Beverly Hills Dead

12

Rick slept like a stone until after ten o’clock. To his surprise, Glenna was already out of bed. He showered and shaved, went downstairs for coffee and found everyone but Eddie on the front porch with their cups.

“Morning, all,” he said, and everyone returned his greeting. “Is Eddie still in bed?” he asked Suzanne.

“No. He’s deep in conversation with Mac Cooper, in his study,” she replied.

Manny appeared and walked everyone around the immediate environs of the ranch house, showing them the bunkhouse, the mess hall, the barns and corrals and the place that was being prepared for the war-surplus barracks buildings.

“They’re arriving on Tuesday,” Manny said, “and they’ll all be up by the end of next week.”

After their tour they went to a corral and met the ranch foreman, Dick Torrey, who had a wrangler choose horses for them. The animals were saddled, then Torrey led them away from the ranch house for an hour’s ride. They arrived at a low bluff on the Snake River, where the ranch’s chuck wagon awaited them and served lunch while a wrangler picketed their horses.

They sat around a rough-hewn portable table on sawhorses and ate the good food.

“I think I’m going to enjoy shooting up here,” Rick said, “and I’ll be sorry to leave.”

“You can visit as often as you like,” Eddie said. “I bought the place this morning.”

His wife’s mouth dropped open. “You what?”

“Mac and Ellie Cooper expected their sons to carry on here, but that is not to be, so they’ve decided to retire and build a new, smaller house for themselves a couple of miles up the river on fifty acres they’ve kept.”

Suzanne was having difficulty with this. “You bought a ranch?”

Eddie nodded. “This ranch, nearly sixteen thousand acres of it. It’s a going concern, you know, and Dick Torrey is going to run it for me.”

“But you are the most urban person I know,” Suzanne said.

“I could get used to this,” Eddie said, waving an arm. “In fact, I’m already used to it. I even like being on a horse.”

“How much do you expect we’ll use the place?”

“As often as we like,” Eddie replied. “After all, we have an airplane; let’s use it.”

“Congratulations, Eddie,” Rick said.

“You’ll all be welcome any time.”

“When do you close on the place?”

“Well, I’ve got to find legal and accounting representation in the state, then incorporate. I expect it will be about three months. The Coopers will stay on in the big house until their new one is finished. Suzanne and I probably won’t see the place again until next summer.”

“It ought to be a great investment,” Vance said.

Eddie grinned, “I think so, too. Not to mention the fun Suzanne will have decorating it.”

“I’ve got to start making lists,” Suzanne said.

That night after dinner the four men made themselves comfortable in Mac Cooper’s study.

“Eddie, Rick,” Sid Brooks said, “we had a meeting a couple of nights ago.”

“What sort of meeting?” Eddie asked.

“A strategy meeting. There were two lawyers from New York there, and we hired two West Coast attorneys. We’re going to make this a First Amendment issue. The idea is, if we have freedom of speech, we have the right not to speak, and if we have the right to choose our politics, we have the right not to talk about it.”

“I’m a lawyer,” Eddie said, “and I think that’s a novel approach.”

“You sound disapproving,” Sid said.

“If I were your lawyer, I’d advise you to take the Fifth, rather than depend on an untested legal strategy.”

“When you take the Fifth, everybody thinks you’re guilty of something, and we’re not guilty of anything. Anyway, we have a liberal Supreme Court right now, and if we lose in the hearings, we can appeal with the hope of success.”

“There are what, nineteen of you?”

“Forty-one were subpoenaed; nineteen of us are going to be unfriendly witnesses, as they’ve begun to call us. There’s also a group being formed called the Committee for the First Amendment, people who aren’t politically suspect, who are going to send a delegation to the hearings to morally support us.”

“I know,” Eddie said. “I’m a member, and I’ll be there.”

“I’d like to go, too,” Rick said.

“You’re going to be shooting a movie right here,” Eddie pointed out, “and anyway, I’m the public face of the studio, since Sol Weinman died. You leave this to me.”

“As you wish,” Rick said, but he was disappointed.

“Eddie’s right, Rick,” Sid said. “You’re better off keeping your head down; this could get messy. And I want to thank both of you for paying for my script up front. That gives me a financial cushion, and I may need it.”

“The least we could do,” Eddie said.

“I’m grateful for the trip up here,” Sid said. “Alice has been worried sick about all this, and, I have to admit, I have been, too. It’s good to get away from L.A. for a few days and breathe some fresh air without the press all over us. I haven’t been this relaxed for weeks.”

“Our pleasure,” Eddie replied.

Vance, who had said nothing until now, spoke up. “I guess I’m going to have to read the U.S. Constitution,” he said, “if I’m going to understand any of this.”