Gasping For Air 2 (Last Chance Romance Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

percent. A hunch. A strong hunch.”
    “What about a surveillance tape?”
    “I looked at it, but it doesn’t reach the area where my car was parked.”
    “I see.” Officer Masterson rubbed his earlobe. “Well, I can take a report which you can give to the insurance company. You do have car insurance?”
    Lillian bit her lip. “Yes, but if I turn in a claim . . .”
    “Then your husband will know where you are.”
    “Yes. I’m trying to put that off until I file for a divorce.”
    “Do you think it’s possible that he already knows where you are and did this to your car?”
    “No,” said Lillian shaking her head. “That’s just not Bob. He’s confrontational, but he would never destroy personal property. He’s worked too hard all his life to obtain possessions. That’s not his style.”
    “But hitting you is?”
    “When he’s been drinking. He wasn’t always like that. Just in the past few years.”
    “Do you know what triggered it?”
    “He didn’t get a promotion at work and then his father died, giving his brother most of the inheritance. Bob changed after that and couldn’t seem to shake his anger. So he took it out on me.”
    “Did you have him arrested?”
    Lillian looked shocked. “Heavens no! I didn’t want a scandal like that. I . . . I just learned to cope.”
    “Hmm,” responded Officer Masterson, taking pictures of the car. He leaned against it while finishing his report. “Here’s a copy of the report. Do with it as you will. Also give me the busboy’s name and I’ll go talk to him.”
    “Jeremy Salvador.”
    “That kid! Doesn’t surprise me. He’s been in trouble since he was twelve. I’ll track him down and talk to him.” Officer Masterson paused. “You should go to the battered women’s support group. I think you are in denial about the violence in your marriage.”
    “No, I’m not,” protested Lillian. “Why do you think I ran away and want to get a divorce?”
    “We have a list of doctors who treat battered spouses. You should get checked out. You might have something wrong and not know it.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink,” said Officer Masterson, resigned that Lillian was not going to take his advice.
    “Or you can bring a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”
    Officer Masterson laughed. “Dorothy Parker. Right?”
    Lillian noticed that Officer Masterson had a bright smile. “Yes. It’s vintage Dorothy Parker. Not many people know who she was now.”
    “I love her quick wit. I had to do a paper on her in college.”
    “You took a course in English Lit?”
    “Yes, I did. I can even quote some Shakespeare if given a moment to remember. In fact, I have a book of his sonnets at home. Getting back to Parker . . . ummm, let’s see. If all the girls from Yale were laid from end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised,” quoted Masterson.
    “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at who he gave it to,” retorted Lillian.
    Masterson grinned and gave Lillian a curious look.
    Lillian knew that he was thinking of how a college-educated woman had gotten herself into such a fix and was judging her.
    But Officer Masterson wasn’t thinking that at all. He was thinking how violence entered the lives of women no matter how educated or rich they were. Being battered wasn’t something that happened only to lower-income women.
    Lillian abruptly threw the report into the front passenger seat of her car and got in. “Thanks for your help. I can take it from here.”
    Officer Masterson nodded and wondered why Lillian had changed from being friendly to . . . couldn’t get away fast enough. But he had worked long enough in the public domain that he didn’t take her sudden change personally.
    But Lillian did.

18
    I t was a Wednesday night and Lillian was working the late shift at the Pink Flamingo Motel until the office closed at midnight. It was one of those