Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

* * * *

Virgil Jackman was taking a late lunch break at two o'clock from his job as an assistant manager at a chain sporting goods store in the Colonie Mall, and I met him at the Denny's on Wolf Road. He was easy to spot from Dunphy's description: a good six-five with a bodybuilder's physique under his retailer's dress shirt and name tag, wide gray eyes, and an interestingly meaty face with a small shrub of dark blond goatee at the bottom of it, the only thing delicate about him.

The place had thinned out after the noon-to-two rush, and we asked for and were led to a corner booth in the nearly deserted far end of the restaurant.

"I'm glad you're here. I didn't think anybody was gonna call me back," Jackman said, "and that was starting to piss me off. I thought about calling the Republicans, but my dad was IUE, a shop steward, and he'd ream my ass if I helped out those management types."

"That's a union?"

"International Union of Electrical Workers. Dad had thirty-five years in at Schenectady GE when they shut down his division five years before he was set to retire. Now he works security at Sears during the week and Home Depot on weekends. Those aren't union shops, for sure, but Dad is still party all the way—campaigned for Obama, African-American no problem. So I can hear him screaming his head off if I even picked up the phone and dialed a Republican."

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

The waitress came over, and Jackman ordered a taco salad and an iced tea, and I said those also sounded good to me.

"I know Shy McCloskey has a lot of union endorsements," I said.

"Yeah, that's good. Glad to help out this guy."

"But I'm curious. What if the union endorsee had been the bad guy here? Would you still have exposed his bad behavior?"

"Sure, I would. What was done to Greg was pathetic. It was a sin, and it was a crime. The idea that a guy who would do a thing like that could be the governor makes me sick. So, I'd be pissed even if he was one of our guys."

"How was what Louderbush did a crime? You mean assault?"

"Sure. If I smacked you around even if it's just some roughhousing, if you said stop and I keep it up, that's assault.

Even just touching a person if it's unwanted is assault."

"You know the law on this stuff."

"Yeah. I do. My sister's ex-husband. He used to hit her, and I tried to deal with him on my own. Big mistake. Just call the cops is what I should have done."

"So you have a record?"

"Expunged after one year. I learned my lesson."

The iced tea arrived. An elderly couple hobbled our way and planted themselves in the adjoining booth. "This catsup needs wiped off," the old lady told our waitress, who removed the offending Heinz container.

"So, tell me, Virgil. How did you know Greg Stiver? He was no union man from what I've read about him."

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

"I lived in the next-door apartment on Allen Street. I mean, Janie Insinger and I did. We broke up after she decided she was a lesbian, although now she's with a guy again. Some ex-marine. I thought about telling the guy Janie is gonna be nothing but trouble, but I'm dating now myself, and Kimberly says leave it alone, just stay out of it, and I'm sure she's correct. We ran into them one time at a club and everybody ignored each other."

"Janie also contacted the McCloskey campaign, as I guess you know."

"We aren't on speaking terms, but she left a message saying she was gonna call you guys, and I should, too. I was gonna anyways. Kenyon Louderbush has no business going around running for governor and acting like he's some nice guy with a wife and kids. Not after what he did to Greg Stiver."

"What did he do? Tell me what you saw and heard."

The old couple in the next booth were sitting silently and could have been listening to our every word, and Jackman leaned forward and said quietly but distinctly, "Louderbush would beat the shit out of Greg at least once a week. We didn't know Greg real well, but he gave Janie and I a ride to school on Mondays and Wednesdays, and if Louderbush was there the night before—and we could always hear the crashing around and the yelling—Greg would be all beat up the next day. He had a big bruise one time, and his lip was bleeding on another occasion that I remember. One time he asked me to drive his car because he said his head hurt so much he thought he might have a concussion. Janie and I 28

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

both said, hey, you shouldn't let this guy get away with this; you don't deserve to be treated this way. And Greg would always say he didn't want to get the guy in trouble, and sometimes he'd laugh and say this is what he deserves for getting involved with a married man."

The old folks seated next to us seemed frozen in place, and were either studying the menu with fierce concentration or they were taking in everything Jackman said and would have an exciting time hashing it over later in the car.

"How did you know the identity of the man who visited Stiver and beat him?"

"We saw him in the hall lots of times, and I recognized him from the news. One time I even said to him, 'Hi Senator.' I wanted him to know I knew who he was, and I thought that might make him think twice before he beat up on Greg again.

But these guys think they own the world, and they can get away with anything they want."

"Louderbush is an assemblyman, not senator. Could you be confusing him with someone else?"

"No, we used to see him all the time on the eleven o'clock news. He was the guy who was always blah-blah-ing about taxes. Hey, I'm against taxes like anybody else. But how else are you going to pay for the fire department and so forth? Are we all supposed to put our own fire out?"

"And Greg acknowledged to you that he was in fact having an affair with Assemblyman Louderbush?"

"Yeah, when I said Janie and I recognized him, Greg was cool with that. He said don't tell anybody, that Louderbush would just deny it, but that Louderbush was his boyfriend.

Red White and Black and Blue

by Richard Stevenson

Louderbush came to one of Greg's econ classes one time, and then he came onto him afterward, and they got started. Greg said he really admired the guy, and the fact that he was this big Republican was a real turn-on. I guess he thought Louderbush was attractive, too. I know if I was into guys, I wouldn't want some fifty-year-old old fart like that getting all over me."

"Sure."

"I'd want a young athlete. One time Janie and I tried a three-way with this college wrestler we met at a club, and that was kind of a turn-on for me. But the woman would've had to be there. Otherwise, what's the point?"

"How long did the relationship last between Louderbush and Stiver?"

"From fall till Greg killed himself in April. Greg was getting more and more upset and worried that he wasn't getting a teaching job or anything else coming down the pike. Then he had this asshole pounding on him every time Louderbush came over and they had a few drinks, and I guess he just cracked. You'd have to be pretty much at the end of your rope to get you to jump off of a building. I don't know how anybody could make themselves do that. It goes against all your instincts."

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