The Too Many Deaths of Danny C. by JR Foley
“The Too Many Deaths of Danny C.,” based on an actual case, is a fable of the dark side of Government power. It enacts a near-ritual conducting a dead man, Danny C., to the secrets he has died trying to penetrate. His conductor, who identifies himself as a professional Investigator, presents the motel room scene of Danny C.’s bloody apparent suicide. Danny’s attorney brother Mike challenge’s the coroner’s...
“The Too Many Deaths of Danny C.,” based on an actual case, is a fable of the dark side of Government power. It enacts a near-ritual conducting a dead man, Danny C., to the secrets he has died trying to penetrate. His conductor, who identifies himself as a professional Investigator, presents the motel room scene of Danny C.’s bloody apparent suicide. Danny’s attorney brother Mike challenge’s the coroner’s ruling. His great piece of contrary evidence is the disappearance of the large accordion file Danny has been observed taking everywhere, including this motel room. where the file contained all of Danny’s research into a growing Government scandal. But Mike’s challenge goes nowhere, and the Investigator turns to Danny himself.
The Investigator asks the dead Danny what he has been searching for. Painfully Danny answers: “The Secrets of the Temple.” Dressing up as a Masonic George Washington, the Investigator now recalls Danny to consciousness – and amnesia of his death – and sends him back onto the journey that has brought him so far. (Washington is only the first of several Good Presidents, impersonated by the Investigator, who guide Danny toward his final revelation.)
A girlfriend, Marie, offers Danny partnership in researching and writing a book about a lawsuit to recover millions from the Reagan Justice Department for alleged theft of computer software “enhancements.” They interview Roger and Eva, the inventors of the “enhancements,” who further reveal a strong rumor that the enhanced software has not only been sold to banks and intelligence agencies round the world, but has also had a “back-door” installed to allow the U.S. Government to spy on said banks and agencies. Their source claims to have done the installing. But he’s now in jail in Washington State on drug charges, “framed by the Feds.” Danny flies out to investigate, but ends up in a wild goose chase on the Olympic Peninsula looking for a cassette tape the “installer” claims will exonerate him. All he finds is an assortment of oddballs, including Thomas Jefferson (impersonated by the Investigator), who embraces him warmly as his one-time secretary, Merriwether Lewis. Returning home, Danny nearly drops the book project until Marie brings him new leads. In fact, he has become more and more intrigued, and even agrees reluctantly to compare notes with a “conspiracy theorist.” He reaches a working hypothesis of what’s what.
But Danny’s research has also discovered a number of Mysterious Deaths of other people investigating related Government mysteries, including one of his own informants. He allows his son to move in with his ex-wife, and advises a brother Charlie, temporarily rooming with him, to relocate. Meanwhile his research has broadened and deepened. Although the misadventure on the Olympic Peninsula made him swear off field-work, he has not only worked the phone extensively, at the Investigator’s suggestion he has contacted some of his villains – in particular the Watergate Burglar and former CIA operative who devotes his post-prison career to writing spy thrillers. He also contacts the “back-door” installer’s former partner, a dashing international businessman who, taking Danny under wing, warns him repeatedly not to look too closely into certain things. Danny ignores the advice and eventually outrages the man, but not before the man himself has freaked out Marie with his bizarre and casually violent behavior.
In response, Marie drops Danny from her book project, claiming he has gone too far afield from the software case, and taking on a new, already published writing partner. Cut loose, Danny follows his own leads toward the Secrets of the Temple, which finally take him to the motel, where someone has promised to deliver the ultimate piece of evidence that will prove the software case against the Justice Department. But the one who shows up, in a wheelchair, with super-confident grin, is not the expected witness but a Great dead President, founder of the National Security State, who in the most friendly and efficient manner reveals the Secrets Danny has been seeking, and explains to him the choice he now faces.