Final Justice Read Online Free PDF Page B

reveal his own fury. The truth was, Luke had gotten to him. The one mercy was that no one else knew—not yet, anyway. Finally, he said, "I'm not as stupid as you are, Burch."
    "Okay. Okay. But it's not fair. Sara Daughtry is nothing but a slut, and she came out smelling like a rose, while I..."
    "Nobody knows it was her you were with, and Luke threatened to kill you and make it look like an accident if you said she was, didn't he?"
    "Yeah, and I could kill both of 'em with my bare hands."
    Buddy shook his head in disgust. Burch was getting on his nerves. "Look, I know you're going through a rough time, but I've got problems of my own here."
    Burch welcomed someone else's troubles to get his mind off his own. "What's going on?"
    "We're running overtime. Alma Ballard is the supervisor, but there's a family emergency, and she's going to be late if she shows at all. Rudy Veazey is the foreman on that side, and he went home sick."
    Burch gave a nasty chuckle. "Maybe Alma's emergency is that Luke wants to pork her for a change, instead of Rudy's old lady. Maybe she wants to get it while she can."
    Buddy matched his coarse humor. "And maybe Rudy stayed out for the same reason—to pork his old lady while Luke isn't around."
    "I doubt Rudy knows Luke is screwing her. If he did, he'd kill both of them."
    "Then maybe we should see to it he finds out," Buddy laughed. "That would make a few folks happy, wouldn't it?"
    Burch seized on Buddy's sudden switch to a good mood. "Sure would, old chum, but how about the golf game? I'll come on over to your office and..."
    "Another time. I've got to go." Buddy hung up and thought maybe he shouldn't have been so brusque, but the fact was, if not for him and Hardy Moon, Burch wouldn't have any social life at all. Buddy knew Burch's marriage was wrecked, but his wife had stuck by him because she couldn't afford to leave. After all, how could she support herself at her age when the only thing she had ever done in life was play bridge and have three kids? And Burch couldn't afford to keep her up separately. His practice had gone to hell after the scandal, and while he still had a few out-of-town clients, his days of high living were over. Burch's life had been ruined forevermore, and if Luke had his way he'd do the same damn thing to Buddy's.
    * * *
    Burch was still in bed and thought maybe he would just stay there all day. He had no reason to get up. Nobody wanted anything to do with him, which was why he hated weekends. Monday through Friday he had his work, such as it was, plus he didn't have to be around Irene, who let him know every chance she got that she hated his guts.
    Luke Ballard. The name boiled like bile in his gut. God, he wished him dead.
    "Burch?" Irene appeared in the doorway. It was not yet eight o'clock but she was dressed in a blue polished cotton dress, her hair still perfectly coiffed from the beauty parlor the day before. She wore stockings, medium high heels, a touch of rouge and lipstick. Every day for the twenty-four years they had been married she got up early to make herself as attractive as possible. Only now she did so out of habit, not to please him.
    Burch did not respond, pretending to be asleep, hoping she would go away. She yanked the covers off his head. "I don't want you hanging around the house today."
    He rolled over to meet her contemptuous glare. "Why not? I happen to live here, you know."
    "Much to my sorrow and humiliation," she fired back. "Now my church circle is meeting here this morning to make plans for the Christmas bazaar, and I don't want them to see you because it will remind them of what you did."
    He snorted. "As if out-of-sight, out-of-mind means anything to those old biddies. They'll still gossip."
    "Shame on you. They're fine Christian women. If they weren't, they wouldn't have anything to do with me. God knows, everybody wonders why I stay with you, anyway."
    "Well, we know, don't we, dear? Because you can't do anything except play bridge and