'Ever heard of a resulting personality?'
'Of course.'
'His psychiatrist claims he has developed a new persona named Raymond Vulpes. Aaron and Roy, it seems, have gone to that great split-personality place in hell.'
'That's pretty cynical, Martin. Don't you ever feel some sense of redemption, knowing that you saved him?'
'No.'
'Why, for heaven's sake?'
'Because I don't believe him. I don't believe there ever was a Roy and I think Raymond is a figment of Aaron's imagination, not his psyche - aided by Woodward's ego.'
'Sam Woodward? He's his doctor?'
'Has been for almost ten years. You know Woodward?'
'Only by reputation.'
'Which is…?'
'Excellent. He's highly respected in the community. You think Aaron Stampler tricked Sam Woodward and you and me and the state psychiatrist, the prosecutor, the judge - '
'All of us. Yes, I believe that. I believe he's a raving psychopath and one helluva actor.'
'That's impossible, Martin.'
'You remember telling me the instant before Roy first appeared to you, the room got cold and you couldn't breathe? Do you remember that?'
'Yes, I remember that quite well. I had never experienced anything quite like it.'
'It happened to me when I walked into the room and met Stampler - or Vulpes - for the first time in ten years. It was like an omen. Like I was in the presence of tremendous evil. Nothing like that ever happened to me, either.'
'Anticipation. You obviously have a vivid memory of my description. You expected it and - '
'It happened before I saw him. I didn't even know he was in the room.'
There was a pause, then she asked, 'Did you have any sense of anxiety when you went up there?'
'I was uncomfortable.'
'About seeing Aaron again?'
'That may have been a small part of it. Mainly, I don't like Daisyland.'
'You're not supposed to like it, Martin. It's not like going to the theatre.'
'That's not what I mean. There's a… I don't know… a sense of hopelessness about the place.'
He was leading her up to the reason they were there, trying to get the dialogue flowing easily, renewing her trust in him, and not doing too well.
He turned to St Claire. 'Harve, do you mind stepping outside for a minute?' The old-timer excused himself and left the room.
'What I'm about to tell you would normally violate the confidentiality between client and lawyer,' Vail said, 'but since you were his psychiatrist, I can tell you with immunity. You're also bound by confidentiality.'
He told her about Aaron's last words to him after the trial.
'He wasn't kidding,' Vail said as he finished. 'I think his ego had to let me know.'
'Why didn't you tell me at the time?'
'Why? Hell, it wouldn't have done a bit of good. Stampler could have stood on the courthouse steps five minutes after the trial and told the world he was sane and he killed those three people in cold blood and there's not a damn thing anyone could have done about it. He pleaded guilty to three murders and his sentence was passed and final. Nothing could have changed that, Molly, it's called double jeopardy.'
'You also told me it was your job to find the holes and use them against the law so it would be changed.'
'In a court of law. Don't you understand, we can't
