'We off the record here?'
'Sure.'
'Clark's lawyer is a moron,' Taglio said. 'He can't do criminal defense.'
'Anything else?' I said.
Taglio studied me for a moment. Behind him, the rain fell pleasant and straight past the tenth-floor window.
'Like what?' he said.
'Like he doesn't want to get the kid off?'
'Every lawyer owes the client the best defense he can have.'
'And Leeland?' I said.
'His best won't be much,' Taglio said.
'You have an opinion on how much he wants to get the kid off?'
'Nope.'
'What do you think of irresistible impulse?'
'He going to plead that?'
'He says not. Says the shrink won't support it.'
'So why you asking?'
'Might find another shrink,' I said.
'Case doesn't look good to you, either,' Taglio said.
'Not too,' I said. 'What about irresistible impulse?'
'Won't fly,' Taglio said.
'It sometimes does,' I said.
'Yeah, and he had an irresistible impulse to run and hide after he did it,' Taglio said.
'Knew it was wrong, couldn't help doing it,' I said.
Taglio grinned.
'I know who the trial judge will be,' Taglio said. 'The Honorable C. A. Murphy thinks Freud is a fraud misspelled.'
'You're not going for insanity?' I said.
'No.'
'What's your defense?' I said.
'I'm trying to get him a deal,' Taglio said.
I nodded.
'How about Clark's expert witness.'
'Beth Ann?'
'Uh-huh.' Taglio smiled. 'I'm gonna let you talk to her,' he said.
'Any chance they didn't do it?' I said.
'They caught my guy red-handed,' Taglio said.
'And mine?' I said.
'He confessed, for crissake,' Taglio said. 'And my guy says he's the accomplice.'
'You're trying to make a deal,' I said.
'Sure, and that was part of it. But that's all he'll say. Cleary wants where they got the guns? Anyone else involved? Why, for crissake, they did it.'
'Cleary's the ADA on the case?'
'Yeah. '
'And he wants why?'
'This happened out there in horse country,' Taglio said.
'Or at least the back half,' I said.
'You got that right. But these people think they live in fucking Eden out there. Things like this can't happen in Eden.'
'Except for the damn snake,' I said.
'Whatever,' Taglio said. 'They hate these kids for reminding them that it ain't quite Eden, you know? They want to lynch them.'
