Read Online The Wrong Kind of Money by Stephen; Birmingham - Free Book Online Page B

I’ve asked you to do something about Noah Liebling and his wife. I haven’t asked you. I’ve told you. I don’t give a shit what you think about his wife. I don’t give a shit what she knows about placement, or whether she hangs Andy Warhol or not. I happen to own a glass-manufacturing business. I make bottles. It used to be that we could do okay selling to the pharmaceutical companies. But the pharmaceuticals are all switching to plastics. It’s killing us.”
    â€œMaybe you should get into the plastics business, darling.”
    â€œShut up. Listen to me. There’s a rumor on the street that Ingraham is about to launch an important new label. A new label means new bottles. I want the contract for those bottles, and you’re going to help me get it. Is that clear? Can you get that through that thick skull of yours? The girls are the way to do it.”
    â€œWhat girls?”
    â€œLinda and their daughter. They went to school together. That’s your reason for inviting Noah and his wife to dinner.”
    â€œBut I can’t. Our friends would—”
    â€œDon’t tell me what you can and can’t do, Georgette. I’m telling you what you will do. Understand?”
    â€œWell, I won’t.” She jumps to her feet. “I won’t !”
    â€œYou want to get into it with me, Georgette? Remember, I own this house. I own the porcelain collection. And I own you. You defy me, and you’ll just have to accept the consequences.”
    â€œYou’re saying you’ll divorce me? Listen, you son of a bitch, I’ve got enough goods on you—all documented, don’t forget—that if you try to dump me, I’ll get a lawyer to slap a divorce suit on you so fast you won’t know what hit you! How would you like some of your recent shenanigans, up in Westchester and elsewhere, dragged through a divorce court? You think I had your daughter for the hell of it? I had your child so if you ever tried to dump me, you’d be paying alimony and child support till you bleed to death, you bastard! You think I’m kidding? When I finish with you, you bastard, you won’t know your ass from chopped liver! You think business is bad now? When I finish with you, Van Degan Glassworks will be in Chapter Thirteen!”
    From where he sits, he reaches out and seizes her left wrist, which is encased in a heavy gold bracelet. “Georgette … I’m warning you,” he says.
    â€œLet go of me!” she screams. She is a tall woman, five ten, and very thin, but also very strong. He, however, is easily a hundred pounds heavier than she. With his hand on her wrist, he tries to force her back into her chair again while, twisting her wrist in his grip, she tries to claw the back of his hand with her fingernails.
    â€œYou want rough stuff, bitch?” he says. “I can do rough stuff. Want a little rough stuff?”
    â€œStop! You’re hurting me!”
    He reaches for her other wrist, but she is too quick for him. With her free hand she reaches for her champagne glass and throws it in his face. A spot of blood appears above his left eyebrow.
    â€œBitch!” He raises his hand and is about to strike her when the butler appears at the door.
    Pretending not to have heard the scream, or to notice anything unusual in his employers’ situation, the butler says, “Dinner is served, Mrs. Van Degan.”
    The butler might have made one pertinent observation: Evenings when Truxton and Georgette Van Degan dine at home alone are extremely rare, but at least during this one they have been actually having a conversation.
    River House! He must have been out of his mind, Noah Liebling often thinks, when he bought an apartment in this building, and he must have been further out of his mind when he agreed to be elected president of the building’s board. Noah and Carol have discussed selling their apartment at River House, even though the