'I can't talk about it,' Robert said.
'Besides, Addie doesn't want me to.'
'Who is Addie?' Kerney asked as he moved to a chair across from Robert and Marda. He wanted a dear view of Robert. He could hear Robert's heel slapping against the shower sandal.
Robert hesitated.
'Somebody who talks to me.'
'Is Addie short for Adele or Adelaide?' Kerney asked.
'Addie's not short for nothing.'
'And you talk to her?' Kerney prodded.
'Sometimes.'
'Do you talk to her in your head?' Marda suggested.
'Yeah,' Robert said, relief showing on his face. The foot wiggling stopped.
'Okay,' Marcia said.
'Addie is a voice you hear.'
'That's right.'
Marcia nodded and switched gears.
'Mr. Kerney needs to ask you some questions.'
'Sure.' Robert glanced at Kerney.
'What about?'
'Addie isn't a real person?' Kerney asked.
Robert tensed.
'I don't want to talk about her. It makes me nervous.'
'Okay, we won't. On the day Officer Gillespie was shot, you were seen talking to a woman in a pickup truck with a stock trailer,' Kerney said.
'Is she someone you know?'
'What did she look like?' Robert asked.
'I thought you could tell me. The trailer may have belonged to a veterinarian.'
'I don't know anybody like that,' Robert said. His foot wiggle started again. He lit another cigarette and took a deep drag.
'Do you remember talking to the woman?'
'No.' He blew smoke in Kerney's direction and flicked a cigarette ash on the carpet.
'Sometimes I ask people to give me a smoke or some money.'
'So, it was no one you knew?'
'I don't think so.' Robert swallowed hard and looked away.
Robert was lying. Kerney changed the subject again.
'Several days before Gillespie was shot, you were seen outside of town on the railroad tracks.'
'I like to walk along the tracks sometimes,' Robert said.
'Do you go to any particular place?'
'Sometimes.'
'Does the place have a name?'
'Sometimes.'
'What do you call it?'
'I don't call it nothing.' He turned and spoke to Marcia.
'Do I have to go back to the hospital?'
'Are you hearing voices?' Marcia replied.
'Not now. Not since yesterday.'
'When yesterday?' Marcia asked.
'Before lunch.'
'Maybe I can get you in a hallway house in Albuquerque,' Marda said.
Robert grinned at the prospect.
Marda turned to Kerney.
'Do you have any more questions for Robert?'
'Just one. Were you near the police station around the time Gillespie was shot?'
Robert stuck his thumb out in a hitchhiker motion.
'Does that mean no?'
Robert nodded in agreement.
'I hitched a ride to Estanda.'
'Did you see anyone near the police station before you left town?'
Robert shook his head and looked away, avoiding Kerney's gaze.
'Thanks, Robert,' Kerney said, thinking that maybe Robert had seen someone-someone he knew. But pushing Robert didn't seem to be the best way to get answers.
'We're done?' Robert asked, and stood up quickly.
'We're done,' Kerney said.
Robert leaned in Kerney's direction and gave him a high five and a smile.
'Later,' he said.
'Take care, Robert.'
After escorting him out of the room, Marda returned and sat with Kerney.
'I expected you to wait for me before meeting with Robert.'
'It was a bit sneaky on my part.'
Marda nodded.
'Just so you know why I jumped on you when I came in.'
In another context, Kerney wouldn't have minded the possibility of Marda jumping on him at all.
'No problem. I deserved it.'
She drummed her fingers on the table.
'Did he talk much about rape?'
'He had just started talking about it. He said a long time ago he raped his sister-not the one who lives in Texas.'
'He doesn't have another sister. It's unusual for Robert to say anything at all about rape, other than the delusional stuff about Satan, Jesus, and his imaginary daughter.'
'Do you think there's some factual basis to what he said?' Kerney asked.
'Don't count on it.' Marda took her glasses off and smiled-an amused half smile that seemed to show some personal interest in Kerney.
'Robert says he likes you. That's high praise from him for a police officer.'
'I'm glad to hear it.'
She offered her hand to him across the table. It was warm and soft.
'I hope you catch your killer, Mr. Kerney.' Kerney let go of her hand slowly. It had been a while since he'd felt a woman's touch.
'Thanks. Will you be able to keep Robert out of the hospital?'
'It's possible. I'll do a mental status exam. If he's dear enough, I should be able to swing it.' after marcia left to evaluate Robert, Kerney stayed behind to think things through. If, as Marcia indicated, Robert never talked about rape except when he was hallucinating or delusional, why did he raise the topic in the absence of any psychotic symptoms? While Kerney was no expert in mental illness, he believed Robert had something specific on his mind.
Robert had flat-out lied about the woman in the pickup truck, with all the clumsiness of a twelve-year old caught red-handed. And he had lied again about not seeing anyone outside the police station.
The only new bit of information Robert had provided was a name: Addie.
Was she real or imaginary?
Marda thought it was part of Robert's delusion, but Kerney wasn't so sure. He stared at me freshly polished tabletop. There were smeared, sweaty palm prints where Robert had been sitting. Until Marda suggested that
