Professional Documents
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Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
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Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
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Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
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Twenty-Five
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Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
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Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
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Forty-Five
Forty-Six
Forty-Seven
Forty-Eight
Forty-Nine
Fifty
Fifty-One
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Fifty-Three
Fifty-Four
Fifty-Five
One
Two
Acknowledgments
Back Cover
For Joanna…
The brightest star in the galaxy…
…with my undying love
risk factor:
a heightened possibility of danger
One
It took more than half a day to make the drive, and I pulled the
Wrangler into the garage of my condo in Freedom sometime after
two a.m. I showed up at the office at ten.
I was in the throes of determining just how depressed I was when
Marsha stepped into my office and dropped down in one of the two
visitor’s chairs. “You don’t look any different.”
I gave her my best dead-eyed stare. “Where is he?”
“It’s nice to have you back, Buddy.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, okay? Nobody said I was
back.”
She flashed me a crooked grin. “He’s at the house. With Johnny
Kennerly. It hit him hard.”
“The break-in?”
“And the loss of his stuff.”
“The safe?”
“Lots of valuable stuff in such a small safe.”
“Such as?”
“Wills. Deeds. Titles. Plus a bundle of cash.”
“Replaceable?”
“That’s an insurance company question. But the vulnerability
proved difficult for them.”
“Them being himself and Her Honor?”
“You’re so perceptive, Buddy.”
“You were saying…”
“We’re seeing a bunch of similar home invasions. Most recently in
Santa Barbara County. Now here. All targeting the rich and famous.”
“He knows I’m in town?”
“He can hardly contain himself.”
“Shit.”
“How did I know you’d come to that realization?”
***
“Turns out the LAPD was tracking residential break-ins not only in
Los Angeles, but as far north as Santa Barbara, too,” Johnny told
me. “The burglary at your house echoed the tactics of those
invasions.
“The crime unit’s assessment is that these break-ins are the work
of professionals who appear to have now found greener pastures in
our neck of the woods.”
We were seated alone on the mansion’s back porch, my father and
stepmother having busied themselves with their respective activities.
The heavy oceanic atmosphere, pungent with the promise of rain,
was a far cry from the crisp mountain air I had just left.
“What is it you’re not telling me?”
“He’s a mess,” Johnny said. “Not that he’ll show it to you. The
meds are still working, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s his spirit
that’s been crushed.”
“Because?”
“Psychologically speaking, I believe he’s equating the home
invasion with his physical vulnerability. For the first time I think he’s
coming to grips with his mortality.”
“And?”
“It’s cost him.”
“Cost him how?”
“Although he won’t admit it, I think he’s thrown in the towel. All
he’s trying to do is find a way out.”
“Of life?”
“Of the job. That’s why he was so insistent you get back here.”
“To what end?”
“He told me you’d be returning to your old position.”
“He told you what?”
“You heard me. Are you?”
“Returning to the job?”
Johnny nodded.
I shrugged. “It never occurred to me.”
Four
The new break-in was at the home of Chet Forster, the Los Angeles
Clippers’ star forward.
Forster, his wife, and their two young children were on the island
of Antigua, in a rented beachfront villa, relaxing following a grueling
basketball season.
By the time the home security service arrived at Forster’s home in
the Freedom foothills, the burglars were gone, having taken with
them several mementos of his illustrious career…rings, belts, and
medals.
They had also grabbed jewelry, a silver service, and the contents of
a wall safe that contained a cache of securities and cash. In all, they
made off with items worth close to a quarter of a million dollars.
It was Johnny Kennerly who responded to the home security
service’s call. And although my status was in limbo, he summoned
me and, as in times past, we rode together to the crime scene.
“You had dinner with them?” Johnny asked.
“Yes.”
“So? How does the Sheriff seem to you?”
“You were right.”
“Meaning?”
“He’s tired. His stamina seems low. He’s distracted and even
worse, indifferent.”
“Did you sort out your feelings about any of this crap during your
sabbatical?”
“Not exactly.”
“Well, I sure hope you’re prepared to decide.”
“Decide what?”
“What happens in chapter two of the life story of Burton Steel Jr.”
***
***
After seven months of pregnancy the fœtus has all the conditions
for breathing and exercising its digestion. It may then be separated
from its mother, and change its mode of existence. Child-birth rarely,
however, happens at this period: most frequently the fœtus remains
two months longer in the uterus, and it does not pass out of this
organ till after the revolution of nine months.
Examples are related of children being born after ten full months
of gestation; but these cases are very doubtful, for it is extremely
difficult to know the exact period of conception. The legislation in
France, however, has fixed the principle, that child-birth may take
place up to the two hundred and ninety-ninth day of pregnancy.
Nothing is more curious than the mechanism by which the fœtus is
expelled; everything happens with wonderful precision; all seems to
have been foreseen, and calculated to favor its passage through the
pelvis and the genital parts.
The physical causes that determine the exit of the fœtus are the
contraction of the uterus and that of the abdominal muscles; by their
force the liquor amnii flows out, the head of the fœtus is engaged in
the pelvis, it goes through it, and soon passes out by the valve, the
folds of which disappear; these different phenomena take place in
succession, and continue a certain time; they are accompanied with
pains more or less severe; with swelling and softening of the soft
parts of the pelvis and external genital parts, and with an abundant
mucous secretion in the cavity of the vagina. All these circumstances,
each in its own way, favor the passage of the fœtus. To facilitate the
study of this action, it may be divided into several periods.
The first period of child-birth.—It is constituted by the precursory
signs. Two or three days before child-birth a flow of mucus takes
place from the vagina, the external genital parts swell and become
softer; it is the same with the ligaments that unite the bones of the
pelvis; the mouth of the womb flattens, its opening is enlarged, its
edges become thinner; slight pains, known under the name of flying
pains, are felt in the loins and abdomen.
Second period.—Pains of a peculiar kind come on; they begin in
the lumbar region, and seem to be propagated towards the womb or
the rectum; and are renewed only after intervals of a quarter or half
an hour each. Each of them is accompanied with an evident
contraction of the body of the uterus, with tension of its neck and
dilatation of the opening; the finger directed into the vagina
discovers that the envelopes of the fœtus are pushed outward, and
that there is a considerable tumor, which is called the waters; the
pains very soon become stronger, and the contraction of the uterus
more powerful; the membranes break, and a part of the liquid
escapes; the uterus contracts on itself, and is applied to the surface of
the fœtus.
Third period.—The pains and contractions of the uterus increase
considerably; they are instinctively accompanied by the contraction
of the abdominal muscles. The woman who is aware of their effect is
inclined to favour them, by making all the muscular efforts of which
she is capable: her pulse then becomes stronger and more frequent;
her face is animated, her eyes shine, her whole body is in extreme
agitation, and perspiration flows in abundance. The head descends
into the lower strait of the pelvis.
Fourth period.—After some moments of repose the pains and
expulsive contractions resume all their activity; the head presents
itself at the vulva, makes an effort to pass, and succeeds when there
happens to be a contraction sufficiently strong to produce this effect.
The head being once disengaged, the remaining parts of the body
easily follow, on account of their smaller volume. The section of the
umbilical cord is then made, and a ligature is put around it at a short
distance from the umbilicus or navel.
Fifth period.—If the midwife has not proceeded immediately to the
extraction of the placenta after the birth of the child, slight pains are
felt in a short time, the uterus contracts freely, but with force enough
to throw off the placenta and the membranes of the ovum; this
expulsion bears the name of delivery. During the twelve or fifteen
days that follow child-birth the uterus contracts by degrees upon
itself, the woman suffers abundant perspirations, her breasts are
extended by the milk that they secrete; a flow of matter, which takes
place from the vagina, called lochia, first sanguiferous, then whitish,
indicates that the organs of the woman resume, by degrees, the
disposition they had before conception.
MANAGEMENT OF LABOR.