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TEXAS: The Imperfect Crime

To his neighbors in Houston's Afton Oaks section, Accountant Joseph Selby, 52, seemed a quiet, law-abiding and prosperous citizen. But Selby had a secret life. He spent a lot of time in the Negro district's "massage parlors," where the masseuses are really prostitutes.

Watching her husband over the years, Selby's wife Wilma found out about his other life. As he told it afterwards, she was forever suspecting him, inspected him nightly for telltale lipstick, once threatened to kill him. Instead, early last year, methodical Accountant Joseph Selby set out to hire somebody to kill Wilma.

Selby's six-month search for...

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