Mosaic
Page 53
She knew he was lying, but she couldn't force him to change his testimony here. What was important was that the judge had heard her raise the questions and that she was making Joel Philmalee increasingly angry.
She said, "Isn't it true that Mark, to whom you've just entrusted your majority stake in the Group, has a high absenteeism rate and isn't suited to run any business? Yes or no."
"Wrong. No! He'll do a fine job with my help."
"Please confine yourself to yes or no, Mr. Philmalee." She stopped. Couldn't seem to catch her breath.
"Do I have to take this, Your Honor?" Joel Philmalee turned furiously to the judge. "She shows no respect. A man works his whole life to build a great company, and it ends up sounding like dung on a garbage heap when she gets going on it. This isn't right!"
Judge Schultz peered down and shook his head. "You were given every opportunity to settle."
"But my crazy wife wants half my goddamn company!" He shot Michelle a look of scorching rage.
Beth still couldn't quite breathe. She stifled a gasp. A dull pain suddenly seemed to grip her chest. Sweat slid hot and sticky beneath her suit.
No. She couldn't be sick now. She was so close to winning.
She forced words out. "The operative word for you is our, sir. Yours and Mrs. Philmalee's. 'Our company.' You both worked—"
"She didn't do jack shit!" He continued to glare at his wife. His hands knotted.
"Mr. Philmalee, I warn you—" the judge began.
"She did everything!" Beth told him, forcing her voice to be cold and even. "Without her, you'd have nothing. She gave you the money to start. You took credit for her ideas—"
"Objection, Your Honor!" Kaeli Kocourek was on her feet, shouting.
But Beth plunged on. "She planned tactics and told you how to implement them. Take the Wheelwright transaction. Oak Tree Plaza. Philmalee Gardens—"
"No! No! No!" Joel Philmalee jumped up. The flush that had been hovering just beneath his ears skyrocketed to his leathery cheeks. His gaze whipsawed from Beth to his wife, back to Beth and the judge, and then intense and enraged on his wife.
The judge hammered his gavel.
"Even Philmalee International—" Beth persisted, risking being held in contempt.
But she needn't have worried.
"You bitch!" Joel Philmalee, trim and fit as a runner, leaped over the rail straight at Beth. His face was contorted in violent hatred.
Abruptly Beth's heart erupted in pain. It felt as if it were exploding. The pain was black and ragged and sent jolts of lightning to her brain. She tried to swallow air, to stay on her feet, to remain conscious. She'd been an achiever all her life. From the moment she was a little girl and saw her father give an impassioned defense summation in an LA criminal trial that had brought tears to the eyes of jurors, she'd known the law was what she'd wanted. To win a case because it was right was the ultimate high. And this case was right. Michelle deserved half of the Philmalee Group. Beth needed to go on fighting—
Instead she collapsed. Fell to the carpet as if she were a stuffed laundry bag.
At the same time, Joel Philmalee rushed past her and across the courtroom at his wife.
The bailiff, whose job it was to protect the judge, sped toward the bench, yelling orders into a walkie-talkie.
Screams and shouts erupted from the audience.
Michelle Philmalee, shock on her face, turned so quickly to run and escape that her red-rimmed glasses flew from her face. Cursing, Joel tore around the table and grabbed her from behind.
Just as his hands closed on her throat, a half-dozen newsmen in the audience seemed to come awake. They cascaded down the aisle and over the rail. Within seconds, two had pulled him off Michelle. Security men hurried into the courtroom.
As order began to reassert itself and Joel Philmalee was handcuffed and forced through a side door, someone noticed that Beth Convey was still lying in a heap.
"Did she get hurt?" the judge demanded. "Check her, Brad!"
The bailiff trotted to her side. He dropped to his haunches and instantly felt for her pulse. When he couldn't find it, he leaned closer, his cheek against her mouth, hoping for a breath.
He stayed that way at least a minute, and the courtroom fell into a stunned hush.
At last he looked up at the judge, horror on his face. "She's dead. I'm sorry, Judge. I don't see how, but Beth Convey's dead."
Look for
MESMERIZED
Coming soon from Pocket Books
New York Times bestseller Gayle Lynds is the award-winning author of ten international espionage novels. Her books have won numerous awards. Publishers Weekly lists her thriller Masquerade among the top ten spy novels of all time. Library Journal hails her as “the reigning queen of espionage fiction.” Lee Child says she’s “today’s best espionage writer.” The Associated Press calls her “a master of the modern Cold War spy thriller.” With Robert Ludlum, she created the Covert-One series. The first – The Hades Factor – was a CBS miniseries. A member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, she is co-founder (with David Morrell) of International Thriller Writers, Inc. She lives outside Portland, Maine, with her husband, a retired judge and author. Please visit her at www.GayleLynds.com.
Novels by Gayle Lynds
Masquerade
Mosaic
Mesmerized
The Coil
The Last Spymaster
The Book of Spies
The Assassins
With Robert Ludlum
The Hades Factor
The Paris Option
The Altman Code