the Golden Orange (1990) by Wambaugh Joseph

Author:Wambaugh, Joseph [Joseph, Wambaugh,]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2010-12-23T23:20:58.921000+00:00

Chapter 13 _ The Dell Buoy

The temperature in downtown L. A. was 106 which beat the record for the date by fifteen degrees! The surge in energy use from all the air conditioners in L. A. and Orange County had knocked out traffic signals. Schoolchildren were being kept off the playgrounds, and lights were turned off in classrooms.

Winnie had convinced Tess Binder to get out of the house and spend a large part of that scorching afternoon cruising in Newport Harbor. Tess borrowed a twenty-foot open-bow runabout, powered by an inboard-outboard engine, from her next-door neighbor. She packed a picnic basket full of light snacks, cold beer and California Chardonnay, and she sunbathed while Winnie piloted the boat.

Newport Beach is composed of eight islands, one natural and the rest man-made. Tess knew every island and every channel as well as Winnie did, but wasn't interested in the sights. She reclined across the bench seat in the open bow and rolled down her purple high-waist bikini. To Winnie she was as firm and sleek as an ocelot, and yet she'd never left him to go to a gym or even talked about it. Winnie wore baggy cotton shorts and a faded red tank with a screen print of a catamaran flying a hull on the front. He'd gotten enough confidence by now to stop sucking in his gut.

Winnie took the runabout under Newport Boulevard into the narrow channels by Balboa Coves, passing a gondola going the other way, a motor-powered gondola with the pilot in a Venetian striped jersey and a straw gondolier's hat. The steaming tourists in the gondola drooped like dead dandelions.

"Remember Corky Peebles from my club?" Tess lowered her oversized sunglasses to peek at Winnie, who leaned back, steering with his bare feet.

"Which one was she? The other blonde?"

"No, the one with the bobbed black hair and the gorgeous body."

"Oh yeah. The one that looked at me like I was a strange spot on a hotel pillowcase. I remember her."

"If she were with us, she could do a running commentary of who lives in which house, as long as it's someone with a net worth of more than ten million."

"Why just ten? Why not F. F. H. numbers?"

"There's only a handful of those in the harbor, but there's a lot of the other."

"Seven-one-four rich, right?"

"You learn fast."

"Told ya I wasn't too dumb, lady," Winnie said, holding a cold beer to his face and letting the water drops fall onto his chest.

"And as far as Forbes' Four Hundred, well, if someone slips three places, or jumps two on that list, Corky knows about it. And knows if he plays, or if his wife plays, and with whom. She's always ready to strike when there's an opportunity."

"Tell me, Tess," Winnie said, noticing for the first time that her hands were older than the rest of her. "What would it take for someone like ... like Corky to be content?"

"The Sultan of Brunei couldn't make Corky content."

"Well, yeah, but let's take someone like .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.