Diehl, William - Show of Evil Read Online Free PDF Page A

murder.'
    'What's your caseload, Ben?' asked Vail.
    'Four.'
    'And you're playing with this thing?'
    'I don't know how to run this gadget,' St Claire complained.
    Vail decided to humour him. 'You can have the whiz kid here until
after lunch,' he said. 'Then Meyer's back on his cases.'
    'Can't do much in three hours,' St Claire groaned.
    'Then you better hurry.'
    Naomi finally walked across the office and grabbed Vail by the arm.
She pointed across the room to Yancey's office.
    'He called ten minutes ago. I told him

Six
    In the lobby of the Ritz Hotel, the city's three hundred
most-powerful men preened like gamecocks as they headed for the dining
room. They strutted into the room, pompous, jaws set, warily eyeing
their peers and enforcing their standing in the power structure by
flaunting condescending demeanours The State Lawyers Association Board
of Directors luncheon was the city's most prestigious assembly of the
year and it was - for the most powerful - a contest of attitudes. Three
hundred invitations went out; invitations harder to acquire than
tickets to the final game of a World Series because they could not be
bought, traded, or used by anyone else. The most exclusive - and
snobbish - ex officio 'club' in town established who the most powerful
men in the city were. To be on the invitation list connoted acceptance
by the city's self-appointed leaders. To be dropped was construed as a
devastating insult.
    Yancey's invitation to be the keynote speaker was a sign that he was
recognized as one of the city's most valued movers and shakers. For
years, he had secretly yearned to be accepted into the supercillious
boys' club and he was revelling in the attention he was getting. Vail
followed him into the dining room, smiling tepidly in the wake of the
pandering DA as he glad-handed his way to the head table. This was
Yancey's day and Vail was happy for him, even though he regarded the
proceedings with disdain.
    His seat was directly in front of the lecturn at a table with three
members of the state supreme court and the four most influential
members of the legislature, an elderly, dour, and boring lot, impressed
with their own importance and more interested in food and drink than
intelligent conversation. Vail suffered through the lunch.
    Yancey got a big hand when he was introduced. And why not? Speaking
was his forte and he was renowned for spicing his speeches with
off-colour jokes and supplicating plaudits for the biggest of the big
shots. As he was being introduced, Yancey felt an annoying pain in the
back of his head. He rubbed it away. But as he stood up to speak, it
became a searing pain at the base of his skull. He shook his head
sharply and then it hit again like a needle jabbing into his head. The
room seemed to go out of focus; the applause became hollow. He reached
for the lectern to steady himself.
    Vail saw Yancey falter and shakily steady himself by gripping the
lectern with one hand. With the other, he rubbed the base of his neck,
twisting his head as if an imaginary bee was attacking him. He smiled,
now grabbing the edge of the speaker's platform with both hands. From
below him, Vail could see his hands shaking.
    Yancey took all the applause, taking deep breaths to calm himself
down.
    'Before I begin, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce, uh

Seven
    Vail braced himself and pushed open the doors to the main salon,
knowing exactly what to expect. A tidal surge of noise and heat
assaulted him. He faced a thousand lawyers and their wives, all
babbling at once with a calypso band somewhere on the other side of the
room trying to compete with them, all enveloped in an enormous ballroom
with eight food tables, each with its own towering ice sculpture, a
dozen or more bars, nobody to talk to but lawyers, lobbyists, and
politicians - and no place to sit. The world's biggest cocktail party.
Vail, a man who despised cocktail parties, was about to take a stroll
through Hades.
    Vail was the most feared man in