Suspicion of Betrayal Read Online Free Page A

black-haired, good-lookin', honey-mouthed boy. "Baby, I’mona treat you like a queen."
    Wendell Sweet was still good-looking, if one didn't mind eyes too close together and a chin like a shovel. He had the thick wrists and big shoulders of a man who had wrestled with drill bits and steel. His smile was slow, and his drawl was charming. He could wear a suit well, and his cuff links gleamed, but Gail thought that if she was around him long enough, she would start to see the crude oil under his fingernails.
    After they married, Jamie had waited tables and sold Mary Kay cosmetics to pay Wendell's tuition. When he drank, he got mean, and Jamie learned to keep out of his way. Ten hard years went by before the money started coming in, and when it did, they spent it. In Miami they bought a two-story house with a pool. There was a Land Rover to take the children to school in and a Cadillac for when Jamie and Wendell went out. But Wendell was gone more often than not. For something to do, Jamie redecorated the house—three times. Took cooking lessons and put on weight. Lost thirty pounds on diet pills, was hospitalized for an overdose, then put it all back on. She caught Wendell cheating and forgave him. She forgave him the times he hit her because she had three kids, no education, and a firm belief that somehow he would stop if only she could do better. To keep herself from going completely crazy, Jamie went to work for a resort company.
    One day Wendell said he was tired of being married to a redneck whose bad grammar and fat ass embarrassed him with his clients. Something clicked in Jamie's head, and she said she'd had all she could take. Jamie's boss spoke to Anthony Quintana, and Anthony sent Jamie to Gail.
    It took a court order to get Wendell out of the house. He had sat outside in his car and called her on his cell phone, alternating between teary-eyed pleas for her to come back to him and vicious threats that he would kill her if she didn't. He followed her. She saw him behind her at the grocery store or the shopping mall. A restraining order was issued. Wendell hired a lawyer. Settlement negotiations failed. Finally, five months after Gail had taken the case, here they all were on a motion for temporary support and attorney's fees. Wendell was claiming poverty. His consulting business was way off, due to downturns in the industry and political instability in Venezuela. Gail's friend Charlene Marks, who specialized in family law, told her that apparently Wendell had come down with RAIDS—Recently Acquired Income Deficiency Syndrome. The moment a divorce is filed, the husband's income drops.
    Judge Ramirez interrupted Wendell's lawyer in mid-question. "Mr. Acker, I think I've heard enough to make a ruling." Acker seemed almost relieved. A big man, he sighed, took off his glasses, and folded them into his breast pocket.
    Wendell swung around from the window, waiting to hear what the judge had to say.
    Gail closed her file and went back to her chair. As she sat down, she smiled at Jamie and gave her a subtle wink.
    Ramirez gave a cursory glance through the pleadings. "Okey-doke. Are you ready, Ms. Court Reporter?" The fiftyish woman in front of his desk nodded and said she was ready for anything. There were a few laughs, then Ramirez said, "The court is not satisfied that respondent, Wendell Sweet, has fully disclosed his assets. Testimony from the petitioner's accountant suggests that respondent has engaged in . . . well, let's say that he appears not to have accurately reported his income to the IRS. Therefore, imputing income to Mr. Sweet consistent with the demonstrated spending patterns of the parties, I am going to award temporary support as follows. The court finds that the petitioner, Jamie Sue Sweet, has a need for three thousand dollars per month as temporary alimony and five hundred dollars per month in temporary child support for each of the three children. The husband is to bring current and continue to