Life Penalty by Joy Fielding

Author:Joy Fielding
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance Suspense
ISBN: 9780385672139
Publisher: Signet
Published: 1984-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

Friday morning Jack insisted that he and Gail get away by themselves for the weekend. They needed some time together alone, he stressed; they needed a couple of days to get away from everything and everybody.

He chose Cape Cod.

The first time that Gail and Jack had been to Cape Cod had been on their honeymoon almost nine years before. Then it had seemed, as everything had seemed to her in those early days, a magic place. Now, though even the most jaded could hardly dismiss its charm, it seemed much more commonplace. While the magic want had been waved lavishly across certain sections, giving added vibrancy to the paint of the old wood cottages that lined the streets and conjuring up the word “quaint” from the old Patti Page song, in other areas the magic had been applied in too desultory a fashion. Quaint had given way to tacky. Even in October, tourists seemed to outnumber the natives. The sand dunes seemed smaller, the salty air less pleasing. For eight years Gail had though Cape Cod to be paradise on earth. Now she knew there was no such place. One town was the same as another. While before, Gail felt only peace and serenity when she and Jack walked these streets, arms intertwined, now she was aware of every automobile horn and faulty muffler. The formerly romantic breezes were harsh against her cheeks. She longed to escape them but was afraid to suggest to Jack that they go inside.

Once she had resigned herself to the trip, Gail had found the drive up from Livingston to be a pleasant one. It was sunny; the weatherman was promising a relatively mild few days. Even the traffic had moved along at a decent clip. There were only two accidents along the way and neither seemed from her vantage point to be particularly serious. She had wondered briefly as they passed one car that had been rear-ended by another what it would be like to be rammed sharply from behind, to collide with another car at a high speed. How would it feel, she wondered, to witness the sudden explosion of her flesh as another automobile plowed right through her body? Would she feel anything at all?

Jack regularly consulted his new map (“What happened to all my maps?” he had asked before they left the house, and had been forced to purchase a new one at the gas station) even though he knew the way, and could probably find Cape Cod blindfolded.

Gail wondered how Jennifer was doing with Mark and his wife. Would Julie be there when Jennifer returned from school today? Would she remember to get Jennifer up in plenty of time on Monday morning or would she be too busy rushing to her own job? Julie worked as a secretary for an accountant. Would she have enough time and energy left at the end of the day to be bothered with a moody teenage girl? Though Jennifer adored her father, would he

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