Fever(7)

“She didn’t say anything about that.”

“What’s she doing for cash until she can squeeze more out of me? Or can’t you tell me that, either?”

“Unverified, so I’d rather not say.”

A waitress stopped by the table. I ordered a bottle of Sierra Nevada. Krochek said, “Another Beck’s, skip the whiskey this time.” That was good; at least he wasn’t going to sit here and get maudlin drunk and make things even more difficult for both of us.

When the waitress went away I said, “You haven’t asked how your wife is.”

“All right, how is she?”

“Healthy enough. Holding herself together.”

“Tense, angry, fidgety?”

“Pretty much.”

“Drinking?”

“Not in front of us.”

“Sure she is. Means she’s betting and losing heavily. Janice doesn’t touch a drop until she starts losing.”

“I think she may be in debt to a loan shark.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” He frowned. “You mean she’s being threatened again?”

“She says no, but there’s a good chance of it.”

“Christ, she’s stupid! You have any idea who he is?”

“Not exactly. The name Carl Lassiter mean anything to you?”

“Lassiter, Lassiter … no. Who’s he?”

“We’re not sure. Could be a shark or an enforcer for one.”

“Terrific. Enforcer. A legbreaker, you mean.”

“Not necessarily. Collection by coercion works just as well.”

“Can you find out who he works for?”

“Probably. But if you’re thinking of making direct contact to arrange to pay off her debts …”

“I’m not. Not anymore. It wouldn’t stop her from divorcing me, now that her mind’s made up. I don’t want a divorce. I can’t afford it.”

Our drinks arrived. I had a little of my ale; he sat there staring into his half-full shot glass.

“Have you seen a lawyer, Mr. Krochek?”

“Yes, of course. He tells me there’s nothing I can do, legally, if she files. Goddamn no fault, community property laws.”

I didn’t say anything.

“She’ll get half of everything. What’s left in the brokerage and savings accounts. Half of what the house and property are worth. I love that house, I worked my ass off to buy it and furnish it.” He tossed the whiskey down, grimaced, and slugged a chaser from one of the Beck’s bottles. “Why the hell did I ever marry her?” he said, more to himself than to me.

All of this was a different tune than the one he’d sung in my office. Then it had been the worried husband wanting his damaged wife back so he could protect her and help her deal with her addiction. Now it was the woe-is-me, she’s-going-to-take-me-for-half-of-everything lament. Janice Krochek had said he was no saint, that he was motivated by self-interest; she knew him, all right. Not that you could blame him, really, after all the financial losses he’d already suffered, but still it lowered him a notch or two in my estimation.

“You’d think the divorce courts would take something like a gambling sickness into consideration,” he said. “All the crap she’s pulled, all the money she’s blown already. But my attorney says no. The law says no fault, community property, that’s it. No extenuating circumstances. She gets half of whatever I can’t hide from the shyster she’ll hire, and I get screwed.”

Down another notch. Maybe you couldn’t blame him for hiding assets, either, but it’s illegal, and his telling me about it, making me an unwitting possessor of guilty knowledge, didn’t set well.

“Is that fair?” he said bitterly. “After all she put me through?”

“Life can be unfair, Mr. Krochek.”

“I don’t need platitudes,” he said. “I need a way out. Or at least an edge of some kind. I don’t suppose there’s any way I can convince you to tell me where she’s staying?”

“I’m sorry, no.”

“I’d pay well for the information.”

I let that pass. He was starting to piss me off.

“Isn’t there anything more you can do?”

“Such as what?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “talk to her again, try to arrange a meeting so we can work something out before the lawyers get into it.”

“I could make the effort, but it would be a waste of your money. I doubt she’d agree to another discussion, and even if she did, there’s nothing I could say that would change her mind. It’s made up, she made that plain.”

“Bitch,” he said. Then he said, “All right, can’t you get something on her, something I can use in court? She’s running around with lowlives, she could be mixed up in something illegal, couldn’t she?”