Butterfly by Kathryn Harvey

Author:Kathryn Harvey [Harvey, Kathryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Anything else?”

Ann massaged her feet. She was now the regional manager for Royal Burgers and had

to make frequent rounds of the fourteen stores. Her particular responsibility was quality

control—she made sure that the same high standards were maintained at all the outlets.

“Well, Carmen was right. Sales are falling off in all of them. Ever since McDonald’s came

out with the Big Mac last year, Royal Burgers has been steadily losing customers. All my

managers agreed we should come out with a double burger. I also think we should install

the new microwave ovens in all the stores.”

Beverly nodded and jotted something on a piece of paper.

BUTTERFLY

175

Her desk was a mess, which was very unlike Beverly, who was punctiliously tidy in

both her person and her home in the Hollywood Hills. Ann had visited the Spanish-style

house several times and had never failed to be impressed with the orderliness of it. Beverly

insisted upon the same discipline in the Royal Burgers stores. Dirt and untidiness had no

place in her life.

But because she couldn’t seem to keep a secretary, and because Eddie was no longer

interested in being involved in his own company, Beverly had the constant job of keeping

from being overwhelmed by paperwork.

Part of which, this morning, had to do with going through the contents of the thick

envelope from her clipping service.

This was another mystery about Beverly that Ann often wondered about. Her obses-

sion with Reverend Danny Mackay.

Ann was very familiar with the flamboyant Texas preacher. Anyone who watched the

news or read the papers or went into bookstores recognized that famous smile. Ever since

his stirring speech outside Parkland Hospital in Dallas back in 1963, Danny Mackay had

become something of a celebrity. And now, with his new book, Why God Took the

Kennedys, on the best-seller list, his fame was growing.

Ann didn’t know what Beverly’s connection with the charismatic Reverend was, but

she suspected Beverly might have actually known Danny Mackay at some time in her

past. Whatever the relationship was, Beverly was very private about it. She was also obses-

sive about it.

Take this clipping service, for example. Beverly had contracted with them six years

ago, upon her return from Dallas. “Anything on Danny Mackay,” she had told them. It

didn’t matter how slight the mention, or in what paper, they were to send her the clip-

ping. Beverly spent one morning a week going through that thick envelope and poring

over the news items of Danny Mackay’s activities. Beverly sat there now at her desk,

studying the clippings with an intense look on her face, reading about Danny’s tour in

Vietnam, where he was preaching to the troops.

Ann got up and went to the small office refrigerator. Taking out a can of Metrecal and

slowly pouring it into a glass, she went back to thinking about sex.

It was absurd that she was still a virgin. And Ann couldn’t really say why she was,

except maybe that she didn’t have much opportunity to meet guys who appealed to her.

Her job at Royal Burgers kept her pretty busy, and when she did find herself in a social

situation, she always seemed to be out of place.

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