If they divorced, he wouldn’t get the settlement money. Would he? That money was for her, for her pain and suffering and loss. Loss of ability. Loss of income. Loss of family.
There were other assets: some money left from the various insurance policies, the Del Mar house.
If he wanted half of all that, he could have it.
But how much was left? She didn’t know. There was a financial advisor, who David met with more than she did. He handled their personal bank accounts. Paid the bills. There had been a lot of bills, even with her health insurance.
Competency. That was the other part.
“Spare a dollar, so I can get something to eat?”
There he was, squatting against the telephone pole by her house. He looked worse than ever. Skinnier. Hair tangled into dreadlocks. A crusted sore on his cheek. He smelled worse too.
She had some quarters, a couple dimes. “Here,” she said.
“That all you got? Come on, lady.”
“Sorry, I don’t have any change.”
He stared at the coins, muttering under his breath. “Lucifer was the most beautiful of God’s angels, radiating light and glory. I’m not deceived by his honeyed words. Jesus watches over me, just like he watches over you.”
She fumbled with her little teardrop bag, the one she took to the gym. There was money in there, she was pretty sure. Some bills.
“Here.” She didn’t look at what she gave him. She had more important things to think about.
After her session with the trainer, she stood outside the gym and called her own lawyer.
“I want a divorce,” she told him.
Yes, she was sure. Yes, she knew the financials would be complicated.
“Give him whatever he wants, except for my house and the, the settlement. He can’t have those.”
Yes, they could have access to her bank accounts, her financial records. She’d sign anything they needed her to sign. Was there an accountant? There was, she remembered signing papers, but the accountant would be David’s, not hers.
“If you can rec … recommend one, just hire him,” she said.
She had a sense, a feeling that she needed to act quickly. Before he did.
“The other thing is …” What was the other thing? “Competency,” she managed, only stumbling a little on the word. “He’s going to, to chal … challenge my competency.”
“Great,” her lawyer said with a sigh. “That could make things complicated. You know, I told you that guy was an asshole.”
“You did?”
He laughed. “Yeah. Back when you wanted to divorce him the first time.”
She hadn’t wanted him to come along, that day they all went to celebrate.
How could she have forgotten that?
She took an extra long time after the gym, feeding the cats. She walked out onto the pier to look for One Leg, but he wasn’t there. Stopped at the Chinese restaurant on Newport for takeout. By the time she rounded the block to her house, it was dark.
David would be home by now.
She decided that the best thing to do was to pretend that she didn’t know what he’d been up to, and to not tell him about her own plans. Wait until her lawyer told her he had “all the ducks in a row,” whatever the ducks might be.
The light was on in the living room, and she thought she saw movement behind the curtain.
“Spare some change?”
Kari flinched, her heart pounding. “You scared me.”
The bum wasn’t leaning against the telephone pole. Instead, he stood next to it, close to the fence that surrounded her house.
“I need some money,” he said. “So I can get something to eat.”
“I gave you some earlier today.”
“Bitch!” he whispered. “Deceiver … full of fucking lies …”
What was that in his hand? A knife?
“I cast you out,” he said. “I reject you.”
He clutched the knife, the tip a short lunge from her belly.
She stared at it.
“Okay,” she said. “But here’s some food.” She slowly lifted her hand, the one holding the bag of Chinese
