The Answer Man - Hardcover

Johansen, Roy

 
9780553106077: The Answer Man
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0553106074 ISBN 13: 9780553106077
Verlag: Bantam Dell Pub Group, 1999

Inhaltsangabe

Ken Parker, an expert in lie detectors who struggles to support his invalid brother, finds himself inescapably enmeshed in a world of greed and murder when he accepts money to teach an embezzler how to beat a polygraph test. A first novel.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Roy Johansen's first screenplay, Murder 101, was produced for cable TV and won an Edgar Award as well as a Focus Award, which is sponsored by Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese. He has written projects for Disney, MGM, United Artists, Universal, and Warner Bros. He lives in southern California with his wife, Lisa.

Aus dem Klappentext

m the Answer Man. As a lie detector operator, he's an expert in the science of truth... and the art of lies--and both are coming in handy. Because Ken Parker has been in a bad way. His business isn't making enough money to support him and his sick brother. The repo men are after his MG. And an eviction notice has just been nailed to his office door.

Then Myth Daniels, the most beautiful woman he's ever set eyes on, walks into his favorite bar. Little does he realize that everything is about to change. Five minutes after they meet, she takes him home, to a posh Atlanta neighborhood of fancy cars, manicured lawns, and security gates. And that's when she offers him $50,000 in cash for one job.

Myth Daniels is a lawyer, and running into Ken at the bar was no accident. Her client Burton Sabini stands accused of embezzling $12 million from his company. Now she's offering a deal to Ken Parker: Teach her client how to beat the polygraph, and Ken will walk away rich. Not exactly ethic

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

"Fresh air" on a May night in Atlanta was hardly that, with the still, humid vapors threatening to smother anyone who dared challenge them. But at least the night offered solitude on a row of shops known as Little Five Points, where mom-and-pop stores attracted tourists and quality-unconscious locals. Ken and Myth walked along the deserted street, occasionally pausing to look in windows of the closed shops.

"What do you do when you're not intimidating men in the local saloons?" he asked.

"I intimidate men in the local courtrooms. I'm an attorney."

"Are there any lawyer jokes you haven't heard yet?"

"I doubt it."

"Then I won't even try. What kind of attorney are you?"

She ignored the question. "You're a polygraph examiner. Did I hear that right?"

He nodded.

"Those things really work?"

"Sure they do. It's people who are defective."

She gave him a sideways glance.

He nodded. "Nowadays people find ways to justify what they do. They rationalize. If someone steals from his company, hell, it's not really stealing. The company really owes it to him anyway, he figures, and he might as well take it. Whatever it is. That's not stealing. That's just getting your due."

"Do you think that way?"

"I don't know. All I know is it's getting harder to separate the truth from the bullshit. And the better we get at rationalizing away the things we do, the more useless my job gets. A polygraph can't catch a liar who doesn't think he's a liar."

"You're quite a cynic."

"Occupational hazard."

They passed a tall dogwood tree, the roots of which had burst through the sidewalk, loosening several chunks of concrete. As Ken guided Myth around the mess, he realized they were entering a neighborhood of recently restored homes. Houses that only a few years earlier were selling for peanuts but now were in vogue for the nouveau-riche baby boomers moving back into the city.

"Enough about me," Ken said. "Tell me about you."

"I'll tell you about me when we get there."

"Get where?"

"My house. It's not much farther."

Ken tried not to look as surprised as he was. Okay, so one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen was taking him home five minutes after their first meeting. Just another night in the city.

As they strolled through the neighborhood, Ken took note of all the little things that screamed money. The neatly trimmed lawns. The garden-club flower beds. The small security service signs pierced into the grass. The Porsches and Jags in the driveways.

Soon he found himself in front of one of the largest, most impressive homes on the street. Constructed in the style of a French château, it sat on a full acre of land in the middle of the block. A long driveway snaked around the side of the house, and a dramatic, curving set of stairs spiraled up to the house's main entrance, where a pair of double doors was flanked by towering stained glass panels.

"No way," he said.

She led him up the driveway. "Don't insult me by asking how I got it. I've never been married, no man bought it for me, and I've never inherited a dime. I earned it myself."

Even the grass smelled sweet. She probably spent more on her monthly gardening bill than he did on his car payment. When he could afford his car payment.

They walked up the front stairs. Myth fumbled with her keys, trying to insert one into the lock.

"Relax," Ken said softly.

Myth threw the lock. She turned around, smiled, and opened the door.

He followed her inside. The interior was even more impressive. He was no decorator, but he could instantly see that the furnishings, flooring, and accent pieces were expensive and impeccably chosen. Each room was a showplace, camera ready for a decorating magazine layout. Deep, dark, solid woods ran through the walls and furniture. The house's lighting scheme was low key, with sharply defined pools of illumination emanating from designer lamps in each room.

Myth led him into a cherry-wood-paneled study, where she turned on a floor lamp. Ken was startled by the sight that greeted him in the corner of the room.

A middle-aged man in a large leather chair.

The man had obviously been sleeping. He looked up at Ken and yawned.

Ken turned to face Myth. She was calmly hanging her jacket on a rack.

"Uh, Myth?"

"Hmm?"

"There's a man in here."

Myth moved to her desk and turned on another lamp. She put on a pair of spectacles and glanced through a file.

"Two men. Ken Parker, meet Burton Sabini."

The middle-aged man rose and stepped toward Ken. Sabini was thin and balding, probably in his late forties, though his bearing suggested a man much older.

"Hi, Ken. Nice to meet you." Sabini smiled warmly at him.

Ken looked back at Myth, who was still reading through the file.

"Kenneth Andrew Parker, born in Houston, Texas. You've been having a rough time of it, haven't you, Ken? Two quarters of college before you dropped out. A whole string of jobs, none of which held any long-term prospects. Except possibly this one. You've been at it almost two and a half years. You haven't been doing too badly, but your expenses are crushing you. It looks like you can last sixty days at the most before you'll lose your business."

Ken looked at Sabini, who was smiling and nodding.

The night was getting more surreal by the moment.

"What the hell is this?" Ken snatched the file from Myth's hands and scanned it. "Christ. My height, eye color, weight, the grocery store where I shop ... The weight's wrong, by the way."

"It's what you put on your last driver's license application."

"You do this for every man you bring home?"

"Only men I do business with."

"Business?"

"Ken, do you recognize this man?"

Ken looked at him. "No. Should I?"

"Burton Sabini. He's being prosecuted in an embezzling case, and I'm defending him."

Sabini was obviously surprised not to be recognized. "You watch TV, read the papers? I worked for Vikkers Industries."

Ken studied the man a moment longer. "Sorry."

Myth took the file back. "The district attorney has agreed to accept a polygraph examination as evidence."

"A stipulated test? That's what this is all about?"

"We need your help."

Ken looked from her to Sabini. Were they both nuts? "There's nothing I can do. You get approval on the polygraph examiner, but the D.A. makes the choice. Jesus."

"Just hear me out. They have a weak case against him."

"They must. The D.A. wouldn't agree to admit polygraph results otherwise."

"That's the way I see it. If Sabini takes the stip test and passes, they might even drop the charges. We'd be home free."

"Yeah, but if he fails, they could use that test against you in court. You'd be an idiot to chance it."

"I don't intend to chance it." Myth took off her spectacles. "In the early sixties, there was a major study at the University of Chicago. Researchers were trying to determine if it was possible to beat a polygraph."

"So?"

"I'm sure you know the outcome, even if you've never heard of this study. It is possible to beat one."

"You said it, not me."

"My client is innocent, but...

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Verlag
Bantam Dell Pub Group
Erscheinungsdatum
1999
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0553106074
ISBN 13 
9780553106077
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
340
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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