Charles went straight for her. He stopped, bent over, grabbed her by the ankles, and dumped her over the parapet. She didn’t scream, she shouted obscenities all the way down, until they ended in a soft plop.
He didn’t pause to think about what he had done; he ran back to the elevator, turned, and screamed, “BARBARA!” Then he walked quickly through the living room.
The maid appeared from the direction of the bedroom. “Mr. Grosvenor,” she called at his back as he walked. “Is anything wrong?”
“Didn’t you see her go over?” Charles walked to the parapet and looked down. He could hear horns blowing and brakes screeching from the street fifteen stories below. “Barbara!” he shouted.
The maid appeared at his elbow. “What’s happened?”
“She went over,” Charles replied, feigning shock. “As the elevator doors opened I saw her standing there, then she put down her glass and climbed over the edge.” The glass stood empty on the parapet.
“Oh, my God!” the maid half whispered. “Should I call somebody?”
“Call 911,” he said. “Tell them a woman has jumped from the terrace into Green Street.”
The maid ran for the phone.
A feeling of relief washed over Charles. He was free of her, free at last. He could be a man again, and anywhere he wanted. He walked back into the living room, to the bar, poured himself a stiff scotch, then sat down in a living room chair. He took a swig and stared at the floor, composing himself for what lay ahead.
He was still sitting there in that pose when the police arrived.
Later, after the eleven o’clock news, Billy Burnett, aka Teddy Fay, switched off the television and turned to Betsy. “It seems my work in San Francisco is done,” he said.
Author’s Note
I am happy to hear from readers, but you should know that if you write to me in care of my publisher, three to six months will pass before I receive your letter, and when it finally arrives it will be one among many, and I will not be able to reply.
However, if you have access to the Internet, you may visit my website at www.stuartwoods.com, where there is a button for sending me e-mail. So far, I have been able to reply to all my e-mail, and I will continue to try to do so.
If you send me an e-mail and do not receive a reply, it is probably because you are among an alarming number of people who have entered their e-mail address incorrectly in their mail software. I have many of my replies returned as undeliverable.
Remember: e-mail, reply; snail mail, no reply.
When you e-mail, please do not send attachments, as I never open these. They can take twenty minutes to download, and they often contain viruses.
Please do not place me on your mailing lists for funny stories, prayers, political causes, charitable fund-raising, petitions, or sentimental claptrap. I get enough of that from people I already know. Generally speaking, when I get e-mail addressed to a large number of people, I immediately delete it without reading it.
Please do not send me your ideas for a book, as I have a policy of writing only what I myself invent. If you send me story ideas, I will immediately delete them without reading them. If you have a good idea for a book, write it yourself, but I will not be able to advise you on how to get it published. Buy a copy of Writer’s Market at any bookstore; that will tell you how.
Anyone with a request concerning events or appearances may e-mail it to me or send it to: Publicity Department, Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.
Those ambitious folk who wish to buy film, dramatic, or television rights to my books should contact Matthew Snyder, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, CA 98212-1825.
Those who wish to make offers for rights of a literary nature should contact Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit, 445 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022. (Note: This is not an invitation for you to send her your manuscript or to solicit her to be your agent.)
If you want to know if I will be signing books in your city, please visit my website, www.stuartwoods.com, where the tour schedule will be published a month or so in advance. If you wish me to do a book signing in your locality, ask your favorite bookseller to contact his Penguin representative or the Penguin publicity department with the request.
If you find typographical or editorial errors in my book and feel an irresistible urge to tell someone, please write to Sara Minnich at Penguin’s address above. Do not e-mail your discoveries to me, as I will already have learned about them from others.
A list of my published works appears in the front of this book and on my website. All the novels are still in print in paperback and can be found at or ordered from any bookstore. If you wish to obtain hardcover copies of earlier novels or of the two nonfiction books, a good used-book store or one of the online bookstores can help you find them. Otherwise, you will have to go to a great many garage sales.