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Back Sex, Lies, and Serious Money Save as PDF
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. BOOKS BY STUART WOODS
  3. Dedication
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. 52
  56. 53
  57. 54
  58. 55
  59. 56
  60. 57
  61. 58
  62. 59
  63. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  64. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  65. What’s next onyour reading list?

“What name?”

“Theresa Crane.”

“Who’s that?”

“You know the Powerball guy we can’t find?”

“Hayward?”

“Yeah, Hayward. This Crane is supposed to be his girlfriend, but she’s not in the People piece.”

“Well, that doesn’t mean she’s not his girlfriend, does it?”

“I guess not.”

“And if I know you, you’re not on the hook for a grand, unless she is.”

“Right. And until I get a photograph of Hayward, too.”

“So relax, either you get it or you don’t.”

“‘I don’t’ is not an option. We’re short of really good stuff this week, and Hayward is really good stuff. If he’s in Santa Fe, that would be a solid gold scoop for us. This guy won over six hundred million bucks!”

“Wow,” Sheri said. “That’s big cabbage!”

“No, it’s big bucks. That’s what our readers go nuts over.”

25

CHRIS, FROM STRATEGIC SERVICES, had already been through the house with Laurence and had pointed out where his cameras should go. Now he was looking at a plat of the twelve acres the house sat on. “We’ve got something new that will be particularly good outside,” he said.

“Tell me about it.”

“It’s basically a motion-detector camera, but it has an important new feature. If it sees motion, it rotates or pans up and down to zero in on the intruder, then it fires a very powerful strobe light for a fraction of a second. It’s like ten old-fashioned flashbulbs going off all at once and concentrated on one spot. It does two things very well—it blinds the intruder, temporarily, and it scares the shit out of him.”

“I like it,” Laurence said. “Install it.”

“I’ll order it, then work on the interior stuff today. The new stuff will be here tomorrow.”

“Great, Chris, I’ll leave you to it. Let me know if you need anything.”

Laurence went into his new study and busied himself learning to operate the house’s built-in sound system from his iPhone. That done, he chose a classical music station from New York and turned on all the speakers in the house.

Theresa came into the study. “Can you turn that down a bit, please?” she shouted.

Laurence obliged. “Sorry about that. I was learning the system.”

“The books you ordered from the Strand bookstore in New York have arrived. Shall I have them bring the boxes in here?”

“Yes, thanks.”

Two men with handcarts wheeled in fifty or so boxes and followed Theresa’s instructions to set them on the floor near the bookcases. Laurence tipped them. “Shall we put them away?” he asked.

“Sure. How would you like to do it?”

“You tell me what the books are, and I’ll put them where they should go.”