Frenzy Read Free

trimmed shrubbery and around to the back of the cabana. The way the bay curved, he could only be seen from the water, and that didn’t pose much of a problem. He could crouch unseen there and listen to nearby conversation, and whatever sounds filtered through the cabana’s thin wall.
    It was almost sunset, and he waited for it to get dark before he went to his spot behind the cabana. Now not even someone out on the bay on a boat, with a telescope or binoculars, was likely to notice him.
    His father was in Augusta on business, and Dwayne was supposed to be bent over his homework. Maude and her lover, Bill Phoenix, wouldn’t suspect that Dwayne wasn’t in his room, but behind the cabana’s back wall. Dwayne knew from experience that they would talk to each other inside the cabana, thinking that outside the sound might carry over water. Not to mention that Bill Phoenix had voiced a fear of being observed and eavesdropped on by the neighbors.
    Dwayne suspected it wasn’t really the neighbors Phoenix worried about. Not them personally, anyway. But they might gossip, and he was doing things with the wife-to-be of one of the richest, most powerful men in Florida. The kind of man who might hire detectives.
    Or worse.
    Maude was not only rich, she was sizzling hot. Phoenix was a guy who maintained swimming pools for the rich.
    Figure it out.
    Dwayne, who knew about his father, was sure he didn’t suspect Maude of seeing another man, especially at their home. Not many men would be so stupid.
    But Maude had a way about her.
    Dwayne nestled closer to the cabana wall. Even pressed his ear to it.
    â€œI’ve talked him into setting a date,” Maude was saying, her voice easily understandable on the other side of the thin wall. “When we get back to town, we’ll tell people we’re married. Maybe we’ll even throw a big party.”
    â€œJesus!” Bill Phoenix said. “Next week.”
    â€œIt’s gotta be that way. There’s a window of opportunity and we gotta get through it. The old windbag is in a trance that won’t last forever. With his wife dead, he’s gonna make a new will, and his new wife—that would be me—will be the beneficiary of his fortune.”
    â€œWhat about the kid?”
    â€œThe entire fortune.”
    â€œI don’t follow. He’ll still want the kid to have some of it.”
    â€œBeing dead, he won’t have a say in it. He’ll trust me to give a fair share to Dwayne. He really thinks I love the little prick. That I’m like his actual mother. Anyway, I’ve got him convinced the kid is mentally deficient, according to his tutor. Just can’t learn. Might never learn how to handle real money. We’ve already made arrangements for a private school in Kentucky to take him. Big surprise for the kid.”
    â€œWhat about the tutor? She go along with this?”
    â€œShe’ll get hers.”
    â€œBut won’t she hold it over us?”
    â€œNot when she realizes what we’ve done, and that she’s done it with us. She’ll take her reasonable commission and lose herself.”
    â€œAnd the kid?”
    â€œDon’t make me laugh.”
    â€œHe might make trouble, Maude.”
    â€œNot to worry. I’ll take care of it. I took care of the wife, didn’t I? Cokehead bitch got the biggest and last heroin trip of her life.”
    Dwayne knew what she meant. His mother had been murdered. No doubt about it. His body began to shake so hard he feared they might hear him.
    Then a calm came over him, like a cool breeze off the sea. He was in a real predicament. But Mrs. Jacoby herself had taught him how he should keep his head and not be overwhelmed by the facts. He should stay calm and think.
    Think.
    After all, he wasn’t sorry his mother was dead. He didn’t have to pretend otherwise, even to himself, after the things she’d done to him. Especially he didn’t have