside the door, but didn\u2019t say anything.\u00a0 Sam now also lowered his gun and said, \u201cDessa, what do you want me to say here?\u00a0 I\u2019ll admit to being a business man, and so sure there are times that business requires me to be not so nice, but that\u2019s business.\u00a0 Ask anyone who has been successful.\u00a0 I knew that I wasn\u2019t going to be a warm and cuddly father, but I think that we can all agree that I am a nice provider.\u00a0 Would you agree with that?\u00a0 I\u2019m talking to that kitchen group too,\u201d he said with a raised voice.\u00a0 \u201cAnybody in there have a problem with that?\u201d\u00a0 The door opened again and Goddard, Simba and Sylvia slipped out, but none of them said anything.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s see what we\u2019ve got here.\u00a0 Looks like a jury of weaklings to me.\u201d\u00a0 None of them said anything, and I started to agree with Sam.<\/p>\n
Dessa continued on and turned her back on her father, \u201cSo Uncle Polly what is your agenda here?\u00a0 How can I help you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDessa if you only knew what your father has done over the years, I think that you might have more sympathy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPolly, I know what he has done.\u00a0 Penny and I figured it out.\u00a0 And I know what you have done.\u00a0 We figured that out also.\u00a0 So I\u2019m thinking that maybe it is a draw.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t call me Polly,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, Uncle Henry it is.\u00a0 I actually don\u2019t really care if you two men continue on hating each other.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t really care if you, Mother, claim that you are sorry and want to be a real mother, and I don\u2019t really care, Sylvia, if you want to make a claim on me.\u00a0 Quite frankly I don\u2019t really know what would make me want to care at this point. And Father, we came to a mutual decision quite some time ago not to care about each other, so I think that we are done.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t want to disturb that tidy relationship.\u00a0\u00a0 But there is one thing that we can talk about, and that is what happened to Penny.\u00a0 We need to have that discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell don\u2019t look at me,\u201d said Sam.\u00a0 I never even met girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I think that you might be wrong there, Dad,\u201d She said the last word with a slight pause, and drew out Dad into almost a multi-syllable word.\u00a0 \u201cPenny said that she had met you. \u00a0Perhaps you remember, it was at your office about the week before the accident?\u00a0 And Uncle Henry,\u201d again she paused as if she was trying to decide whether to call him Polly or Henry.\u00a0 I was glad that she opted for Henry. \u00a0\u201cI know that you met her.\u00a0 And I know that she probably asked you uncomfortable questions.\u00a0 Issues that I had always wondered about, issues about this thing that we have been calling a family for so many years.\u00a0 And look what happened.\u00a0 I let her do the dirty work for me and now she\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow wait a minute here Missy,” said Sam. \u00a0“Are you trying to say that I had something to do with her death?\u00a0 Why would I possibly care?\u00a0 I am an open book, I have no need to lie about anything.\u00a0 Sure, some of the things that I have done are not totally attractive, but I have never, ever lied.\u00a0 You can even ask Ms. Blue over there.\u00a0 She\u2019s sure been snooping around a lot, and all she needed to do was just come and ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t even sure that Dessa knew that I was standing there, nor the others who had emerged from the house, but now all eyes turned to me.\u00a0 \u201cMs. Blue will tell you that I have told her everything, I have no secrets, do I? \u00a0In fact maybe you\u2019re the one who has stirred up all this trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
I found it hard to believe that Sam had just thrust me into the position of outing Dessa\u2019s birth parents, though I suspected that she already knew.\u00a0 I mumbled and stammered and then came up with, \u201cI think that everyone can probably agree that there are some issues that need to be discussed, and some of them may be painful, but I\u2019ve got to say, I think that the first step is to put away the guns.\u00a0 And maybe a better format would be in the morning when everyone is clear-headed.\u00a0 Best possible scenario might be to take this slowly, some sort of family counseling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know who you are Ms Blue, except that you have been chasing after me,\u201d said Dessa.\u00a0 \u201cGoddard says you are okay and that you are just trying to help, and that might be true, but for once in my life I\u2019m going to be in charge.\u00a0 And Dad and Henry, I don\u2019t really care if you put your guns away. \u00a0Keep them, pocket them, give \u2018em to Blue, or throw them into the ravine.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t care.\u201d\u00a0 Sam put his gun on the table, while Henry slipped his into his pocket.\u00a0 \u201cAnd Dad,\u201d again that slightly sarcastic pause, \u201cthe question I asked was not about Penny\u2019s death, it was whether or not you had ever met her.\u00a0 I think that one of your particular talents is dissembling. \u00a0You might say that all we have to do is ask you, but then it is hard to figure what to ask you and then you answer a different question. \u00a0 And Henry, you knew Penny well.\u00a0 Penny was the one that figured out what you were up to with Granny\u2019s finances , and I\u2019m glad that you finally made it right, but I\u2019m wondering if that was just the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry simply stared up at the moonlit sky, and I imagined he was trying to figure how to defend himself, or whether Dessa was going to go into excruciating detail on his finances.\u00a0 \u201cDessa, I was only trying to do what I thought was the best for Chloe.\u00a0 I am the trustee you know.\u00a0 And I told you to talk to your father, because that money in your account should by all rights belonged to Chloe and I.\u00a0 It should have been ours.\u00a0 I told you that.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your father cheated us out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam reached over and picked up his gun again. \u201cHenry how many times do I have to tell you that it was a business loan and I paid it off, as requested by your father.\u00a0 Will you please just shut up about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHenry, I agree,\u201d said Dessa.\u00a0 This is not about something that happened over thirty years ago.\u00a0 You just need to shut up about that thing.\u00a0 You can\u2019t let a bad business deal be the defining moment of your life.\u00a0 I’m the family member who has had the most therapy, and the one thing that I’ve learned is that you’ve to let some things go.\u00a0 Go ahead and hate my father, but please you just have to have other things in your life, you can\u2019t let your entire day be driven by disappointment, hatred and revenge.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had it.\u00a0 I can\u2019t do this anymore.\u00a0 Every single conversation I’ve had for the past five years with you always comes back to this.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She turned and stepped out of the moonlight and started walking toward the side gate that I had just entered.\u00a0 As she walked past me, she bumped me and gave me a slight nod of recognition that I didn\u2019t understand at the time.\u00a0 We heard a car start, and then the crunch of the graveled driveway and she was gone.<\/p>\n
It was deathly quiet as we all tried to absorb Dessa\u2019s remarkable performance.\u00a0 \u201cHenry and Sam,\u201d Simba said, \u201cwhat have you done to that dear, dear girl? \u00a0None of us deserve her.\u00a0 What have you done to hurt her so?\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt compelled to step in at this point.\u00a0 Now was not the time for recriminations between two loaded men with loaded guns.\u00a0 I started to say, \u201cI think that we should set up a time to talk this through,\u201d but then we heard the crunch of tires on gravel again.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, good, Dessa has come back,\u201d said Simba, but then we heard the doorbell ring.\u00a0 \u201cSam who can that be? Why don\u2019t you answer it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a sigh and a heave, Sam lumbered into the house and opened the door.\u00a0 He spoke in a loud voice so that we could all hear, \u201cWhy Detective Grimes, what can I do for you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a search warrant for Henry Murphy\u2019s car.\u00a0 He reported it stolen and said that we might be able to find it here.\u00a0 The search warrant is for the car itself; it is material to our investigation of the vehicular manslaughter of Penny Knox.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes sir, that’s the car right over there.\u00a0 Would you like to talk with Henry Murphy?\u00a0 He happens to be in my back yard right now.\u00a0 We were just having a little family gathering.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you join us on the back patio.\u201d\u00a0 Sam spoke in such a pleasant and easy-going tone, as if it was an everyday occurrence to have a car impounded for a murder investigation.<\/p>\n
Henry also straightened up and put the gun in his coat pocket.\u00a0 I had the feeling that silently the entire family had decided to pull it together and present a united front in front of Grimes.\u00a0 I noticed Sam\u2019s gun on the patio table and quickly scooped it up and put it my coat pocket.\u00a0 I squinted into the light of the kitchen and noticed that the dark shapes that I had assumed were Goddard and Sylvia were now gone.\u00a0 The next voice I heard was Simba\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cDetective Grimes, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 I am sorry that I was not available when you were here a couple of days ago.\u00a0 Please come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group of three then moved out to the back patio and joined Henry.\u00a0 I moved back into the shadows \u2013 my presence might undermine the concept of a peaceful family gathering.\u00a0 \u201cWell hello Mr. Murphy,\u201d said Grimes.\u00a0 \u201cWe are responding to your call about your stolen car.\u00a0 And of course as your brother-in-law probably told you, we are also interested in speaking with your niece Dessa, who might have been the last person to see Penny alive.\u00a0 I was hoping to find them both here.\u00a0 Is Dessa around?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam started to speak, but Henry quickly interrupted him.\u00a0 \u201cYes Dessa was here, you just missed her.\u00a0 In fact, you probably passed her on your way up here.\u00a0 We have been having a family meeting \u2013 you might not realize that my mother just died, Chloe Murphy, who lived at the Great Days facility, so as you can understand it has been a very emotional time.\u00a0 We are all here together planning her memorial service.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, so your niece has shown up,\u201d said Grimes, \u201cI am glad to hear it, because I thought she had gone missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has all been a big understanding,\u201d said Simba.\u00a0 \u201cHenry tell them about the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry paused, and I think that we all felt his mental gears whirring rapidly.\u00a0 \u201cI am sorry to bring you all the way up here.\u00a0 Dessa has been using my car, and she has returned it here.\u00a0 I had told her several weeks ago that she could borrow it, and I totally forgot in this whirlwind of my mother\u2019s last days.\u00a0 As I told you this morning, I just never use the car or go into the garage, so I was so surprised when it was gone.\u00a0 I was just trying to help you find the car.\u00a0 I certainly didn\u2019t mean to imply anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicely done, Henry, I thought.\u00a0 This family was showing a remarkably consistent and useful talent of dissembling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, if Dessa was using Henry\u2019s car, and now Dessa is gone, how did she leave?\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t exactly get a cab here you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
This time it was Sam\u2019s turn.\u00a0 \u201cDessa still lives here part time, and I\u2019m sure that she took one of our cars.\u00a0 I\u2019ll give her a call and let her know that you would like to talk with her.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She has actually been incommunicado for the last couple of days.\u00a0 Kids are just wedded to their cell phones, these days, and she said that hers was lost, and she had been traveling around a bit.\u00a0 But we\u2019ve all come together now to honor Chloe.\u00a0 She was a remarkable woman.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought that Sam had perhaps hit a wrong note with this last entry, and Grimes probably knew it also, but there wasn\u2019t much that he could do.\u00a0 They were all standing in a tight little knot around the patio table, no one had sat done, and there was no offer to Grimes to extend his welcome.\u00a0 \u201cMy condolences to your family,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m taking the car, and I will let you know in a couple of days when and if you can have it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI welcome the opportunity for you to take a look at it,\u201d said Sam, as he shepherded Grimes to the door, \u201cI\u2019m sure you will find that this car had nothing to do with Penny\u2019s death.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize this but Penny was the daughter of Johnny Knox, who has been a business associate of mine for many years.\u00a0 He is almost like family to me, so I am counting on you to get to the bottom of this.\u00a0 That is what we all want, Dessa included, who was Penny\u2019s best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
I heard the front door close, and Sam walked back into the yard.\u00a0 I moved out of the shadows and was starting to leave when Sam said, \u201cStay here Ms. Blue.\u00a0 I need you as a witness, since as I\u2019m sure you have realized, this family suffers from selective memory.\u00a0 Now let\u2019s go around the circle here.\u00a0 What do you think that Grimes is going to find in that car? \u00a0I\u2019ll start with myself.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never been in Henry\u2019s car and furthermore I have an alibi for that night.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need to tell you the nature of my alibi, but its iron tight and it\u2019s in my lawyers hands.\u00a0 Okay, Simba it\u2019s your turn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSam, for God\u2019s sake, what are you saying?\u00a0 That I took Henry\u2019s car and ran down some poor girl I didn\u2019t even know for no particular reason that I can think of?\u00a0\u00a0 How would I get the car anyway?\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know the combination to get through Henry\u2019s gate.\u00a0 I would have to go back and look at my date book, but I was probably were I usually am every night, alone up her in the dark canyon while you were creating nightly alibis all over the coastline.\u00a0 And Henry how could you ever think that Dessa might have anything to do with it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell it certainly wasn\u2019t me,\u201d said Henry.\u00a0 \u201cLike I told Grimes, I just wanted to clear our names, our whole family.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t me.\u00a0 Yes, I had met Penny, and I had a few discussions with Dessa over Chloe\u2019s finances, but we worked everything out.\u00a0 There was no reason for me either.\u00a0 The issue was done settled.\u00a0 Besides, I have a lawyer also, and he told me not to talk with anyone without him.\u00a0 By the way, what happened to Sylvia?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d said Simba, \u201cThat settles it.\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t be any of us so we don\u2019t have anything to worry about do we, Liza?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I was going to answer and contribute some reassuring words, but Simba had already dismissed the specter of a murderer in their midst and moved on to something more important to her.\u00a0 \u201cHenry, how do you know Sylvia?\u00a0 And what business is it of yours?\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point Sam had sat down again, looking smugly satisfied that the conversation had veered away from him, and eager to be a ringside participant of the oncoming argument.\u00a0 Henry just pointed at me and said, \u201cShe told me, so I came up here.\u00a0 I used to know Sylvia a long time ago and so did Sam.\u00a0\u00a0 Haven\u2019t seen her in ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sylvia turned to me.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t understand you, Liza.\u00a0 You say you are a mediator, and you say you are my friend, but I guess I\u2019m getting confused between what a mediator does and what a meddler does.\u201d<\/p>\n
I had to admit she had a point there, and I was beginning to feel like Dessa, helpless in the tug of war among these family members, blindly groping my way through a field of flashpoints, particularly since I din\u2019t know what she and Sylvia might have discussed before I arrived.\u00a0 \u201cSimba, I can\u2019t be a family mediator unless we all sit down together in a coordinated fashion.\u00a0 I can\u2019t keep doing this on the fly and in odd moments.\u00a0 If you are serious about a mediator, I can help you find a professional.\u00a0 This is getting too complicated for me.\u201d\u00a0 Sam motioned for me to join him as a bystander and sit down, but I\u2019d had it.\u00a0 \u201cI think my job is basically over.\u00a0 You have my number if you need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henry said, “I’m done for the night. \u00a0I don’t need this abuse. \u00a0Liza will you give me a ride?”<\/p>\nFollow Liza Blue on: Henry emerged from a side door and stood on the stone patio.\u00a0 Sam and I were about 50 years away and down a small dip in the landscaping overlooking the canyon.\u00a0 But even at this distance in the dark, I … Continue reading ![\"Facebook\"](\"https:\/\/www.fanagrams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" "\\"Follow")
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