JК
Bag of Bones :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 188 из 425I now felt a certain horrified glee myself. I was ashamed of it—Roger Devore was just a guy living his life, and he might not have had much or anything to do with his elderly dad’s current enterprise—but I felt it just the same.
“He and a software designer named Morris Ridding tied the knot in 1996,” John said. “I found that on the first computer sweep. And if this does wind up in court, I intend to make as much of it as I possibly can. I don’t know how much that will be—at this point it’s impossible to predict—but if I get a chance to paint a picture of that bright-eyed, cheerful little girl growing up with two elderly gays who probably spend most of their lives in computer chat-rooms speculating about what Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock might have done after the lights were out in officers’ country… well, if I get that chance, I’ll take it.”
“It seems a little mean,” I said. I heard myself speaking in the tone of a man who wants to be dissuaded, perhaps even laughed at, but that didn’t happen.
“Of course it’s mean. It feels like swerving up onto the sidewalk to knock over a couple of innocent bystanders. Roger Devote and Morris Ridding don’t deal drugs, traffic in little boys, or rob old ladies. But this is custody, and custody does an even better job than divorce of turning human beings into insects. This one isn’t as bad as it could be, but it’s bad enough because it’s so naked. Max Devore came up there to his old hometown for one reason and one reason only: to buy a kid. That makes me mad.”
I grinned, imagining a lawyer who looked like Elmer Fudd standing outside of a rabbit-hole marked DEVO with a shotgun.
“My message to Devore is going to be very simple: the price of the kid just went up. Probably to a figure higher than even he can afford.”
“/fit goes to court—you’ve said that a couple of times now. Do you think there’s a chance Devore might just drop it and go away?”
’gk pretty good one, yeah. I’d say an excellent one if he wasn’t old and used to getting his own way. There’s also the question of whether or not he’s still sharp enough to know where his best interest lies. I’ll try for a meeting with him and his lawyer while I’m up there, but so far I haven’t managed to get past his secretary…”
“Rogette Whitmore?”
“No, I think she’s a step further up the ladder. I haven’t talked to her yet, either. But I will.”
“Try either Richard Osgood or George Footman,” I said. “Either of them may be able to put you in touch with Devore or Devore’s chief counsel.
“He and a software designer named Morris Ridding tied the knot in 1996,” John said. “I found that on the first computer sweep. And if this does wind up in court, I intend to make as much of it as I possibly can. I don’t know how much that will be—at this point it’s impossible to predict—but if I get a chance to paint a picture of that bright-eyed, cheerful little girl growing up with two elderly gays who probably spend most of their lives in computer chat-rooms speculating about what Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock might have done after the lights were out in officers’ country… well, if I get that chance, I’ll take it.”
“It seems a little mean,” I said. I heard myself speaking in the tone of a man who wants to be dissuaded, perhaps even laughed at, but that didn’t happen.
“Of course it’s mean. It feels like swerving up onto the sidewalk to knock over a couple of innocent bystanders. Roger Devote and Morris Ridding don’t deal drugs, traffic in little boys, or rob old ladies. But this is custody, and custody does an even better job than divorce of turning human beings into insects. This one isn’t as bad as it could be, but it’s bad enough because it’s so naked. Max Devore came up there to his old hometown for one reason and one reason only: to buy a kid. That makes me mad.”
I grinned, imagining a lawyer who looked like Elmer Fudd standing outside of a rabbit-hole marked DEVO with a shotgun.
“My message to Devore is going to be very simple: the price of the kid just went up. Probably to a figure higher than even he can afford.”
“/fit goes to court—you’ve said that a couple of times now. Do you think there’s a chance Devore might just drop it and go away?”
’gk pretty good one, yeah. I’d say an excellent one if he wasn’t old and used to getting his own way. There’s also the question of whether or not he’s still sharp enough to know where his best interest lies. I’ll try for a meeting with him and his lawyer while I’m up there, but so far I haven’t managed to get past his secretary…”
“Rogette Whitmore?”
“No, I think she’s a step further up the ladder. I haven’t talked to her yet, either. But I will.”
“Try either Richard Osgood or George Footman,” I said. “Either of them may be able to put you in touch with Devore or Devore’s chief counsel.