Free The Mortal Groove by Ellen Hart

scandal, we might never haven known what Nixon and his cronies were up to. They started the ball rolling by what they printed.”
    â€œYou aren’t Woodward and Bernstein,” said Cordelia, standing and glaring at her.
    â€œI should have known better than to talk to Jane with you around.”
    â€œWe won’t help you destroy Ray’s chance of becoming governor.
    â€œFine.”
    Fine.
    â€œTraitor,” shouted Cordelia as Melanie slammed the front door on her way out.

 
    Â 
    L ate Wednesday afternoon, Randy sat behind the desk in his home office doing some paperwork when he heard a car pull into the driveway. A few seconds later, Larry appeared in the doorway, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
    â€œYou shaved off your mustache,” said Randy, tossing down his pen and leaning back.
    â€œHad to,” said Larry. “Didn’t want Gunderson to be able to ID me to the police—if worst came to worst.” He took off his baseball cap and let his pony tail drop down his back.
    Against his better judgment, Randy had allowed Del to talk him into giving the bribe idea a shot. He reasoned that nobody could tie them to Larry. And if Larry did get caught, he’d promised to say it was his idea, that Randy and Del had nothing to do with it. At the very least, that gave them deniability. “So? You talked to her?”
    â€œYup. Met her at a bar in downtown Minneapolis.”
    â€œHow’d it go?”
    Larry walked over and set the attache case next to the desk. Instead of taking one of the chairs close to Randy, he chose the leather couch across the room. Stretching out, he took a drag from his cigarette. “She’s smart,” he said, smoke billowing from his nostrils. “The offer got her attention, I guarantee you that. But she played it cool, tried to make me think she was insulted. It took me a minute to get the point. She wants more money.”
    â€œHow much more?”
    â€œFifty thousand. The woman was a real piece of work. She maintained she had high ethical standards, but then it came out that she also had some nasty debts. For fifty large, we’ll not only get her silence, but the file she’s worked up.”
    â€œShe said that?”
    â€œNot in so many words, but we understood each other. Once we get our hands on the info, we’ll know where the holes are. We need to plug them, if you catch my drift. Hope you’ve got deep pockets, bro, ‘cause that’s what it’s gonna take.”
    Randy’s head sank to his chest. “I thought it was all over years ago.
    â€œWell, it ain’t, so get used to it.”
    â€œIf I give you the fifty, do you trust this woman to play ball with us?”
    â€œYeah, I do. Fifty thousand’s a bunch of cash. I told her I’d need some time. I didn’t know whether you’d go for it or not.”
    Randy blew out a heavy breath. “I’ve got the money. I’m just . . . worried. If we get caught offering a bribe to a member of the press, we’ll all go down in flames.”
    â€œI understand, man. But look, if I get nailed, I’d never rat you and Del out, you know that. It’s your call. But one way or another, she’s gotta be dealt with.”
    â€œDid she give you any indication what she has?”
    â€œShe’s been digging into the Sue thing—you know, the
trial.”
The
Sue thing,
thought Randy. He’d never put it that way, not in a million years. But then Larry had never known Sue all that well. When they were in Nam, Randy would read certain parts of the letters she wrote him to Larry and Del, but mainly he kept her locked away in his heart. Safe. Away from the flies and the heat, the boredom and the terror. She was his secret weapon. He kept her gold locket in his pocket the entire time he was in country. She’d given it to him the day he got on the bus to leave for boot camp. Inside was a tiny pressed