• Пожаловаться

Stuart Woods: Palindrome

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Stuart Woods: Palindrome» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию). В некоторых случаях присутствует краткое содержание. категория: Триллер / на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале. Библиотека «Либ Кат» — LibCat.ru создана для любителей полистать хорошую книжку и предлагает широкий выбор жанров:

любовные романы фантастика и фэнтези приключения детективы и триллеры эротика документальные научные юмористические анекдоты о бизнесе проза детские сказки о религиии новинки православные старинные про компьютеры программирование на английском домоводство поэзия

Выбрав категорию по душе Вы сможете найти действительно стоящие книги и насладиться погружением в мир воображения, прочувствовать переживания героев или узнать для себя что-то новое, совершить внутреннее открытие. Подробная информация для ознакомления по текущему запросу представлена ниже:

Stuart Woods Palindrome

Palindrome: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Palindrome»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

After divorcing her physically abusive NFL superstar husband, photographer Liz Barwick accepts an assignment on an idyllic island and begins a romance while her ex-husband plots murderous revenge.

Stuart Woods: другие книги автора


Кто написал Palindrome? Узнайте фамилию, как зовут автора книги и список всех его произведений по сериям.

Palindrome — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Palindrome», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Шрифт:

Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

"I'm Al. I was wondering why you asked for me."

"My own lawyer is Walter Hopkins. If I had asked Walt to handle this, he'd have written a strong letter, then he'd have written another strong letter, and in a couple of years we'd have a resolution. I want this matter resolved now."

"I understand. Please tell me what happened to you last night."

"My husband came home and tried to beat me to death."

"I see. Did you-please understand I have to ask some very blunt questions-did you provoke him in any way?"

"Yes. I told him I wanted a divorce."

"That was all?"

"Yes. He didn't seem to like the idea."

"Of a divorce?"

"No, just of my telling him I wanted one. You understand, he wasn't like this when I married him."

Schaefer got comfortable in his chair. "Let me get some background, just to help me get a complete picture. Are you originally from Atlanta?"

"No, from a small town south of here called Delano."

"How small?"

"A little under five thousand."

"What did your father do there?"

"He worked for the railroad, until they moved most of the operations to another town, then he retired."

"How did you end up in Atlanta?"

"I got a scholarship to the University of Georgia. I was a fine arts major there-photography."

"Ramsey played for Georgia; is that where you met him?"

"Yes, but I didn't know him well there. It wasn't until I moved to Atlanta after graduation and got a job as a photographer on the Constitution that I got to know Baker. I was on sports, and I began to see a lot of him. He was charming and funny and smart-not really what I'd expected a pro ball player to be. After about a year of seeing him, we got married."

"Am I tiring you?"

"No. You have to understand that Baker was different then, a different person. But he wasn't doing well on the team, and they were talking about trading him. That's when things started to change."

"Tell me about it."

"We'd been married about a year and a half when he started on an intensive weight program designed to put more muscle on him. He was tall, six-three, but light for pro ball-only about a hundred and eighty-five. The change in him was dramaticphysically and emotionally. He gained fifty pounds in an alarmingly short time. I read something in the paper about steroids, and I asked him about it."

"What was his reaction?"

"He hit me."

"Was this the first time?"

"Yes. Baker always had a cruel streak, I think, but he used it on the field and didn't bring it home often. But he was obviously on steroids by this time, and it changed him. He became incredibly aggressive on the football field-very hard to stop. The team stopped talking about trading him and gave him a new contract. But he changed off the field, too."

"He became more abusive?"

"More and more. I don't know why I took it for so long-some perverted sense of loyalty, I guess. I began living this peculiar, introverted life. I didn't see many friends, and all my energy seemed to go into just not making Baker angry. For the past two years I've been walking on tiptoe around him, and it was wearing me down. I had left the newspaper at Baker's insistence, and I was working on a book of photographs. I would hide out in the darkroom as much as possible. Foolishly, I kept hoping that he'd go off the drugs and be his old self again. Then, in addition to the steroids, Baker started using cocaine, and he became downright explosive. And that brings us up to this week."

"The other night, did he rape you, as well?"

"Yes, but I don't think it's necessary to go into that right now."

"I think it's better if you let me decide what's necessary right now."

"First, let me tell you what I want, and then you can ask me anything you think is pertinent, and I'll answer fully."

"All right, tell me what you want."

"I want an immediate divorce; I want a legally enforceable undertaking from my husband that he will never see or speak to me again; I want my personal belongings from the house; and I want a quarter of a million dollars in cash."

"Is that all? A quarter of a million dollars?"

"Oh, he's got a lot more than that, but I figure that's the maximum I can get from him without a fight, and I don't want a fight. I just want it over."

"What about your medical expenses? They're going to be considerable."

"I'm covered under his team medical insurance. Anything that doesn't pay, I'll handle out of my quarter of a million."

"I think your demands are modest. I don't see any problem in having them met right away."

"That's why I wanted you. I think the mere fact of your being my lawyer will intimidate Bake, make him move fast. You can add your fee onto the settlement."

"All right, I'll see what I can do. My fee is normally a third of the settlement, but I think we can achieve a net you'll be happy with. I've asked Harry Estes to have your injuries photographed right away, before you improve any more. I'm going to need those photographs."

"All right," she said evenly.

"I need a photograph of you before… the incident, too."

"Call my publisher, Ray Ferguson, at Buckhead Press." She gave him the number. "He has a self-portrait I did for my new book."

"All right. I think I have all I need." He stood up. "Is there anything else I can do for you? Do you need anything?"

"Yes. When I get out of here, in a week or so, I'm going to need a furnished apartment for a few weeks. I'm going to need some clothes-jeans, size eight; a T-shirt; sneakers, size nine, just something to wear out of the hospital." She fumbled in a bedside drawer and held out some keys. "My car is in the parking lot downstairs; it's a silver Mercedes, the little convertible. I'd like you to sell it; it's less than a year old, get what you can. My safety-deposit-box key is on the key ring, too, number 1001 at the Trust Company Bank. Clean it out; the title to the car is in there; so is Bake's most recent financial statement. You should be able to use that to good advantage."

"Okay, I'll do all that." He scribbled his home number on his business card and left it on the bedside table. "Call me, day or night, if you need anything, anything at all. My secretary's name is Hilda; she's a wonder; use her as your own; I'll brief her."

"Thanks."

"You want me to call any friends?"

"No. No friends."

Schaefer walked to the door and paused. "You understand, of course, that this is not a conventional way to proceed, but your position is strong, and you have me on your side. I'm immodest enough to tell you that I don't think any other lawyer could pull this off without a lot of delays, but I think I can. If you don't care how I do it."

Something like a laugh came from Elizabeth Barwick, and she twitched from the pain in her ribs. "Believe me," she said, "I don't care how you do it."

Al Schaefer left the hospital parking lot and turned into Collier Road, listening to the hum of the twelve-cylinder BMW engine. He loved the sound, it helped him think. He thought now. At the Northside Drive traffic light, he tapped a number into the car phone and waited. The light changed and he drove on.

"Stillson, Immerling, Hoyt, and Thomas," a woman's voice said. Schaefer remembered the story, perhaps apocryphal, that the names Immerling and Hoyt had been transposed on the firm's original letterhead. That had been more than fifty years ago, and the legend still lived.

"Henry Hoyt, Junior, please," Schaefer said.

"Mr. Hoyt's office," a very serious secretary's voice said.

"This is Albert Schaefer. Let me speak to Henry."

"He may have already left for the day. May I ask what this is about?"

"Just tell him it's urgent."

Читать дальше

Шрифт:

Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Palindrome»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Palindrome» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё не прочитанные произведения.


Stuart Woods: Cold Paradise
Cold Paradise
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: L.A. Dead
L.A. Dead
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Dirt
Dirt
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Dead In The Water
Dead In The Water
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: Choke
Choke
Stuart Woods
Stuart Woods: D.C. Dead
D.C. Dead
Stuart Woods
Отзывы о книге «Palindrome»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Palindrome» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.