The Witness Read Online Free PDF Page A

with her friend.
     
"Was your room at the motel okay?" Motels were scarce in Prosper. Kendall had reserved the best room available for Ricki Sue, but it had few amenities.
     
"I've slept in worse. Screwed in worse, too," she said, winking at Kendall in the mirror. "Speaking of which, is that handsome stud of yours as good as he looks?"
     
"I never kiss and tell," Kendall retorted with a coy smile.
     
"Then you're shortchanging yourself, 'cause telling is half the fun."
     
At Bristol and Mathers, Ricki Sue had kept the associates and clerks enthralled with her sexual exploits. She added an episode to the ongoing soap opera of her life every morning at the coffee machine. Some of her Bales were too farfetched to be believed. Amazingly, however, all were true.
     
"You worn me, Ricki Sue. It's dangerous to have multiple partners."
     
"I'm careful. Always have been."
     
"I'm sure you are, but"
     
"Listen, kid, don't lecture. I do the best I can with what I've got. When you look like me, you gotta take what you can get from men. I don't know of one who's gonna fall head over heels for this." She spread her arms at her sides.
     
"So, rather than get my heart broken time after time, or be a perpetual wallflower and end up a bitter old maid, I made up my mind years ago to be accommodating.
     
"I give 'em what they wane, and I've got a real talent for it. When the lights are out and everybody's naked, they don't care if you look like a fairy princess or a warthog so long as you've got a eight, warm place for them to put it. It all feels good in the dark, kid."
     
"Thee's such a sad and sordid philosophy."
     
"Works for me."
     
"But how do you know that one of these days Mr. Right isn't going to come sweeping into your life?"
     
Ricki Sue's laugh sounded like a foghorn. "I'd have a beeper chance of winning the lottery." Then her smile faded and she became introspective. "Don't be misled. I'd trade my life for yours in a New York minute. I'd love to have a husband, a bunch of rowdy kids, the whole package.
     
"But since that's not likely, I refuse to do without the fun stuff. I take whatever affection I can get and in whatever form.
     
Behind my back, I know people say, 'How can she lee men use her like that?" The truth is, I use them. Because unfortunately .
     
. ." She paused to eye Kendall up and down with good-natured envy. "All women are not created equal. I look like a walrus with a good henna rinse, and you're . . . well, ,.
     
you.
     
"Don't put yourself down. Besides, I thought you loved me for my mind," Kendall teased.
     
"Oh, you're smart all right. So smart you frankly scare the hell out of me. And you've got more guts than anybody I ever ran across, and I've run across some pretty tough hombres."
     
Teasing aside, she looked at Kendall solemnly. "I'm glad things worked out for you here, kid. You took one hell of a chance. You're still taking a chance."
     
"To some extent, yes," Kendall agreed. "But I'm not worried. Too much time has passed. If it was going to come crashing down, it would have by now."
     
"I don't know," Ricki Sue said doubtfully. "I still think you're crazy as a bedbug for going through with it. And if I had it to do over again, I'd still advise you against it. Does Matt know?"
     
Kendall shook her head.
     
"Shouldn't you tell him?"
     
"What for?"
     
"Because he's your husband, for crying out loud!"
     
"Exactly. What difference would it make in how he feels about me?"
     
Ricki Sue mulled that over for a moment. "What does your grandma think?"
     
"The same as you," she admitted reluctantly. "She urged me to tell him."
     
Elvie Hancock was the only parent Kendall remembered, having been orphaned when she was five. She had reared Ken dall with a firm but loving hand. On most matters of importance, Kendall agreed with her. She trusted the woman's instincts and valued the wisdom of her advanced years.
     
But on the issue of being totally honest with Matt, they had differing