The Case Against William Read Online Free PDF Page A

today," she said.
    "The nice part?"
    River
Oaks was the richest part of Houston. Old money. New money. Oil money.
Inherited money. But most of all, money.
    "I'm
not moving," William said.
    "Me
neither," Becky said.
    With
his head still bent over his plate and without breaking stride shoveling food
into his mouth, William stuck a fist out to her. She bumped her fist against
his. A fist-bump, a bonding ritual of athletes. Only two years apart, they
seemed more like twins. The same hair, the same eyes, the same features. They
watched out for each other. They had lived their entire lives in this old
house. It was fifty years old with a big yard, the pool, and tall oak trees on
a large lot, room for Rusty to roam and the kids to play. They each had their
own bedroom and bathroom, which kept the peace upstairs. Hers were always
tidy; his looked like a locker room. The house was just under four thousand
square feet, small by River Oaks standards, and Frank could easily afford a
bigger place, but it was four times as big as the house he had grown up in in a
working-class suburb of Houston. And the kids were happy there. But Liz
wanted a bigger house. She always wanted more.
    "It's
on Inwood just off the boulevard"—the River Oaks Boulevard—"a block from
the club," she said. "Eight thousand square feet, six bedrooms,
seven baths. And only five million."
    She
said it with a straight face.
    "Liz,
what would we do with seven toilets and eight thousand square feet?"
    "Entertain."
    "We
do." He turned to the kids. "You guys entertained?"
    They laughed. Rusty barked. Lupe muffled a giggle. Liz gave him
that stern look that used to mean, "No sex tonight." But sex had
ended long before. He had not sought sex from other sources; perhaps he was
too afraid or too lazy or too Catholic. He didn't think she was cheating on
him; that would be too scandalous in Houston high society. Instead of climbing
the social ladder she would become the subject of social gossip. So they now
slept in separate bedrooms; he told the kids his back made him toss and turn
and wake their mother up. William had bought it; but he was only twelve.
Frank suspected that Becky had not; but she went along with it. At fourteen,
she was his deputy, working hard to keep the peace in River Oaks.
    Which
was not easy with her mother.
    They
had married eighteen years ago. He was twenty-seven and already practicing
with a Houston firm; she was twenty-two and just graduated from UT, a pretty
girl who wanted to be a star. She had planned on parlaying her looks into
local television stardom and then jumping to the networks; it didn't pan out.
At forty, she wanted to be a Houston society dame. Her Plan B. They had grown
apart, as they say. In fact, they had married too young to know themselves and
too soon to know each other. By the time they knew who they were and who they
were not, they already had the kids. Frank had contemplated divorce, often,
but Liz would get custody of the kids. Unless she was an alcoholic or drug
addict, the mother could be dating an NFL team and she'd still get custody. He
would be the every-other-weekend dad. He couldn't bear the thought of that
life. So he stayed for the kids. For himself. He needed to be close to
them. To live with them. To see them every day. To be a part of their lives.
    Frank
Tucker was a family man.

Chapter 2
    The
varsity quarterback threw a wounded duck, a pass that wobbled in the air like a
shot fowl. The defensive back intercepted at the thirty-yard line and returned
the ball for a touchdown. The home crowd groaned.
    "A
pick-six," William said.
    The
Houston skyline illuminated the night sky to the east and seemed to loom large
over the small stadium. River Oaks occupied the south bank of Buffalo Bayou
just west of downtown. River Oaks was a part of Houston, but it seemed
completely apart. A different world. A two-square-mile island of wealth and
white people surrounded by the two million residents who called the