and all. Just hold, look at it and shoot. Great quality. So the wife
said I should come down.”
“That’s terrific, Mr. Flanders. And the purpose of all this?” Frank
looked at him inquiringly.
Realization spread over Flanders’s features. “Oh. I’m sorry, Lieutenant.
I’m standing here rambling, have a tendency to do that, just ask the
missus. Retired for a year.
Never talked much at work. Assembly line at a processing plant. Like to
talk now. Listen too. Spend a lot of time down at that little cafe over
behind the bank. Good coffee and the muffins are the real thing, no
low-fat stuff.”
Frank looked exasperated.
Flanders hurried on. “Well, I came down here to show you this. Give it
to you, really. Kept a copy for myself of course.” He handed across the
package.
Frank opened it and looked at the videocassette.
Flanders took off his cap, revealing a bald head with cottony tufts of
hair clustered around his ears. He went on excitedly. “Got some really
good shots, like I said. Like of the President and right when that fella
was shot. Got all that. Jesus did I. I was following the President, you
see.
Ran me right into all the fireworks.”
Frank stared at the man.
“It’s all there, Lieutenant. For what it’s worth.” He looked at his
watch. “Huh. I gotta go. Late for my lunch. Wife doesn’t like that.” He
turned to leave. Seth Frank stared down at the cassette.
“Oh, Lieutenant. One more thing.”
“Yes.”
“If anything were to come from my tape, do you think they might use my
name when they write about it?”
Frank shook his head. “Write about it?”
The old man looked excited. “Yeah. You know, the historians. They’d call
it the Flanders Tape, wouldn’t they, or something like that. The
Flanders Video maybe. You know like before.”
Frank wearily rubbed his temples. “Like before?”
“Yeah, Lieutenant. You know, like Zapruder with Kennedy.”
Frank’s face finally sagged in recognition. “I’ll be sure to let them
know, Mr. Flanders. Just in case. For posterity.”
There you go.” Flanders pointed a happy finger at him.
“Posterity, I like that. Have a good one, Lieutenam” -AN?”
Richmond absently motioned for Russell to come in and then looked down
once again at the notebook in front of him. Finished, he closed it and
looked at his Chief of Staff, his stare was impassive.
Russell hesitated, studying the carpet, her hands clasped nervously in
front of her. Then she hurried across the room and fell rather than sat
in one of the chairs.
“I’m not sure what to say to you, Alan. I realize my behavior was
inexcusable, absolutely inappropriate. If I could plead temporary
insanity I would.”
“So you’re not going to attempt to explain it away as being somehow in
my best interests?” Richmond sat back in his chair, his eyes remained on
Russell.
“No, I’m not. I’m here to offer my resignation.”
The President smiled. “Perhaps I did underestimate you, Gloria.”
He stood up, went around the desk and leaned against it, facing her. “On
the contrary, your behavior was absolutely appropriate. If I had been in
your position I would’ve done the same thing.”
She looked up at him. Her face betrayed her astonishment.
“Don’t misunderstand me, I expect loyalty, Gloria, like any leader. I do
not, however, expect human beings to be anything more than that, meaning
human, with all their associated weaknesses and survival instincts. We
are, after all, animals. I have attained my position in life by never
losing sight of the fact that the most important person in the world is
myself. Whatever the situation, whatever the obstacle, I have never,
never lost sight of that one simple truism. What you did that night
displays that you also share that belief.”
“You know what I intended?”
“Of course I do. Gloria, I don’t condemn you for taking a situation and
attempting to maximize its beneficial effect on you. My God, that’s the
basis upon which this country and this city in particular are built.”
“But when Burton told yow–‘
Richmond held up one hand. “I admit I felt certain emotions that night.
Betrayal perhaps foremost among them. But in the time since, I have