Hitmen by Wensley Clarkson Read Free Book Online Page B

handsome young Stephen got to any of that cash was a cheque for $10,000 which bounced its way out of every bank in the state.
    The only fortunate aspect of that wedding for Stephen Gillis was that the marriage wasn’t consummated. He somehow managed to avoid living with the now frumpy, middle-aged and seriously overweight Elizabeth. However, when he asked for a divorce, she accused him of assault, fraudand blackmail – enough damaging claims to ruin his plans to be a lawyer. Stephen Gillis eventually fled his battles with Elizabeth to join the Marines. She was furious that he’d rather join the toughest training unit in the world than stay with her.
    Days after Gillis’s departure, Elizabeth marched into a local doctor’s surgery with a pregnant woman in tow. She introduced the young woman as Mrs Elizabeth Gillis and the doctor confirmed her pregnancy. Gillis was then forced to send baby support money to her before he could finally win an annulment of their marriage. As Gillis later admitted: ‘She had a tremendous spell on everybody that she came in contact with, and no matter what lie she told, no matter how fantastic, it was believeable.’
     
    Back in the rich and glamorous Pacific coastal resort of Santa Barbara, Elizabeth continued running her brothel and supporting her beloved son Frank. Her immaculate dress and good manners gave the impression she was rich. But behind her quaint horn-rimmed glasses those piercing blue eyes and her thin mouth told another, chilling story.
    Everything took second place to her beloved son Frank who even admitted to his friends and colleagues that he was ‘the apple of my mother’s eye’. But that bond between mother and son took a disturbing twist after Frank qualified as a lawyer. Elizabeth soon made it her business to be in court whenever Frank was working. She loudly applauded his speeches and even rushed across to hold her son’s hand adoringly whenever there was a break in proceedings. But worse still, Elizabeth would berate the District Attorney if Frank lost a case. None of this helped Frank, especially sincehe was already known in local legal circles as the ‘Wicked Wascal Wabbit’ on account of his distinct lisp.
    And back at their house in Santa Barbara, Elizabeth and Frank continued to share a bed. One of her oldest friends later recalled, ‘She said that sometimes she’d call to Frankie and that he’d come and jump in bed with her and console her or she’d go and jump in Frankie’s bed.’ Frank later denied that any such activities ever took place but by that time the damage had already been done.
    Elizabeth adored taking centre stage at every gathering, especially with her group of elderly friends who seemed in awe of her razor sharp wit and pushy personality. One of her most adoring fans was a stony-faced widow in the first throes of senile dementia called Mrs Emma Short. One day she popped round to Elizabeth’s house and was immediately shown ‘Frankie’s’ bedroom. His mother cooed at her son as he lay asleep, ‘Isn’t he beautiful?’ Elizabeth then described him as ‘still Mama’s little boy’. Frank was almost 30 years of age at the time.
    Elizabeth Duncan openly admitted that she couldn’t stand the thought that her beloved son might actually leave home one day. Once, when she suspected Frank was about to move into his own apartment, she swallowed back just enough sleeping pills to send out a customary ‘cry for help’ message. When the doctor treating her pointed out that her adult son Frank might one day get married and leave home, she snapped back, ‘Frank would never leave me. He wouldn’t dare. He wouldn’t dare get married.’ A few weeks later she told one friend that if Frank ever contemplated marrying, she would ‘get rid of her’. That icy threat sent a shiver up her friend’s spine.
    In November 1957 Frank even dared stand up to his mother by insisting she could not afford to buy a beauty parlour in Santa Barbara. A