gone
so high they can’t pay the premiums. But the banks that lent them
the money to buy the boats won’t let them leave the docks without
full coverage. The real estate developers are bidding wharf space so
high God herself couldn’t keep up with it. So one night, one dark,
rainy night, the lobsterman brings in a few bales instead of a few
pots and clears in five hours what it’d take him five years to earn
legitimately."
"Marsh wasn’t exactly your overwhelmed
fisherman."
"Everybody has pressure on them. Marsh gave me a
handsome retainer, Mr. Cuddy. In cash. Drugs? I didn’t ask. He
would have settled, and I . . .Christides would have gotten Hanna a
nice nest egg to start a new life. So instead you have to play El Cid
with Roy, and he looks for love in at least one wrong place and ends
up dead. Forever. If you just could have waited till he was over the
spouse-lock, nobody--"
"The spouse-lock?"
"Yes. It’s a term some pop psychologists throw
around. It means being fixated on the spouse you’re about to lose,
or already have lost through death or divorce."
I couldn’t avoid thinking about Beth as Arnold went
on.
"Roy didn’t care about Hanna in the loving
sense anymore. Maybe he never did. But he wasn’t about to let her
go. Not until he was finished with her. I was like that with my
husband. He died, out drinking with the boys and killed in a car
crash. I was twenty-one years old. Fortunately we hadn’t started a
family yet, and I damn well wasn’t interested in starting one
without him. He had a whole-life policy that saw me through law
school without any debts. That way I could start on my own, instead
of for some potbellied lecher who was the only lawyer interested in
hiring a ‘female associate’ back when I graduated. But I couldn’t
get my husband off my mind for months afterwards, even though it was
his fault that I was alone and without him."
I was still thinking about Beth when Arnold said,
"Are you all right?"
I said, "Yeah, fine."
"You look a bit weary. How about a drink?"
"No, thanks."
"Oh, come on. I’ll bet we have a lot in
common."
I looked at her a little too long. "No, I don’t
think so." I stood to go.
"At least bring me the drinks that Paul made."
I walked toward the pool edge. She said, "You
know, Paul really couldn’t have had anything to do with ‘setting
you up,' as you say."
I thought about Chris giving him an alibi, but said,
"And why’s that?"
"Well, for one thing, he’s too proud of his
boxing prowess. If it had been him, he would have made sure you had
seen him, so you’d know that he had beaten you."
I bent over and picked up the drinks. "Any other
reason?"
"Yes. I litigated a lot of criminal cases before
I gravitated to divorce practice. His attitude is all wrong. If he
had done it, he already would have tasted his revenge and acted smug,
not angry, toward you this afternoon."
I walked back, setting the glasses on her table. She
said, "I liked the way you handled yourself with Paul today."
“ Macho posturing."
She laughed, deep in her throat the way some older
women can. "Macho posturing can have its place. And charms."
Her left hand had been lying relaxed on her flat
stomach. Now the fingertips slowly began strumming near her navel.
The spider, mending a weak spot in the web.
"You know you ought to be more careful around
Paulie, Ms. Arnold. There’s no worse enemy than one you’ve
trained yourself."
"Really?"
"While you think you’re teaching him
everything he knows, he’s learning everything you know."
Her expression hardened. "Mr. Cuddy, I’ve kept
myself looking like this and feeling fine by learning a lot myself.
Over the years I watched plenty of women slide from bombshells into
craters. I do aerobics and Nautilus three times a week, and I can
recline-press as much as the average fifteen-year-old boy. When I
need your advice, I’ll ask for it."
I turned to go and went about ten steps before I
said, "Oh, one more thing."
She’d
so high they can’t pay the premiums. But the banks that lent them
the money to buy the boats won’t let them leave the docks without
full coverage. The real estate developers are bidding wharf space so
high God herself couldn’t keep up with it. So one night, one dark,
rainy night, the lobsterman brings in a few bales instead of a few
pots and clears in five hours what it’d take him five years to earn
legitimately."
"Marsh wasn’t exactly your overwhelmed
fisherman."
"Everybody has pressure on them. Marsh gave me a
handsome retainer, Mr. Cuddy. In cash. Drugs? I didn’t ask. He
would have settled, and I . . .Christides would have gotten Hanna a
nice nest egg to start a new life. So instead you have to play El Cid
with Roy, and he looks for love in at least one wrong place and ends
up dead. Forever. If you just could have waited till he was over the
spouse-lock, nobody--"
"The spouse-lock?"
"Yes. It’s a term some pop psychologists throw
around. It means being fixated on the spouse you’re about to lose,
or already have lost through death or divorce."
I couldn’t avoid thinking about Beth as Arnold went
on.
"Roy didn’t care about Hanna in the loving
sense anymore. Maybe he never did. But he wasn’t about to let her
go. Not until he was finished with her. I was like that with my
husband. He died, out drinking with the boys and killed in a car
crash. I was twenty-one years old. Fortunately we hadn’t started a
family yet, and I damn well wasn’t interested in starting one
without him. He had a whole-life policy that saw me through law
school without any debts. That way I could start on my own, instead
of for some potbellied lecher who was the only lawyer interested in
hiring a ‘female associate’ back when I graduated. But I couldn’t
get my husband off my mind for months afterwards, even though it was
his fault that I was alone and without him."
I was still thinking about Beth when Arnold said,
"Are you all right?"
I said, "Yeah, fine."
"You look a bit weary. How about a drink?"
"No, thanks."
"Oh, come on. I’ll bet we have a lot in
common."
I looked at her a little too long. "No, I don’t
think so." I stood to go.
"At least bring me the drinks that Paul made."
I walked toward the pool edge. She said, "You
know, Paul really couldn’t have had anything to do with ‘setting
you up,' as you say."
I thought about Chris giving him an alibi, but said,
"And why’s that?"
"Well, for one thing, he’s too proud of his
boxing prowess. If it had been him, he would have made sure you had
seen him, so you’d know that he had beaten you."
I bent over and picked up the drinks. "Any other
reason?"
"Yes. I litigated a lot of criminal cases before
I gravitated to divorce practice. His attitude is all wrong. If he
had done it, he already would have tasted his revenge and acted smug,
not angry, toward you this afternoon."
I walked back, setting the glasses on her table. She
said, "I liked the way you handled yourself with Paul today."
“ Macho posturing."
She laughed, deep in her throat the way some older
women can. "Macho posturing can have its place. And charms."
Her left hand had been lying relaxed on her flat
stomach. Now the fingertips slowly began strumming near her navel.
The spider, mending a weak spot in the web.
"You know you ought to be more careful around
Paulie, Ms. Arnold. There’s no worse enemy than one you’ve
trained yourself."
"Really?"
"While you think you’re teaching him
everything he knows, he’s learning everything you know."
Her expression hardened. "Mr. Cuddy, I’ve kept
myself looking like this and feeling fine by learning a lot myself.
Over the years I watched plenty of women slide from bombshells into
craters. I do aerobics and Nautilus three times a week, and I can
recline-press as much as the average fifteen-year-old boy. When I
need your advice, I’ll ask for it."
I turned to go and went about ten steps before I
said, "Oh, one more thing."
She’d
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