Read Online Winner Take All by T. Davis Bunn - Free Book Online

function or another. He’s come and gone several times over the years. The first I knew about him showing up in town again was when he bought that island off Towles Road. Paid a ton of money from what I heard.”
    Even the witness paused in anticipation of Marcus’ objection to the evident hearsay. But the impetus was not there.
    “You say he paid over the odds,” Hamper Caisse prodded.
    “That boy just spent and spent and spent. Place has got a six-car garage, boathouse, poolhouse, and his very own old-timey plank bridge. Word is, the bridge alone cost him half a million dollars. Spent almost four million more on the house. Had two architects and three contractors working on it at one point or another. I know on account of how one was my cousin. Had to have the best of everything. Got this one room just for a piano. Thing cost four hundred thousand dollars, I know that’s a fact on account of how it was in the papers. Boy was plain crazy. Spent his money like a drug king.”
    This time, even Judge Sears turned and waited for Marcus to speak up. When he remained silent, Hamper drew his little two-step closer to the witness stand. “What does the local business community think of Dale Steadman?”
    “They don’t think any more of him than they have to.”
    “Now that is a strange thing to my ears. I mean, here you’ve got Wilmington’s only former pro football player. A homegrown hero like that, I’d expect you to say he’s been ushered into the top echelon.”
    Dermont had the restless quality of a man dealing with a deep-seated irritant, one he could not entirely suppress. He kneaded the chair arms, shifted his weight to emphasize the end of each sentence, crossed and uncrossed his legs, straightened his tie, pulled at the skin that ticked by his right eye. “When he came back to town, there were folks who invited him and his new wife just about everywhere. He was offered a chance to join the alumni committee, the local clubs, youname it. He turned them all down flat. Those of us who remember the first time he came back, we just held our peace.”
    “Why is that?”
    “Because Dale Steadman is a shyster and a flimflam artist. You can’t believe a word the man says.”
    This time Marcus felt forced to say, “Objection.”
    “Withdrawn.” Hamper Caisse did not bother hiding his satisfaction. “What can you say about his home life?”
    “Lady found out he was a crook and a cheat. She left him. Word is, he beat her something awful.”
    “Objection.”
    Hamper did not wait for the judge to sustain. “There has also been mention made of his drinking.”
    “All the time.”
    “Were there drugs?”
    “Lot of it going around.” Dermont used both hands to adjust his belt, girding himself for the main assault. “Not long after he started his little textile company, Steadman got himself into a serious financial tangle. He’d maxed out at the bank. Went hat in hand around the local community, begging for a handout. Nobody wanted to help him, of course. Why get involved in a company that’s going under? Just be throwing good money after bad. So we were all watching and waiting for the ax to fall, when suddenly the guy is flush again. There was some rumor of an old buddy from England bailing him out, but Dale never bothered to explain it to a soul. Which makes you wonder if it wasn’t another source, if you see what I mean. Man had to have gotten his money from someplace.”
    Hamper’s return to his table was a triumphal march. “Your witness.”
    Marcus lingered over the cage he was drawing upon his legal pad. To not respond was to declare himself uninvolved. Which was tempting. But that would leave Dale Steadman unsupported and defenseless. Which was something Marcus would not do to a panhandler. Much less a father, no matter how poor a father he might be.
    Judge Sears broke into his reverie with the warning “Mr. Glenwood, I see no reason at this point not to proceed with a custody ruling.”
    Marcus