The Other Path

Chapter 36

"I love this place," Marc Feldshuh remarks, gazing around a sixties-style diner. "Where else can you still get a patty melt and play the jukebox right from the table?"

"Not many places," Rick replies. "I don't think I've ever heard 'Blame It On the Bosso Nova' before.

"Oh, it was a big hit in its time. Good thing for Eydie Gormé that it was, too. Her husband died, leaving her a pile of debts. The story made great copy for the columns. But you're here to talk about something a lot more current. I've been following the Menkins for a while. When a politician is that rich and self-righteous, you just know that some juicy secrets lurk about. But I wasn't expecting one of them to get Old Joe killed – unless Marion did it."

"Why would you think Marion would do it?" Kate asks.

"For one thing, I don't think they could stand each other. It was one of those family marriages, the kind that merge competing assets. As I heard the story, Marion either had to marry Joe, or she would be out of the family fortune. And at first, she tried to make it work. But he started playing ball with all the wrong people for her tastes."

"Like who?" Rick queries.

"The Loch brothers. It's just Charles since David died, but Joe tied up with both of them. He signed on to deny global climate change and oppose anything leading to less use of fossil fuels. Marion wasn't about to board a Greenpeace ship, but she had her issue with denying climate change. While she was growing up, she spent a lot of time at her grandmother's home on a barrier island off the Carolinas. I forget which one. Marion inherited it when the old lady died. The place almost got wiped out by a level 4 hurricane. Then a level 5 just missed it. After that, Marion jumped on the environmental bandwagon. She got really pissed off that Joe didn't care about what was most dear to her. If anything, she saw him as trying to destroy it.

"Marion wanted out of the marriage, but their finances were so entangled that she couldn't see how to make it work. And Joe didn't want a divorce interfering with his standing with his evangelical base. So when he needed her to show up for some event that wasn't blatantly anti-environment, she played the faithful wife for an hour or two. But otherwise, they've been living separate lives."

"So would Marion have any reason to kill him?" Kate probes.

"Oh yeah, that's the slimiest part of all. As I said, the Menkins' finances were entangled. And Joe's own money wasn't enough for him. He was steadily draining Marion's resources for covert political donations. One of them was to a PAC blocking opposition to a pipeline. Worse, that was money Marion intended for her grandchildren. That was the final straw. I heard that she was preparing to file suit, but Charlie Loch's pals got it quashed."

"So Marion might have seen killing Joe as the only way to stop him," Rick surmises. "But why a spear?"

"Because Joe and his cronies went to a hunting ranch in Texas where they engineer little expeditions so city slickers who want to feel macho can go after the animals with spears. The prey there is old and slow. And the management has men standing by with rifles just in case the animals have enough verve left to fight back. Joe loved the carefully scripted bloodletting, but Marion thought it was a travesty. She could have seen killing him with a spear as a form of poetic justice," Marc speculates.

"But if she feels that way, she would still have to be an expert with a spear to kill her husband," Kate points out.

"Or she could hire an expert," Rick suggests. "However, I doubt it would be cheap."

"Follow the money, and we find the murderer," Kate finishes.

"That should be interesting," Marc guesses. "Anyone for dessert? The pie here is terrific."

Rick points at a glass carousel displaying the pastries. "They have cherry."

"So," Rick wonders as Kate starts the car, "are you going to go after Marion Menkin's financials?"

"I'm going to try. I'll have Simmons put in the request. He's got more juice than I do. Still, if Marion is involved in her husband's death, she'll have her lawyers fight it. But while we're waiting on that, we should go see Brian Palfrey. If Marion is guilty, giving us his name could have been misdirection. Or she might have tried to look like she was cooperating. Either way, I want to talk to him."


Silver-haired Brian Palfrey waves Rick and Kate to a couch opposite a leather chair molded to his body. "Yeah, Joe and I were buddies, more so in law school than in later years. We actually met before that. When we were in high school, we both went to a debate camp. You wouldn't have believed it to see Joe after his growth spurt, but when I first saw him, he was short and skinny. Looking at him, you wouldn't have thought he could face anyone down. But when he started talking, he took over a room. We were both on the winning team, but the win was largely because of him.

"At first, when we met up again at law school, I barely recognized him. He'd grown to six-three – taller if you count his hair. Even so, he didn't really stand out until he opened his mouth. He always took the unpopular side of an argument. I think he gloried in it. When he scored a win, it was because he won people to his side. I don't think he ever got over the thrill. Maybe that's why he was always the dissenting voice in his caucus. He relished the fight."

"Do you think anyone he was fighting with would have been passionate enough to kill him?" Kate inquires.

"I doubt it. I've never run for office. I never wanted to. That was Joe's thing. But I've been a staffer in the House and the Senate. I know how things are done. And Joe was a master negotiator. I never saw him do it, but I'm betting that Joe would ask for more than he wanted or even concessions he didn't want at all. Then he'd give in on just enough to get along. But he wouldn't let go of anything essential to him. If he didn't get his way, no one would get anything."

"Not exactly the attitude to inspire affection," Rick comments.

"True," Brian agrees. "But the people who agreed with him, many from the opposing party, practically worshipped him. If a bill was about to go through that they didn't like, he could stop it cold."

"Until someone stopped him cold," Rick observes.

Kate leans forward, her badge prominent against her bustline. "Mr. Palfrey, can you think of anyone who would want to kill Joe Menkin?"

"Hundreds, maybe thousands of people," he confides, "starting with a majority of his party. But offhand, I can't think of anyone who could get away with spearing him. Joe played his cards close to his chest. Being in the right place at the right time to send a spear his way would have been almost impossible. Whoever did the deed had access to carefully guarded information."

"How about you, Mr. Palfrey?" Kate questions. "Did you have access to that guarded information?"

"Sometimes, but not this time. I had no idea Joe would be bringing his yacht to New York. You find out who did, and you'll have Joe's murderer."