“Don’t bother with the manure. The Honduras business—your boss Palmer didn’t have the votes to shut down the operation in committee, so you gave it to the Post. Had to have hearings. And we had those damn nuns protesting. Even at my house. Know what it’s like to come home to a bunch of nuns calling you a murderer?”

Addis started to protest, but Mumfries put up his beefy hands.

“No need. That was ages ago. You know, Nick, I can’t tell you how much I really helped them—both of them. And not just delivering Texas. Biggest mistake you can ever make, my grandfather told me, is to think you have something all figured out.”

Addis did not follow Mumfries, but he did not care.

“You tell Brew,” Mumfries said, “that I’ll get this right. Not to worry. No politics over a dead body. It will be all about healing, coming together, as a nation. Writes itself … I’m sorry to say.”

Mumfries pulled out a piece of paper with scribbling on it.

“Jotted down a few lines on the flight. And I’ll be happy to show you and Brew a draft. I’ll show it to Margaret, if she wants to see it. All in the family. Just like old times. The Masons and the Mumfries.”

The parade of vehicles was turning on to Pennsylvania. A crowd had gathered in front of the White House. Addis could see people holding up photographs of Hanover. One man was waving an American flag. Flowers were piling up by the front gate. Police officers and SWAT team members surrounded the block. Newspeople and camera operators jostled with each other for the best shot of the motorcade.

“So you don’t have to hold my hand. But there is one thing.”

“Anything, sir.”

“I’ve never been much for poetry. Grew up reading Westerns, Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour.”

Addis wondered if Mumfries knew that L’Amour had been a radical in Oklahoma in the 1930s.

“But I thought a touch of poetry might be appropriate tonight. If you have anything to suggest, drop it off with Kelly, okay?”

Addis nodded, as the White House gates closed behind them. The limousine stopped at the front of the executive mansion. The Secret Service agents would not allow the President to leave the vehicle until extra security men were in place. Then Addis followed Mumfries out.