Free Another Dead Republican by Mark Zubro Page B

political scandals. In the county and in the state for that matter.”
     
    “Edgar had that kind of power?”
     
    She gave a short laugh and looked toward the doorway that led back to the kitchen where the dim murmur of voices continued unabated.
     
    She took a sip from her drink and leaned toward me. “I shouldn’t tell you this.”
     
    “It’s okay if you don’t.”
     
    “Edgar didn’t have that kind of power. His family does. Has and always will. Edgar was a screw up.” She looked toward the doorway again. I couldn’t imagine they could hear us, but I could imagine the paranoia the Grums could spread. She nodded toward the sliding glass door. “Let’s step outside.” Outside she put her purse and drink down on a glass-topped table.
     
    From our vantage point we could see that the backyard contained a mini-skateboard park, a thirty-by-thirty flagstone patio, with the biggest damn outdoor grill set up I’d ever seen, and an in-ground pool currently covered in winter plastic.
     
    She pulled out a cigarette and matches from the small purse and asked, “You mind?”
     
    “Your lungs.”
     
    She lit the cigarette and blew the smoke away from us. She added pollution to a cool early afternoon with bright blue skies. It was warm if you stood in the sun.
     
    She asked, “Have they tried praying at you yet?”
     
    “Not directly.”
     
    “They’re just praying fools. Those people pray at the drop of a sin. They use prayer as a weapon. If you are not praying, you are somehow less than them.”
     
    “They probably think Scott and I are beyond redemption.”
     
    She said, “Well, the truth is, this whole family is screwed up.”
     
    “I’ve noticed some oddities.”
     
    “I married into it, like Veronica. I’ve always felt sorry for her. I’m a cousin-in-law. These folks are loony birds. My husband is sane. We have as little contact with the rest of them as possible. He got out. He moved to Milwaukee and opened a coffee shop near the U of W campus in Milwaukee.”
     
    “Not a sane one among the others?”
     
    “Just Veronica. She was a saint. Where she got that kind of patience, I’ll never know. All the Grum sisters and sisters-in-law hate each other. You should see them at big holiday events. Cat fights. Bitch fights. Punches and hair pulled and pushes into pools. It’s fun in a sick way, if you’re at a distance.” She took a puff on her cigarette. “And the summer reunion!”
     
    “Reunion?”
     
    “Every summer, the whole goddamn family gets together at some huge farm in northern Wisconsin. Veronica avoided the other in-laws. She’d only go if she knew I was going to be there. When we did attend, we hid in the woods or stood as far in the back away from them as we could.”
     
    “I only saw them once all together at Edgar and Veronica’s wedding.”
     
    “That was a hell of a scene.”
     
    “Does Mrs. Grum ever smile?” I asked.“Tell a joke? Let her hair down? Not that she has to. She certainly does not have to conform her life to my standards, but she just looks so unhappy every time I’ve seen here. And I don’t think I’m the cause of that effect. What exactly is she waiting to approve of? Or is there nothing that would appease her? Does she ever laugh at a joke?”
     
    “Mostly I’ve seen her reign in that Buddha-like silence. She doesn’t even cuddle or coo to that stupid dog. The poor thing might just as well be a stuffed creature as a breathing animal.”
     
    “Why don’t any of them rebel or get out?”
     
    “Too stupid? Too desperate?”
     
    “Desperate for what?”
     
    She took a slug or her mimosa. “Money? Inheritance? The family Trust is supposedly this convoluted thing that you only inherit if you suck up to mommy and daddy dearest on alternate Tuesdays in all the months that have an r in them.”
     
    “It’s that nuts?”
     
    “My husband tried to explain the Trust to me once. I got a headache, and he didn’t know all the real