Stephanie's eyes scanned the room. "What a nice office."
"Thank you. Won't you sit down?"
"I want you to know that I appreciate your cooperation," Stephanie said. "You were the first person to agree to an interview."
"You aroused my curiosity." Barbara Moran, her arms folded, smiled. "By the way, can you tell me now how you found out about my involvement with The Family?"
"I'm sorry. I promised my source confidentiality. But don't worry, no one else will ever find out."
"Naturally that's important to me. But you know, there is a part of me that almost would be willing to let you use my name. I just don't feel the need to hide my past any longer."
"I understand. But even if you gave us permission, we wouldn't be able to use your name. Our attorneys have advised against it." Stephanie reached into her purse for her cassette recorder. "Would you mind if I taped the interview?"
"Of course not, if it will help you."
In her high-backed, tufted leather chair, Barbara Moran looked as though she could be the president of the corporation as easily as a senior account executive.
"Barbara," Stephanie began, "are you originally from California?"
"Malone, New York."
Stephanie smiled. "Then that is an upstate accent. I thought so. What brought you to the west coast?"
"Let me first ask you a question, if I may. How old are you?"
"Twenty-seven," Stephanie replied, a bit puzzled. "Why?"
"I just wanted to get an idea of how old you were in the sixties. You aren't old enough to know what was really going on back then. The war in Vietnam, the peace movement, civil rights--everything was happening at once. It was exciting, Stephanie, a period of my life I'll never forget. I had this burning desire to see what existed outside Malone. The world was changing every day and I wanted to be a part of it. I had moved out on my own after high school and had taken a job at Con-Form Plastics. It was so depressing to go to work and see all the middle-aged men and women--men and women who had been born in Malone and were going to die there--and think that could be me in thirty years. The final straw was when I became aware of Con-Form's blatant disregard for people and the environment. They pumped I don't know how many pollutants into the Salmon River. After a big fish kill I said enough's enough and contacted the authorities. Con-Form fired me when they found out who blew the whistle, but it was more than worth it. Shortly after, they were charged with violating federal environmental standards. They were eventually fined a quarter of a million dollars and ordered to change their waste disposal systems. In the meantime I had read in an underground newspaper about Mother Earth's Family and their movement to save the environment. I decided that their commune, The Haven, was where I belonged. So one day I just dropped off some things at my parents' house and took off."
"Just like that?" Stephanie asked. "Without having a job or anything?"
Barbara chuckled. "I can tell we're from different generations. Kids back then lived for the moment, and for me that meant joining Mother Earth's Family. The future seemed far away and unimportant. I guess I considered working with Mother Earth as my job, even though it didn't pay anything. Besides, at The Haven we had a place to sleep and food to eat."
"So when did you come out here?"
"It's been so long it's hard to remember." Barbara Moran closed her eyes as she thought. "1969. It must have been about March. I was with The Family for close to nine months."
"Why did you leave?" Stephanie asked.
"Well, when I got there I thought Mother Earth was the greatest. She knew more about ecology than anyone I've ever met. Her mission seemed so pure at first. But something started to change. I don't know if she was becoming frustrated or what. Maybe she got tired of working within the system and not seeing any results. She grew increasingly intolerant of anyone she perceived to be a threat to the environment. It finally got to the point where instead of eliminating the pollution, she started talking about eliminating the polluters. That's when I decided it was time to bow out."
"So when she heard about the plans to build Hollyworld she decided to act?"
"Mother Earth used to preach against people who wore real furs, so movie stars were already on her hate list. When Anne Stratford and William Drew decided to develop Hollyworld, it must have pushed Mother Earth over the edge. Destroying virgin forest to put in a theme amusement park was bad enough, but add to it two movie stars who represented everything she opposed...well, you know what happened."
Stephanie shifted in her chair. "But you weren't there at the time of the murders."
"No, thank God." Barbara Moran shook her head. "There's no way I could have dealt with that. I was just sick when I heard the news. I had become quite close with several people in The Family. I was so relieved when I learned they had nothing to do with what happened."
"Does your own family know you were in Mother Earth's Family?"
"I never told my parents, but my husband knows." Barbara Moran paused a few moments before continuing. "This is hard to explain, Stephanie, but I'm not ashamed of the time I spent with The Family. I don't talk about it because people just don't understand. They often tend to judge you. I wouldn't care, except that it might hurt my family or friends. I will always be sorry about the murders, but I feel no personal guilt. At that time in my life that's just where I happened to be, and I had a good reason to be there. I had nothing to do with any of the violence, and neither did a lot of other kids there who were just like me."
Stephanie saw kindness in Barbara Moran's face, but, for an instant, also a touch of sadness. "What did you do after you left The Family?" she asked.
"I moved back home. I worked for awhile, saved some money. Then, with my parents' help, I went to Syracuse and decided to stay on for an M.B.A. Terrell and Associates had a recruiter on campus the fall before I finished up. I talked to him, and we were both interested. And I had never really stopped liking L.A. So, here I am."
Stephanie again scanned the spacious corner office. "It looks like you've done quite well for yourself."
"Well, it's a far cry from the extrusion line at Con-Form."
Chapter 18
As Stephanie pulled into the parking lot of the law offices of Dolmire Fields & Lanahan she checked her watch. She had ten minutes until her appointment with State Senator Eric Dolmire.
Her second interview had been in Bakersfield with Dennis King, a chiropractor. He closed his office on Wednesday afternoons and was the only one there when she arrived shortly before one o'clock. The interview lasted an hour and a half. Stephanie found King to be a little too friendly. She politely turned down his offer of dinner and a late-night spinal adjustment.
Thursday had begun with an eight o'clock appointment with Rosalee Hartun at the Jackson Street Christian Church Food Co-op in San Francisco. Rosalee Hartun was a robust, broad-shouldered woman who wore her hair tightly braided and wound in a bun. Her sandals and India print skirt were not inconsistent with either her personality or the city in which she lived. She talked freely about her life. After The Family broke up she drifted along the back roads of the country, ending up in Thayer, Indiana, and marrying a farm boy named Claude Hartun. One evening when Claude was on his way to pick up Rosalee after work, a drunk driver went left of center and hit him head-on. The other driver was unhurt, but Claude died from his injuries three days later. Rosalee moved back to the west coast to try to escape the painful memories. Without a job or a place to stay, she sought help from the congregation of the Jackson Street Christian Church. In exchange for a small apartment and living expenses, she organized a neighborhood day-care program, then later took over the day-to-day operations of the church's food pantry. She was also still concerned about the environment, citing Greenpeace and the Sierra Club as two organizations she supported. Stephanie enjoyed talking with Rosalee and didn't want to end the interview, but another appointment awaited her.
Thursday's second interview was with Gerry Meharis, who was by far the wealth
iest former Family member Stephanie would meet. His parents were old-money San Franciscans with a fortune made from the shipping industry. Gerry's life had always been one of excesses, from the Arabian pony given to him on his fifth birthday to the new Porsche he got when he turned sixteen. He talked about his LSD use in junior high and the day in high school when he punched out his principal after an altercation with a teacher. He related teen-age arrests for car theft and burglary and even admitted stealing a '57 Chevy two weeks after his parents had given him the Porsche. He snickered when he told about pulling a gun on a man after an incident in a parking lot, and bragged how his parents had always been able to buy his way out of trouble. He had joined The Family not out of any concern for the environment, but only as a means of upsetting his parents. He lived with The Family off and on for about a year, but he readily confessed he'd had trouble forgoing the comforts of home for life in a mountain commune. He would leave The Haven from time to time for respites at his parents' compound on Lake Merced, staying until fights with them drove him back to The Family. Meharis said he had joined The Family for sex, drugs, and freedom from his parents. With a smirk, the thirty-nine-year-old man told Stephanie he was still looking for those very same things.
She flipped down the visor and used the built-in vanity mirror to check her makeup. Eric Dolmire sounded cordial but cautious when she first talked to him on the phone. She knew little about Dolmire personally but was acquainted with his politics. He was beginning to make a name for himself by taking a stand against the expansion of nuclear power plants in California, a viewpoint she shared with him.
Stephanie was talking with his secretary when she heard a door open. She recognized the legislator as soon as he walked into the reception area. Despite his graying temples he had a freckled, boyish face.
"Ginny, hold my calls," Dolmire said to his secretary. He turned to Stephanie. "Follow me, please." Without another word he led her to his office. "Here we are," he said tersely, opening the door. "We should have some privacy in here."
Dolmire closed the door and motioned to a chair. "Now, I believe we should get down to business."
"All right, if you're ready," Stephanie said as she sat down. "Would you mind if I taped the interview?"
"I would," he snapped. "And by the way, Miss Kenyon, I had you checked out."
"What do you mean?" Stephanie was surprised by the anger in his voice.
"Let's just say that I have many friends, well-positioned friends, who look out for my interests. They did a little digging to see what they could find out about you." The legislator fixed his eyes on Stephanie. "What is it you really want? Or should I ask, how much?"
"You think I'm here to blackmail you? Senator, I came here for an interview. That's all."
"Sure you did." Dolmire leaned forward and pointed with his finger. "And just how long do you think my career would last once you splashed my name all over your newspaper?"
"Senator, I don't intend to use your name in the story. You have my word."
Dolmire's expression didn't change. "I have your word now, but that's probably good only until you walk out that door."
"I can see this isn't going to work." Stephanie got her bag and rose to leave. "I won't take up any more of your time."
"Wait a minute." Dolmire walked over to the window. When he turned there was a smile on his face. "Perhaps I've misjudged your motives, Miss Kenyon. But you have to understand, a person in my position must constantly be on guard. There are a lot of people who would like to see me out of office...or perhaps worse. I'm sure you can appreciate my concern."
"I can. And you should understand that I take my work very seriously...which includes my promises."
Dolmire put his hands in his pockets. The lines in his face relaxed. "I'm sorry I was a little rough on you. My training, I guess." He gestured for her to sit down again. "I have to confess that I didn't really have you checked out, but if I had, I think I would have been told you're okay. Even so, I was stunned when you called and brought up The Family. How did you find out?"
"My training, I guess." Stephanie smiled. "Don't worry, Senator. I mean it when I say your secret is safe with me."
"I certainly hope so. Do you have any idea how my constituents would react? I'd be ruined. There's still a lot of animosity toward Mother Earth and her Family and that's not likely to ever change."
"Not toward her and the murderers, but it might change toward the others if people found out that a Family member went on to become a state senator. They wouldn't have to know it was you."
"Come on, Miss Kenyon. Do you really think you could keep my identity a secret? Once you mention that I'm a state senator, it wouldn't be all that hard for people to narrow it down to me."
"I've thought about that. We could simply say you're a state legislator. There are quite a few senators and assemblymen around your age."
Dolmire shook his head. "Still too close. Couldn't you just say I'm an attorney?"
"Would you agree to the interview?"
"You've been quite candid, and I respect that," Dolmire said. He was silent for a few moments, then he let out the long breath he had been holding. "All right," he continued, "I'll consent, as long as you don't print anything that even remotely suggests who I am."
Stephanie was sure the only reason Dolmire was cooperating was because he knew she already had enough information to bring his political career to an end. He obviously wanted to find out how much she knew and have some control over what her paper would print. The compromise he was proposing was one she could live with.
"Great," Stephanie said. "Let's start again. Now, would you mind if I taped the interview?"
Dolmire nodded with a sympathetic half-grin. "Yes, I would. But if you just take notes, I will talk with you...as an attorney."
"It's a deal." Stephanie opened her note pad. "Let's begin with how you came to join The Family."
Dolmire scooted back and rested his arms on those of the chair. "Well, I guess it's what you might call the travesty of justice and democracy in America. That and a blowup with my parents. You see, I was always interested in politics, even as a kid. You know, student council, Boys' State, the whole bit. We lived in Canton, Ohio, and I talked my way into a trip to the Democratic National Convention in 1968. My big opportunity to see the political machinery in action first-hand. I saw it, all right."
"Daley's Chicago?"
"Daley's storm-troopers," Dolmire countered, a trace of bitterness in his voice. "I was devastated by what I saw. When I got home my parents were all over me. They had watched the coverage of the riots on television. Any kid with hair half an inch over the ears had become the enemy. My accomplishments in school and sports went right out the window. Meant nothing to them. I was one of the radicals. I tried to talk to them, but they wouldn't listen. Maybe I was too idealistic. I don't know. Anyway, I said some things in anger and so did they. That was it. I took off and ended up in L.A."
"And The Family?"
"I met a couple of the girls from The Family in a park one day. For the life of me I can't recall their names."
Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "It wouldn't have been Griffith Park, would it?"
"No, it was some small park, I can't remember now. I didn't know L.A. very well then."
"When was that?"
Dolmire looked away and thought for a moment. "Let's see, the convention was in late August, and I made it out here in early October, so that must have been around January of '69."
Stephanie kept writing. "So the girls..."
"They started coming on to me about Mother Earth being the protector of the planet and all that other garbage you've probably read about. I didn't buy any of it. I was just looking for...well, to be quite honest, I thought I might get lucky."
"How long were you with The Family?"
"Less than three months. I wasn't there when everything went down. But I learned later there were all kinds of things going on before that, while I was still with The Family, althoug
h I didn't know about it. I don't think I was trusted. As socially conscious as I thought I was, I guess I wasn't dedicated enough for them. Certainly not enough to hurt anyone."
"Why did you leave The Family?"
"It just wasn't for me. Like I said, I was a pretty idealistic kid, and there was not too much that was ideal about that situation, at least by the time I got there. Mother Earth was too autocratic for me. It was her way or no way. I guess I would liken her to a female Jim Jones. So one night I decided to take off. I didn't even tell anyone I was leaving. But you know what was really strange? When the Stratford-Drew murders occurred, I suspected right away that The Family was involved. After that I was ashamed to have ever been associated with them. That's what puzzles me, how you found out. I've never talked to anyone about my time with The Family. Not a living soul."
The bright floral pattern of the motel room's wallpaper began to fade, the chrysanthemums gradually becoming a blur of shapes and colors. Stephanie's body now felt like an anchor on the floor of a sleepy lagoon, with all efforts to hoist herself from the dreamy depths proving futile. She was surrounded by trees and shrubs, and the soft mattress beneath her had become a bed of dry leaves. Where was she? Why couldn't she move? Once again she tried to pry herself from her supine position. Looking first to one arm, then the other, and then down to her feet, Stephanie saw that each limb was firmly tied to a wooden stake. She pulled against the ropes, but her body had lost its strength. She was stricken by a sudden sense of panic.
"Help! Someone please help me!" Her head jerked from side to side in an attempt to spot someone, anyone, who might be able to free her. Dark clouds drifted overhead, blotting out the moon. Nearby, a twig snapped. Her ears strained against the night sounds of the woods.
"Help me! Please, help me!"
A man in a trench coat stepped out from behind a tree. Stephanie's eyes widened with recognition.
"Senator Dolmire! Thank God!"
"Hello, Stephanie." The legislator's voice was calm as he looked down at her.
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