JoLayne realized he was right: The stolen boat had become a time bomb. Any kind of a dispute would set the men off—over cigarets, the last cold beer… or a stolen lottery ticket.
Krome said, “We needed these boys to be distracted. I would say our prayers have been answered.”
“Then God bless Hooters.” JoLayne jerked her chin toward the docks. “Tom, they’re heading back this way.”
“So they are.”
“Shouldn’t we duck?”
“Naw,” Krome said. “Just stay cool until they go past. Turn toward me, OK?”
“Hold on a second. Is this another kiss?”
“A long romantic one. To make sure they don’t see our faces.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
Judge Arthur Battenkill Jr. was an intelligent man. He knew Champ Powell’s remains would eventually be identified. A medium-rare lump of tissue was already on its way to the FBI for DNA screening, or so the judge had heard.
A dead law clerk in the torched house of your wife’s lover was not easy to explain, especially if the lover was to return and make an issue of the arson. Which that bastard Tom Krome likely would.
Arthur Battenkill knew his judicial career would soon end in scandal if he didn’t take the bull by the horns. So, being as practical as he was smart, he began making plans to quit the bench and leave the country.
Starting over would be expensive. As a matter of convenience, the judge decided that the insurance carrier for Save King Supermarkets should pay for his new life in the Bahamas, or wherever he and Katie chose to relocate. This meant placing a call to Emil LaGort’s lawyer.
Emil LaGort was a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit filed in Arthur Battenkill’s court. In fact, Emil LaGort was a plaintiff in numerous lawsuits from Apalachicola to Key West—a habitual fraud, a renowned slip-and-fall artist. He was also seventy-four years old, which meant that one of these days he would really slip and fall.
Why not now? mused Arthur Battenkill. Why not in the aisle of a Save King Supermarket?
Emil LaGort was suing the store for $5 million, but he gladly would’ve settled out of court for fifty grand and costs. He did it all the time. Therefore his attorney was greatly surprised to receive a phone call, at home, from Judge Arthur Battenkill Jr.
As a rule, Emil LaGort shied from judges—if a deal couldn’t be cut, he’d quietly drop the case. Going to trial was a time-consuming inconvenience that Emil LaGort simply could not afford, what with so many irons in the fire. He had a good thing going with the quickie settlements. Most insurance companies were pushovers when it came to frail senior citizens who claimed to have fallen on their policyholders’ premises. Most insurance companies wished to spare jurors the sight of Emil LaGort, enfeebled in a neck brace and a wheelchair. So he got paid to go away.
The complaint scheduled to be heard in Arthur Battenkill’s court was fairly typical. It alleged that, while shopping one morning at the Save King, Emil LaGort had slipped and fallen, causing irreparable harm to his neck, spine and extremities; furthermore, that the accident was due to the gross negligence of the store, whereas an extra-large tube of discount hemorrhoid ointment was left lying on the floor of the health-care-and-hygiene aisle, where it subsequently was run over by one or possibly more steel-framed shopping carts, thus distributing the slippery contents of the broken tube in a reckless and hazardous manner; and furthermore, that no timely efforts were made by Save King or its employees to remove said hazardous ointment, or to warn customers of the imminent danger, such negligence resulting directly in the grave and permanent injury to Emil LaGort.
Emil LaGort’s attorney figured that Judge Arthur Battenkill Jr., like everyone else familiar with the case, knew that Emil had purposely knocked the tube of goop off the shelf, stomped it with both feet and then laid himself very gingerly on the floor of the health-care-and-hygiene aisle. The attorney certainly was not expecting the judge to call him at home on a Sunday morning and say:
“Lenny, it would be in your client’s interest to hang tough.”
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161