On a cold, drizzly January day in 1987, 35-year-old Lita McClinton Sullivan puttered around in her housecoat in her beautiful townhouse waiting for the day to unfold. She hadn't slept well, anxious about going to court that afternoon. At 2 p.m. in an Atlanta courtroom, a judge would make a pivotal decision about the division of assets in her multimillion-dollar divorce from James Vincent Sullivan. She could feel the end coming. The turmoil of the 10-year marriage weighed heavy on her shoulders. She thought about Jim, rattling around in his 17,000-square-foot mansion down in Florida. He'd grown into a terrifying...