Kiss of Death by Linda Palmer

Author:Linda Palmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

WALTER SET OUT a great spread: eggs, toast, muffins, fresh orange juice, and a Variety Pack of dry cereals, but all Arnold wanted was juice and coffee. The three of us sat at the kitchen table; Walter and I ate quietly while Arnold talked.

“When I met Ronnie I was in my senior year at Harvard Law. On scholarship. She’d just made her debut.” He glanced at Walter. “That means she was presented to society at a grand ball.”

“I know,” Walter said. “I’m from West Virginia, not Borneo.”

Arnold had the grace to look embarrassed. “Sorry. I’m used to explaining things to juries.”

“No offense taken,” Walter said.

I refilled Arnold’s coffee mug. “Go on.”

“I saw her picture in the paper, and must have said something about how beautiful she was. One of my classmates knew her, and introduced us. Much to my amazement, she agreed to go out with me. She didn’t care that I had very little money. She was happy eating pizza and renting videos. We fell in love . . .”

Arnold paused for a moment, as though trying to keep his emotions in check. I sat still and silent, letting him take the time he needed. When he continued, his voice was stronger. “I made top grades, Law Review, all that, so after graduation, I had my choice of several major firms. I wanted to do criminal defense, and the best offer for that was in New York. Ronnie urged me to take the opportunity. We got married and she moved here, leaving all her friends and everything familiar and comfortable. She was fascinated by my work—wanted to know everything about the cases I took . . .”

There was a dreamy expression on Arnold’s face—a look I would never have associated with that lion of the courtroom. It was as though he was reliving the past in his mind. I saw that he really had loved her. Perhaps, as Nancy feared, he had fallen in love with her again.

To keep him talking, I said, “I’m not surprised she was interested. Criminal law is an enthralling profession.”

Arnold snapped back into the present. “It was more than just interested. We’d been married for a year when she confided to me that she had always wanted to become a lawyer. Her father told her that she’d been brainwashed by television shows, and that law wasn’t at all the right career for her.”

“What did he want her to do?”

“Nothing.” Arnold’s mouth hardened and his tone turned bitter. “Her father was a king of the leveraged buyout, and did a lot of lavish entertaining while making big deals. He told Ronnie that she’d just waste time in college, because she’d only get married one day and have a husband to take care of. In the meantime, because her mother was dead, he insisted it was Ronnie’s duty to be his hostess.”

“That’s pretty medieval,” I said.

“She wasn’t strong enough to go against his wishes—at least not until she married me.” Arnold laughed, but it was a sound without a trace of mirth.

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