The Ditto List Read Online Free PDF

demeanor so unnaturally it would eventually shatter.
    â€œI never thought it would happen. Not this way. I always thought we could work it out, I guess. I had all these little speeches ready, for when he wanted to talk about it.” She laughed dryly. “He seems to have skipped that stage.”
    D.T. leaned back in his chair. “I was struck by your phraseology, Mrs. Stone. It seemed to suggest that perhaps you considered filing for divorce yourself.”
    â€œI … well …”
    He maintained his easy smile. “I imagine ninety percent of married women have considered shedding their spouse at one time or another, Mrs. Stone. It’s not a sin. Or even silly.”
    â€œWe’ve had some problems,” she conceded finally, “though I was never certain he realized it. I suppose this means he did.” She gestured toward the papers she had given him.
    D.T. decided to thrust for the rot. “Did these problems, as you call them, ever send you to another man for solace?”
    Her eyes swelled like baking muffins. Her fingers curled. “Of course not. No. Not that it’s any of your business.”
    D.T. sat up straight and held up his ringless hand. “Let’s get one thing clear right now, Mrs. Stone. If you want me to represent you in this matter then absolutely everything in your life is my business, from your bowel movements to your taste in millinery. If you don’t buy that, I suggest you go find some lawyer in a fifty-man firm who makes a quarter of a million a year and thinks that means he knows everything he needs to know about divorce work even though the only one he’s ever been involved with is his own.”
    D.T.’s anger surprised them both, and they both stayed silent while it cooled. When she spoke again, Mareth Stone was frowning, still leery of discussing private matters with a man who looked like an assistant basketball coach at a religious college somewhere in south Georgia. “Everything I tell you will be confidential, won’t it?” she asked, her voice smaller, more youthful and entreating than before. Which immediately made him like her. Which made him glad.
    â€œIt will unless you break the confidence by telling someone else. Or unless you’re using me to commit a crime or you tell me you intend one. Or unless you refuse to pay my fee and I have to sue you for it. Okay?”
    She nodded.
    D.T. got comfortable in his chair. “Is he a bastard?”
    â€œChas? No. You mean Chas?”
    â€œChas? Jesus.”
    She smiled. “Short for Charles. When I married him he was Chuck. And he isn’t a bastard, exactly. Ambitious and insensitive, yes. And maybe a little bit stupid.”
    â€œDoes he gamble?”
    â€œNo, not that I know of.”
    â€œBooze? Drugs?”
    â€œDon’t be silly.” Her back stiffened as she sensed the implication might eventually pass through her husband’s character and splash on hers.
    â€œThen who’s the other woman?”
    â€œThere is no other woman.”
    â€œEight to one there is, the way it’s gone so far. So indulge me. If she exists, who is she?”
    Mareth Stone frowned and pulled a cigarette from her purse and lit it with trembling fingers, her second hint that the day was an anomaly. “I don’t know who it would be,” she said finally. “I don’t think Chas has the energy for an affair any more, if you want the truth. His money saps his strength.”
    D.T. stood up and began to pace the room, beginning his examination. The client chair creaked as she twisted to keep him in view. “An affair’s their last gasp, sometimes. Like a fish jumping out of the boat.”
    â€œIs it important? Who she is? If she is?”
    â€œNot really. Not right now. Are there children?”
    â€œTwo. Eight and thirteen. Cristine and David.”
    â€œIs there money?”
    â€œNow there is. Chas has been quite successful,