Hi Everyone:

I am pleased to publish chapter 22 of my novel, RAPE. After reading the chapter, I hope you will comment. As you know, your comments and suggestions influence my revision. If you missed any of the previous chapters, check the archives.

          I encourage you to visit my website:  joshswritingroom.com/ where you will find, the current short story.

You can also check out my e-published novels. If you find one to your liking, you can purchase it from Amazon.com, or from Barnes and Noble. You’ll find links on the website taking you right to it.

PATH TO A PARDON,

THE EINDHOVEN STRATEGY,

& PALM BEACH STYLE.

          These novels deliver hours of reading pleasure and are modestly priced. In fact, Path to a Pardon & Palm Beach Style have been reduced in price. You can now purchase two books for what it once cost to read just one.

 

As I publish each new chapter, the previous chapter(s) are archived, so you can easily catch up. For those who prefer, here is an encapsulated version of the previous action:

 

PREVIOUSLY: RAPE

Prosperous executive, Gary Sanders, has an appointment at the home of Julia Walsh, the reigning Empress of Palm Beach. Julia’s niece, Oscar winning actress, Miriam West, is visiting and has jewelry to insure.

Miriam accuses Gary of assault and rape. Chief Moore shows Gary a close-up of her facial cuts and bruises. They await the lab report.

Gary’s wife, Carol is furious. She moves him into the guest room.

Reporters who publish stories favoring the actress surround Gary’s home and office. His children are harassed at school and Gary loses his clients and his major companies. Neighbors and friends shun Gary and his family.

Gary’s lawyer, Joe Flaherty sends P.I. Jim Bosley to investigate, and then visits Carol. He finds her parents have arrived and plan to take her and the children back to Boston.

A January court date is set. Bail is set. Carol tells Gary that she and the children are going to Boston to live with her parents.

One of Miriam West’s fans assaults Gary. A neighborhood committee offers money to help Gary sell his home, if his family leaves Palm Beach within 60 days.

Private Investigator, Bosley, learns of Consuela Arista’s termination following Gary’s visit. Reporter, Miguel Gonzales, is already looking for her.

Miguel’s editor helps him find an address for Consuela. She has gone to visit her mother in San Antonio.

Consuela tells her mother that she was in the next room when Gary came to see Miriam about insuring her jewelry and she saw him leave. Now, Miriam is forcing her to help destroy him.

Carol’s parents make an appointment for her to meet with the family lawyer about a divorce.

Bosley meets with ex-girlfriend, Connie, who works for the same newspaper as Miguel and learns the reporter has gone to San Antonio. He offers & she accepts a job running his office.

During lunch at the Sailfish Club, Miriam has too much to drink and thinks about how she advanced her career and what she may yet have to do.

Carol consults an attorney about a divorce. Robert strikes a classmate and is suspended.

Gary and his ex-secretary, Erica meet for lunch at Hamburger Heaven, where she tells him that she believes in him and he should do whatever he must to keep his children.

 

 

CHAPTER 22

 

 

 

 

 

For the first time in years, Jim Bosley looked around his little two-room office and acknowledged the shabbiness of its used, sagging reception-room furniture, the harsh light emitting fluorescent tubes, and the dusty look created by its lack of regular cleaning. Most of all, it forced him to realize how lonely he felt.

He’d been working alone ever since he left robbery-homicide. At first, he had enjoyed the feeling of not having to answer to anyone and over the years, he stayed motivated and busy, primarily because lawyers like Flaherty in West Palm and Lindstrom in Fort Lauderdale and Powell in Miami provided the clients and the deadlines to meet. He’d been well paid for his services, not that he needed the dough. He lived alone and he hadn’t overpaid for anything, including his office.

Maybe, he decided it’s time to unlock the vault and fix up the place, get it ready for Connie. This is no atmosphere for her. It’s time to spring for some new carpeting and furniture at least for the outer office where she’ll be greeting clients and spending her days. Having her around will make life more pleasant; take the lonely feeling away.

Would she like one of those fancy, glass-topped desks, or maybe a big L-shaped wood-desk? Hey! This fella, Sanders, he’s trying to rent out his office space. Hm. Wonder what a Palm Beach address might do for my image. He probably has more space than I need, unless of course, I take in an associate or two. Check, Koyle is coming up for retirement. I’ll bet we can pick up a lot of security work in Palm Beach. I think I’ll talk to Flaherty about this, can’t hurt to get his opinion. Maybe get Connie’s ideas too, he thought, putting his feet up on the corner of his beat up, old wood-desk.

With eyes closed, he conjured up a picture of her. He had always liked looking at her, those large, almond shaped blue-grey eyes, the little scar that ran almost straight down from her bottom lip to her chin, a reminder of the time she fell asleep at the wheel of her ancient Rambler and woke up with its steering wheel wrapped around her face. She laughs about that now, he thought, she’s lucky it didn’t kill her. He loved her low throaty laugh. And it didn’t hurt that she had a knockout body, just made for sex, although she had denied him that pleasure ever since they broke up eighteen-months and three days ago.

Bosley opened his eyes, put his feet on the worn carpet, and shook his head, forcing himself to get back to work. He turned on his computer and waited for it to go through its warm-up routine, before opening on the Internet. The P. I. clicked on Google and asked it to find the yellow pages for hotels and motels in the San Antonio area. He telephoned steadily for several hours without locating Miguel Gonzales. Is it possible the reporter registered under an alias? He dismissed the idea. It made no sense; Miguel has no reason to hide, unless of course, he thinks someone like me is following him. Maybe he got to San Antonio and found that Consuela already returned home. That might explain the absence of a hotel room. I had better check on that.

With a reservation secured on the next flight to San Antonio, Bosley drove to Lake Worth to be certain the house on Kirk Road remained empty. He spotted no sign of life when he looked in the window; he knocked hard several times trying to rouse someone, but nothing had changed since his previous visit. He wondered if any of the neighbors had heard from her. Turning away from the front door, he spotted her mailbox. He lifted the lid and spied several envelopes that looked as though they contained bills and a solitary Christmas Card. His eyes lit up as he discovered the return addressee, Mrs. R. Arista in San Antonio. Damn! I don’t know if this is good detective work or just good luck, either way, I feel a lot better about going to Texas now. He pulled out a cell and speed dialed Flaherty’s number.

The lawyer answered on the third ring. “Well it’s about time you called. Have you got good news, Laddie?” 

“Yes and No; According to my sources, Miguel Gonzales left yesterday for San Antonio, I suspect it’s to interview a potential eye-witness to our client’s visit with the West woman.”

“Did he fly or drive?”

 “I don’t know. I haven’t been able to find Miguel but I did locate an address in San Antonio where Miriam West’s personal maid may be staying and I’m flying out tonight. If Miguel is driving, I’ll beat him to the witness.”

“That’s good work, Jim. Listen, I’ve seen that reporter in action. He likes to use a tape recorder. If Miguel happens to get his interview before you get there, he’ll probably have it on tape. It’s not inconceivable that it will contain information detrimental to our client. If so, I don’t want to see it in print. If she can help, bring the witness back here.”

“What if she won’t come?” He heard the Irishman sigh followed by a brief pause while the attorney thought about that possibility.

“I’ll try to get a subpoena. Now listen, Jim, I’m not telling you to do anything to harm a reporter, but failing a taped interview of your own . . .”

“Check! I read you, loud and clear.”

“Have a nice flight.”