shoulder. He was Country Club, a heavy land holder, but basically a man of the people. He said: 'One day, you'll make a shrewd politician, Phil.'
'I doubt it… but today's the big day for you isn't it?'
'Maybe. You never can be sure boy… not till the last ballot is cast. Have you seen the Judge?'
'No. I called. He won't see anyone before this afternoon,' Phillip said. 'I'll talked to that secretary of his. She says he's in some kind of rare mood. He told her to get out, too.'
'Yeah?' Acker's eyes opened wider. 'What's wrong?'
'I've no idea,' said Phillip, matter of factly.
'Something's wrong though, eh?' Acker said nervously. 'I mean, he doesn't go off like this unless something's eating at him, right?'
Phillip shrugged. 'I'm as much in the dark as you are, Byron. Relax. You know you're his boy. Why stew? What could it be that…'
'There's only one thing that's important right now, Phillip,' the Councilman interrupted. 'The nominee for the next Governor… What else could upset him? Maybe, he's having second thoughts about… about me?'
'Oh, come on, Byron. You're making mountains. Look… relax. Here comes the waitress. What'd you want for breakfast?'
'Huh…? Oh… coffee, Phil. Just coffee…'
With the aid of the shower and coffee, Laurie shook off the cobwebs. Her reflexes were still subnormal and her thinking capacity anything but keen, but she'd managed to catch hold of herself enough to reason that self- reproof and lamentation was going to get her exactly nowhere. What was done could not be undone… but why it had been done to her, this was another issue. There was no longer any question in her mind but what she had been drugged, and undoubtedly by Mark Coleman… He had planned his vile assault knowing that in a helpless, drugged state she'd be subject to his most depraved whim… and God knows, she had been… But how had he been so certain that Phillip wouldn't come back and catch him in the very act? And why hadn't Phillip come back? Had Mark told the truth about Dianne and Phillip being childhood sweethearts… lovers for years? Was this the inner- burden Phillip had been carrying inside him…? Why had he kept it from her? Why had he married her? Who were the two loathsome creatures, Stones and Morgan who'd raped her… where had they come from?
She dressed slowly, her brain reeling with the myriad of unanswerable questions she had put to it. A dozen times she found her face flushing at different lurid visions of her own animal performance only hours before. My God, was it possible? Little prurient sensations suddenly flitted through her at the mere thought. Well, one thing was certain, she'd found herself sexually, if that was the only good to ever come from such a horror. Now, she could give her whole, free, open self to Phillip in a manner he had never before dreamed. If she'd ever had had any inhibitions, they were gone now… Stones and Morgan had seen to that…
The telephone rang while she was combing out her long, silken, reddish-blonde hair before the mirror, letting it drape loosely down over her shoulders. Phillip, she thought, wanting her to join him for breakfast perhaps…
'Hello… Oh, Uncle Julian… Up to your suite…? Well, I… All right, I'll come. I haven't had breakfast… Yes… Uncle Julian… is there something wrong? Y-Yes, I hear… right away…'
Her uncle's tone of voice had been anything but inviting. There'd been a clipped note of wrath underlying it that had caused a little chill to creep along her spine. From experience, she knew how unpleasant he could be when he was irate. Something was bothering him; but she made up her mind that she wasn't going to let him browbeat her, regardless… She was a married woman now and no longer subject to his jurisdiction… besides, she had to see Mark Coleman and talk to him as soon as possible…
Laurie opened the door and entered his suite as he'd told her to do on the telephone. He was alone, he'd said, and would be in the bedroom.
'Uncle Julian…?' she called.
'In here,' his voice came to her from the room beyond. 'Lock the outer door.'
Laurie did as instructed and entered the bedroom. Her uncle lay on the king-sized bed in his robe, a maroon-colored satiny, tent-like garment held together by yards of braided cord encircling his middle. To Laurie, he resembled a great massive ball with head and limbs jutting straight out, as if they had been stuck into the main torso like matchsticks in a potato. The almost grey, dimpled, puttyish flesh of his naked legs from the knees down were visible to her; the sight was not relishable to her empty stomach, but she forced a smile.
'Don't you feel well, Uncle Julian?' she questioned, moving to the side of the bed.
His eyes had followed her unflinchingly since she'd entered the room. They remained on her now. 'Not too well, at this point.'
'What's wrong? Perhaps I should send for the house doctor…?'
'That won't be necessary. Sit down… here on the bed beside me,' he ordered, his small tongue slipping out to lick at his lips.
Laurie hesitated, finally obeying. 'What is it, Uncle Julian? You sounded… upset over the phone…'
'I'm that… all of that to say the least… my sweet little slut niece,' he said, his voice suddenly decreasing in volume to a near hissing sibilance.
Laurie stiffened as if ice water had been injected through her veins. She stared at him in disbelief. Had she heard correctly? 'I-I beg your pardon…?'
'You should, you little bitch… and your husband's along with mine!' he spat at her. From the side away from her, he produced an envelope, tossing it at her. 'Open it, slut… see what a pretty picture you make as a whore!'
Laurie stared at the envelope, frozen, unable to move, tight little knots beginning to lump in her stomach.
'Open it, I said,' the huge man barked.
She did, with fumbling fingers, her mouth dropping loose in abject horror as one by one she viewed the horrible snapshots of herself, Stones and Morgan engaged in their gross, obscene circus the night before. She paled, and momentarily, a giddiness swept over her. The room began to swim and she had to catch herself to keep from toppling. Suddenly, she felt the flab of his strong hand on her arms as if in support and she quickly forced herself erect.
'Well… what do you have to say?' he shot at her. 'Don't just sit there pretending the little Miss Goodie-Two- Shoes bit. The cunt in those pictures is you, bitch! That's your mouth that filthy cock is stuffed into… now, who are they? And where and when were these taken?'
'Stop it! Stop it!' Laurie sobbed, trying to wrench free of his grasp, but unsuccessfully, the tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. 'Oh God, let me go… please, Uncle Julian…'
'I'll let you go… when I'm through with you, damn your little whore soul!' he snarled, raising his great bulk to one elbow while the other clutched at her wrist savagely. 'You know what you've done to me with those pictures? You've compromised me… tied my hands… stripped me of my power! Now, unless I agree to endorse Mark Coleman for Governor, these pictures will be turned over to the newspaper… and what a hell of a nice scandal that'd make, eh?'
'Oh… Oh my God!' Laurie gasped. 'Y-You can't let that happen, Uncle Julian. You can't! If Phillip ever finds out… Oh no, no! Please, don't let Phillip learn of these…'
'You should've thought of that before you started peddling your ass around, slut…'
'But you don't understand,' Laurie said through her tears. 'I was drugged. I didn't know…'
'Drugged? By whom? Where? When?'
'Last night by Mark Coleman at his party,' she blurted. 'Those two men… I never saw them before in my life.'
'A likely story.'
'It's the truth, Uncle Julian, I swear it,' she insisted, imploring him to believe her. 'Mark Coleman must have
