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her, it was okay. He knew that if he started punching her, he would be unable to stop. He’d end up beating her to death.
    Soon even their sex life included violence. He couldn’t get an erection without first hitting her hard; the sound of his hand against her flesh made blood surge into his penis. By the time his father died, he couldn’t ejaculate without hitting her. Foreplay for Anne was getting smacked by her husband. His incarceration was the first time in years when she wasn’t hit on a daily basis. Of course, the hitting would have to resume as soon as they spent any real time together. In spite of their history, Anne was still pissed off at Bill for not wanting to spend time with her. Maybe she was a masochist , Bill thought.
    Jim returned to the interrogation room with a thick wad of printed paper. There was a wealth of information about this defendant. He had a long history of run-ins with the law, starting with public intoxication during his college years to domestic violence when neighbors called police during a fight the Smiths had late one night. Although the wife refused to press charges, police had documented that handprints were visible on both sides of her face. He had a lawsuit pending in Manhattan for credit card theft. The term he had just finished serving was for attempted murder on Long Island. He had gotten off with a light sentence because his sister-in-law had asked for mercy. Bill was lucky he hadn’t been tried in the city. He’d be in Rikers for much longer.
    “Okay, so you tried to kill your sister’s mother, correct?”
    Rather than correct him, Bill let it go. He was getting tired. What difference did it make? He’d already been tried on that count; they couldn’t try him again.
    “It says here you are getting ready to be tried on credit card theft. Do you want to tell me about that?”
    Bill was slumped forward in his chair. How’d I get to this point? “There’s really nothing to tell. I was having a meeting with my brother and he collapsed. I took his wallet, and after he died, I used his credit cards. I was desperate.”
    Jim thought, A man would have to be to stoop that low . “What lead to your desperation?” Jim wanted to know on a human basis why someone with every advantage would end up with unpaid bills, stalking a woman young enough to be his daughter.
    “My father drove the family business into the ground, and I didn’t find out how much trouble we were in until after he died, last year. We are totally broke. I mean, if it hadn’t been for my brother giving my mother and I money, we would have lost our houses.”
    There was a knock on the door.
    Jim got up to open it, and someone outside handed him a sheet of paper. He sat down to read it. So this is where I heard this story today . When he was finished, he looked up at Bill. “Your wife is going to be charged with theft as well. She forged some checks your late brother’s wife sent to your mother. Do you know anything about that?”
    That was the final straw. Bill would either explode there in police custody or start crying. It was safer to cry.

9
    P am was so grateful that Andy had helped Sandra out with Bill that she decided she would break down and actually cook for him. It had been a while since she spent any time in the kitchen. What was once a delight for her, cooking for her husband and family, had become drudgery. Her mother gladly took over the task and spent a large portion of every day planning and cooking meals for she and Pam.
    “Now, I don’t want you to get used to it, but I thought I might cook dinner for us,” she said to him. They were, once again, sitting on the veranda, reading and drinking iced tea, looking out over the ocean.
    Andy laughed. “You don’t have to cook. Let’s go out,” he said.
    She shook her head. Later, she would remember that he had tried to change her mind. “No, not tonight. You helped me, and now I want to do something nice for you. I do need to run out,