Side Effects (1984) by Palmer Michael

Author:Palmer, Michael [Michael, Palmer,]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-04-07T21:47:13+00:00

9

Monday 17 December

“Now, Suzy, promise Daddy that you will mind what Mommy tells you and that you will never, never do that to the cat again.… Good.… I have to go now, sugar. You better get ready for your piano lesson.… I know what I said, but my work here isn’t done yet, and I have to stay until it’s finished.… I don’t know. Two, maybe three more days.… Suzy, stop that. You’re not a baby. I love you very much and I’ll see you very soon. Now, tell Daddy you love him and go practice that new piece of yours.… Suzy? …”

“Damn.” Arlen Paquette slammed the receiver down. He had protested to Redding the futility of remaining in Boston over the weekend, but the man had insisted he stay close to the situation and the Omnicenter. As usual, events had proven Redding right. Paquette stuffed some notes in his briefcase and pulled on his suitcoat. Right for Redding Pharmaceuticals, but not for Suzy Paquette, who was justifiably smarting over her father’s absence from her school track meet earlier in the day. How could he explain to a seven-year-old that the very thing that was keeping him away from home was also the sole reason she could attend a school like Hightower Academy? He straightened his tie and combed his thinning hair with his fingers. How could he explain it to her when he was having trouble justifying it to himself? Still, for what he and his family were gaining from his association with Redding, the dues were not excessive. He glanced down at the photographs of Kate Bennett piled on the coffee table. At least, he thought, not yet.

The cab ride from the Ritz to Metropolitan Hospital took fifteen minutes. Paquette entered the main lobby through newly installed gliding electronic doors and headed directly for Norton Reese’s office, half expecting to have the woman whose life and face he had studied in such detail stroll out from a side corridor and bump into him.

“Arlen, it’s good to see you. You’re looking well.” Norton Reese maneuvered free of his desk chair and met Paquette halfway with an ill-defined handshake. Theirs was more an unspoken truce than a relationship, and no amount of time would compensate for the lack of trust and respect each bore the other. However, Paquette was the envoy of Cyrus Redding and the several millions of Redding dollars that had sparked Reese’s rise to prominence. Although it was Reese’s court, it was the younger man’s ball.

“You’re looking fit yourself, Norton,” Paquette replied. “Our mutual friend sends his respects and regards.”

“Did you tell him about our speed freak outfielder and the letters to the press and TV?”

“I did. I even sent a packet of the articles and editorials to him by messenger. He commends your ingenuity. So, incidentally, do I.” Try as he might, he could put no emotion behind the compliment.

Still, Reese’s moon face bunched in a grin. “It’s been beautiful, Arlen,” he gushed. “Just beautiful. I

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