Saturday Sample: Blue 52

Welcome to Saturday Sample. For the past few weeks I've been sharing samples from Blue 52. So far we've learned that President Richard Lovinggood was murdered by his wife who then committed suicide. Their son Hank was raised by his grandfather Senator Henry Lovinggood. A new high speed train is coming through the cemetery where President Lovinggood is buried, and Hank has made plans to open the coffins once they are disinterred so he can see his parents. He was only 3 when they died, and he doesn't really remember them. His grandmother is totally against his plan and has just told him so in no uncertain terms. Shaken, his grandfather told him that his father took after his grandmother, and his volatile personality caused the Senator a lot of problems. Last week, the senator reminded Hank that his father rescued his mother when she was kidnapped and shot. Both he and Hank's father were at the hospital where this excerpt took place. This week, the senator tells Hank some startling news.

The senator reclaimed Hank’s attention by clearing his throat. The light had died from his eyes. “There’s one thing you can be sure of, Hank. Your mother did not shoot your father. I know what the investigation revealed, but every word of it is a damned lie.”

Hank froze. His grandparents never talked about his father’s death. “Then who did it?”

Senator Lovinggood shrugged. “No way to tell now, but if I hadn’t been so broken up over losing Richard, I would have focused the investigation on Vice President Stanton.”

“Stanton!” Hank’s heart pounded so hard it almost hurt.

“Oh, yes. Several days before the murders, Richard and Stanton had one hell of an argument.”

Hank intently leaned forward in his chair and grimaced as he sipped his bourbon. Foul stuff. How can Grandpa stand it? “Do you know what they quarreled about?”

Senator Lovinggood shook his head. “All I know is that Richard left a message for me saying they’d had the mother of all arguments, and he needed to talk to me as soon as possible.”

“Why didn’t he tell you about it when you returned his call?”

The senator’s face drooped with regret and sorrow. “I never returned his call. I had gone to Paris with your grandmother. By the time I got his message, he was already dead.”

A cold chill seized Hank when he thought of how it must have been to hear his father’s voice on that phone after his death 

Blue 52 is available at Amazon.com or at http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com