I can't quite get it.”
“No pattern,” Steve said. “Just random words.” Damned if he'd tell her that Bobby associated her name with “dick,” “roach,” and “cock.”
“This just reinforces my beliefs. Bobby needs intensive treatment in a residential facility.”
“You're wrong, Doctor. You're so damned wrong.”
“You'd have regular visitation rights,” she offered.
“Homeschooling's working fine.”
“Is it?” She reached under the sofa cushions as if looking for spare change. “Is this what you call schooling? Robert tried to bury the evidence.”
“He only reads the articles,” Steve said, anticipating a Playboy or Maxim.
Instead, she held up a black-and-white autopsy photo of Charles Barksdale. An incision ran from ear to ear.
“Oh, that,” Steve said, relieved.
“And this?” She grabbed a photo with the skin flaps pulled back from Barksdale's neck, showing the salivary glands and exposed jugular vein.
“Bobby likes autopsies,” Steve said. “He can recite the Coroners' Rolls from fourteenth-century England.”
“‘Inquest was taken at Middlesex,'” Bobby said in a British accent, “‘on Monday after the Nativity of Blessed Mary the Virgin in the reign of King Edward the Third…'”
“Parlor games,” Kranchick said. “Meaningless until we learn how he does it.”
“Hey, lady,” Bobby said. “Who lit the fuse on your tampon?”
“What! Is this what you teach the boy?”
“No. No. No.” Steve felt an icy fear. “That's a T-shirt or something. Bobby, tell her.”
“Bumper sticker on a Toyota SUV.”
“A Toyota SUV!” Steve proclaimed, as if Bobby had just turned lead into gold.
“With a bald left rear tire,” Bobby said. “License plate 7NJ843, manatee logo.”
“See, it's just his memory.”
Kranchick grabbed her briefcase from the surfboard coffee table. “Whatever's going on in this house is utterly inappropriate. Obviously, Robert needs guidance that you're unable or unwilling to give.”
“Look, Dr. Kranchick, maybe I've given you the wrong impression. If you'd stick around a while, let Bobby relax, you'll see how happy he is, how welladjusted-”
“My decision's made.” Her tone was curt. “I'm going to urge the court to deny your petition, terminate your custody forthwith, and make Robert a ward of the state.”
Steve's hands felt clammy. He'd gone the full route. Reason. Anger. Insincere flattery. Now full-scale panic. He heard himself begging. “Give me another chance, Doctor. Please. Bobby needs me. And I love him.”
“Love” wasn't a word he tossed around easily.
“Bobby's my whole world,” he went on.
“Your world? So that's what this is about. Your needs. Shouldn't this be about Robert?”
“He loves me, too. Depends on me. He's made tremendous progress.”
She clicked on a cruel smile. “How? By sharing your bed?”
“For two weeks, when he first got here. He was too scared to sleep alone.”
“Still,” she said. “It looks like one of those Michael Jackson situations.”
Is she fucking serious?
“You have a dirty mind, Dr. Kranchick.”
“It's my job to turn over every rock, see what's crawling underneath. Frankly, even if Robert had no problems, I'd question your fitness as a custodian. Face it, Mr. Solomon, you're undomesticated.”
“Whatever that means, it's just temporary. Just a phase.”
“Fine. When you've grown up, petition the court under the change-of-circumstances statute.”
“But I'm changing right now.” An idea was forming, a way to sway her.
“How so?”
“Getting married's a change, isn't it?”
“It can be, depending…”
“Well, I'm engaged. Getting married in a month. To a wonderful woman. She's smart and loving and-”
“An optimist,” Dr. Kranchick suggested snidely.
“Stable. A real stabilizer. My fiancee is a stabilizing influence.”
“Stable” seeming to be the only characteristic he could latch on to. Winging it now, just like in court. “When I'm with her, I feel more mature. More… domesticated.”
“Really?” The doctor did not sound convinced.
“Your report isn't complete if you haven't interviewed my fiancee.”
“Technically, that's true,” she conceded, with reluctance. “Who is she?”
Steve's mind raced. There was Sofia Hernandez, the court reporter. She was fine at reading back testimony, but ad-libbing wasn't her strong suit. There was Gina the model, who already had an engagement ring, but she was likely to steal the silverware. There were the twins, Lexy and Rexy, but neither one's IQ matched the temperature on a warm day. And there was Cece, but her tattoos and piercings might be off-putting, to say nothing of her rap sheet.
“I'll want to meet her as soon as possible.” Kranchick was pulling out her daily calendar. “How's the day after tomorrow?”
“Perfect! Let's make it dinner.”
“So what's the woman's name? This stabilizing influence?”
There was only one choice. “Victoria Lord,” he said. “You'll just love her.”
Nineteen
PROVING LOVE
Heading into Les Mannequins the next morning, Steve vowed to be on his best behavior with Victoria. After all, he had a huge favor to ask.
“Will you marry me? Or at least pretend to?”
Steve knew he desperately needed her help. A lousy report from Kranchick combined with Zinkavich's vicious attacks, and he'd have no chance in court. He'd promised Kranchick that she'd meet his fiancee tomorrow night. So he had to pop the question-on bent knee, if necessary-and teach Victoria the one lawyer skill she so clearly lacked: lying with a straight face.
He left Bobby in the waiting room, where he could spot for Cece on the bench press, the only way to keep her from disappearing for an afternoon at the gym. Opening the door to his office, he instantly sensed that something was wrong.
It was too bright, for one thing, sunlight blasting through the windows. Then there was the smell of ammonia. And all the papers on his desk were stacked in neat piles next to a vase of fresh violets.
Violets?
He shot a look at Victoria, who was sitting at her desk, reading a stack of appellate cases. “What the hell happened in here?”
“I tidied up,” Victoria said.
“Like Sherman tidied up Georgia. Why's it so bright?”
“I cleaned the windows.”
“Big mistake. Dirty windows are nature's way of keeping us cool.”
She continued reading, using a yellow marker to highlight the key points of an appellate opinion. As if the law ever won a case.
He went to his lobster tank, crumbled a stale bagel, and began tossing pieces into the water. He was stalling,
