He never mentioned his father's name. The judge's chambers were in the large Cook County Criminal Court Building at Twenty-sixth and California streets, a fourteen-storey stone edifice with steps leading up to the front entrance. It was in a dangerous neighborhood, and a notice outside stated: BY JUDICIAL 71 ORDER, ALL PERSONS ENTERING THIS BUILDING S14ALL SUBMIT TO SEARCH. This was where Tyler spent his days, hearing cases involving robbery, burglary, rape, shootings, drugs and murders.
Ruthless in his decisions, he became known as the Hanging Judge. All day long he listened to defendants pleading poverty, child abuse, broken homes, and a hundred other excuses. He accepted none of them. A crime was a crime and had to be punished. And in the back of his mind, always, was his father. Tyler Stanford's fellow judges knew very little about his personal life.. They knew that he had had a bitter marriage and was now divorced, and that he lived alone in a small three-bedroom Georgian house on Kimbark Avenue in Hyde Park. The area was surrounded by beautiful old homes, because the great fire of 1871 that razed Chicago had whimsically spared the Hyde Park district. He made no friends in the neighborhood, and his neighbors knew nothing about him. He had a housekeeper who came in three times a week, but Tyler did the shopping himself. He was a methodical man with a fixed routine. On Saturdays, he went to Harper Court, a small shopping mall near his home, or to Mr. G's Fine Foods or Medici's on Fifty-seventh Street. From time to time, at official gatherings, Tyler would meet the wives of his fellow jurists.
They sensed that 72 he was lonely, and they offered to introduce him to women friends or invite him to dinner. He always declined. ''m busy that evening.' His evenings seemed to be full, but they had no idea what he was doing with them. ' isn't interested in anything but the law,' one of the judges explained to his wife. ' he's just not interested in meeting any women yet. I heard he had a terrible marriage.' He was right. After his divorce, Tyler had. sworn to himself that her would never become emotionally involved again. And then he had met Lee, and everything had suddenly changed. Lee was beautiful, sensitive and caring - the one Tyler wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Tyler loved Lee, but why should Lee love him? A successful model, Lee had dozens of admirers, most of them wealthy. And Lee liked expensive things. Tyler had felt that his cause was hopeless. There was no way to compete with others for Lee's affection. But overnight, with the death of his father, everything could change. He could become wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He could give Lee the world. Tyler walked into the chambers of the chief judge. ', I'm afraid I have to go to Boston for a few 73 days. Family affairs. I wonder if you would have someone, take over my caseload for me." course. I'll arrange it,' the chief judge said. ' you.' That afternoon, Judge Tyler Stanford was on his way to Boston. On the plane, he thought again about his father's words on that terrible day: I know your dirty little secret.
Chapter Nine
it was raining in Paris, a warm July rain that sent pedestrians racing along the street for shelter or looking for nonexistent taxis. Inside the auditorium of a large gray building on a comer of Rue Faubourg St. Honor6, there was panic. A dozen half-naked models were running around in a kind of mass hysteria, while ushers finished setting, up chairs and carpenters pounded away at last-minute bits of carpentry. @veryone was screaming and gesticulating wildly, and the noise level ' painful. In the eye of the hurricane, trying to bring order out of chaos,,was the maitresse herself, Kendall Stanford Renaud. Four hours before the fashion show 4s scheduled to begin, everything Nyas falling apart.
Catastrophe: John Fairchild. of Wwas unexpectedly going to be in Paris, and there was no seat for him. Tragedy: the speaker system was not working. Disaster: one of the top models was ill. Emergency: two of the make-up artists were fighting backstage and were far behind schedule. 75 Calamity: all the seams on the cigarette skirts were tearing. In other words, Kendall thought wryly, everything is normal Kendall Stanford Renaud could have been mistaken for one of the models herself, and at one time she had been a model. She exuded carefully plotted elegance from her golden chignon to her Chanel pumps. Everything about her - the curve of her arm, the shade of her nail polish, the timbre of her laugh - bespoke well-mannered chic. Her face, if stripped of its careful make-up, was actually plain, but Kendall took pains to see that no one ever realized this, and no one ever did. She was everywhere at once.
"Who lit that runway, Ray Charlest ' want a blue backdrop ..." lining is showing. Fix it!" don't want the models doing their hair and make-up in the holding area. Have Lulu find them a dressing room!" Kendall's venue manager came hurrying up to her. ', thirty minutes is too long! Too long! The show should be no more than twenty-five minutes.' She stopped what she was doing. ' do you suggest, Scott?" could cut a few of the designs and '. I'll have the models move faster.' 76 She heard her name called again, and turned.
"Kendall, we can't locate Pia. Do you want Tami to switch to the charcoal gray jacket with the trouserst '. Give that to Dana. Give the cat suit and tunic to Tami." about the dark gray jersey?"
"Monique. And make sure she wears the dark gray stockings.' Kendall looked at the board holding a set of Polaroid pictures of the models in a variety of gowns. When they were set, the pictures would be placed in a precise order. She ran a practiced eye over the board. ''s change this. I want the beige cardigan, out first, then the separates, followed by the strapless silk jersey, then the taffeta evening gown, the afternoon dresses W) th matching jackets ...' Two of her assistants hurried up to her. ', we're having an argument about the seating. Do you want the retailers together, or do you want to mix them with the celebritiest The other assistant spoke up. ' we could mix the celebrities and press together.' . Kendall was hardly listening.