JК
Bag of Bones :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 156 из 425She likes her ’whita poppa’—atleast she did at first—and she absolutely adores that creepy woman.” I thought Mattie shivered in the gloom, although the night was still very warm. “Devore called to say he was coming east for Lance’s funeral and to ask if he could see his granddaughter while he was here. Nice as pie, he was, just as if he’d never tried to buy me off when Lance told him we were going to get married.”
“Did he?”
“Uh-huh. The first offer was a hundred thousand. That was in August of 1994, after Lance called him to say we were getting married in mid-September. I kept quiet about it. A week later, the offer went up to two hundred thousand.”
“For what, precisely?”
“To remove my bitch-hooks and relocate with no forwarding address. This time I did tell Lance, and he hit the roof. Called his old man and said we were going to be married whether he liked it or not.
Told him that if he ever wanted to see his grandchild, he had better cut the shit and behave.” With another parent, I thought, that was probably the most reasonable response Lance Devore could have made. I respected him for it. The only problem was that he wasn’t dealing with a reasonable man; he was dealing with the fellow who, as a child, had stolen Scooter Larribee’s new sled. “These offers were made by Devore himself, over the telephone. Both when Lance wasn’t around. Then, about ten days before the wedding, I had a visit from Dickie Osgood. I was to make a call to a number in Delaware, and when I did. .” Mattie shook her head. “You wouldn’t believe it. It’s like something out of one of your books.”
“May I guess?”
“If you want.”
“He tried to buy the child.
He tried to buy Kyra.” Her eyes widened. A scantling moon had come up and I could see that look of surprise well enough. “How much?” I asked.
“I’m curious. How much for you to give birth, leave Devore’s grandchild with Lance, then scat?”
“Two million dollars,” she whispered. “Deposited in the bank of my choice, as long as it was west of the Mississippi and I signed an agreement to stay away from her—and from Lance—until at least April twentieth, 2016.”
“The year Ki turns twenty-one.”
“And Osgood doesn’t know any of the details, so Devore’s skirts remain clean here in town.”
“Uh-huh. And the two million was only the start.
There was to be an additional million on Ki’s fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth birthdays.” She shook her head in a disbelieving way.
“Did he?”
“Uh-huh. The first offer was a hundred thousand. That was in August of 1994, after Lance called him to say we were getting married in mid-September. I kept quiet about it. A week later, the offer went up to two hundred thousand.”
“For what, precisely?”
“To remove my bitch-hooks and relocate with no forwarding address. This time I did tell Lance, and he hit the roof. Called his old man and said we were going to be married whether he liked it or not.
Told him that if he ever wanted to see his grandchild, he had better cut the shit and behave.” With another parent, I thought, that was probably the most reasonable response Lance Devore could have made. I respected him for it. The only problem was that he wasn’t dealing with a reasonable man; he was dealing with the fellow who, as a child, had stolen Scooter Larribee’s new sled. “These offers were made by Devore himself, over the telephone. Both when Lance wasn’t around. Then, about ten days before the wedding, I had a visit from Dickie Osgood. I was to make a call to a number in Delaware, and when I did. .” Mattie shook her head. “You wouldn’t believe it. It’s like something out of one of your books.”
“May I guess?”
“If you want.”
“He tried to buy the child.
He tried to buy Kyra.” Her eyes widened. A scantling moon had come up and I could see that look of surprise well enough. “How much?” I asked.
“I’m curious. How much for you to give birth, leave Devore’s grandchild with Lance, then scat?”
“Two million dollars,” she whispered. “Deposited in the bank of my choice, as long as it was west of the Mississippi and I signed an agreement to stay away from her—and from Lance—until at least April twentieth, 2016.”
“The year Ki turns twenty-one.”
“And Osgood doesn’t know any of the details, so Devore’s skirts remain clean here in town.”
“Uh-huh. And the two million was only the start.
There was to be an additional million on Ki’s fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth birthdays.” She shook her head in a disbelieving way.