Kill All the Lawyers

'Kreeger brainwashed her. She'd say anything he wanted her to.'

'Was she lying when she said both you and your nephew are patients of Dr. Kreeger?'

'Not patients, exactly.'

The cop made a note on the pad. 'So you're not under court order to see Dr. Kreeger?'

'Okay, technically true, but-'

'For sexual deviancy.'

'No!'

The cop used his pen to scratch his scalp through the mini-Afro. 'I pulled the report, Solomon. The boy's a peeper. And Ms. Lamm claims she came out of the shower one day and found you lurking in her bathroom.'

'Bedroom,' Steve corrected, a lawyer slicing the bologna too thin. 'I was lurking in her bedroom. But that's got nothing to do with the court ordering me to see Kreeger.'

'Right. That would be for your violent streak.'

'Look, Teele, Maria's missing. The clock's ticking. By the time you guys get off your butts, she could be dead.'

'I hope not, sir. For your sake. Because your nephew was the last person to see the girl. By his own admission, he made unwelcome advances to her while inebriated, and her brassiere was found in his belongings. The way I see it, the only evidence points straight at him.'

Victoria was the first one out of the Mustang when Steve pulled to a stop in front of Kreeger's home. The morning had turned windy and gray and smelled of rain. They'd left Bobby with Janice, but Cece was on the way there to chaperone.

On the drive to the Gables, Victoria had asked Steve if he had a plan.

'Amanda's going to tell us where Kreeger is,' he said flatly.

'And betray her lover?'

'There's a glimmer of something good inside her. We just have to tap into that.'

Victoria wasn't so sure. 'And how do we do that?'

'Good cop, bad cop.'

'I assume I'm the good cop.'

'Which means you go first. If you don't get anywhere, I'll take over.'

Victoria remained skeptical but kept quiet. No use in chipping away at Steve's confidence.

Amanda answered the door, for once wearing clothes. Two articles of clothing, to be exact: a red tank top and tight white short-shorts. No bra and clearly no panties, judging from the outline of her taco. No makeup. Hair tied in pigtails. A twenty-yearold trying to look fourteen.

She smiled and said, 'Goody, more visitors. Hey, Ms. Lord, did you get that bikini wax yet?'

Victoria shot a look at Steve, who shrugged as if to say sorry.

'Cutie here really admired my landing strip.' Amanda gave Steve a flirtatious tilt of the chin.

'Cut the bullshit, Amanda,' Steve said. 'We've got to talk.'

She ignored him, focused on Victoria. 'I offered Cutie a closer look, but he said he'd have to think about it.'

'How unusual,' Victoria replied. 'Cutie so seldom thinks before acting.'

One minute later, they were all inside. A nondescript living room with a sofa and two facing chairs. An old fireplace. A floor of Dade County pine. A coffee table with a bowl of slightly overripe fruit. No personal items, other than the oil painting of Kreeger on a power boat.

'Amanda, we really need your help,' Victoria said, her tone pleasant.

'Like I told the cops, Uncle Bill's canoeing upstate.'

'We don't think so.' Still soft, still pleasant. 'We think he kidnapped a twelve-year-old girl. We're afraid what he'll do to her if we don't stop him.'

'That's silly,' Amanda said, sounding like a preteen herself. She picked up a green apple from the bowl, tucked both legs under herself, and started munching.

Amanda didn't seem overly concerned, Victoria thought. A missing girl. Her lover accused. And here she was, nibbling away on a Granny Smith. Was it possible, Victoria wondered, that Amanda was as much a sociopath as Kreeger?

'Uncle Bill's a lover, not a killer,' Amanda added with a sly smile. 'And I ought to know.'

'Dammit, Amanda!' Steve said, breaking in before he was supposed to. 'Kreeger killed a guy named Jim Beshears. He killed a boat captain named Oscar De la Fuente. And he killed your mother.'

'Now I know you're lying,' Amanda said. 'I'm the one who killed the witch.'

She said it with a certain amount of glee that Victoria found unsettling. 'You were thirteen, Amanda. Kreeger was giving you drugs when he seduced you. Your memory can't be trusted.'

Steve picked up the story and they tag-teamed her: 'Your mother found out about the two of you and they had a big fight. Kreeger hit her with a skimmer pole and pushed her into the hot tub. Then he convinced you that you'd done it.'

'Like I said before, you have everything bass ackwards.' Amanda giggled. 'I seduced Uncle Bill. I was smoking a little weed, but that's it. Bill gave me some Valium after I killed Mom because I was freaking out. I wanted to call the cops and confess, but Bill said he'd take care of everything.'

'He's brainwashed you, goddammit!' Steve said.

Amanda took a dainty bite from the apple. 'Where was Mom hit, Cutie?'

'Right side of the skull.'

'Uncle Bill's right-handed. If they were having a fight, wouldn't he have hit her on the left side?'

'Pincher covered that. Your mother must have turned and started walking away when Kreeger hit her.'

Amanda's 'ha-ha-ha' seemed contrived, like everything else about her, Victoria thought.

'That's not how it happened,' Amanda said. 'Me and Mom. We were facing each other. She called me a little whore, said she was gonna send me away to some school for fuckups and I'd never see Bill again. I picked up the pool thingie and hit her as hard as I could. She fell into the hot tub, and I just stood there and watched her drown.'

Amanda picked up another apple from the bowl and flung it-left-handed-at Steve. He caught the apple and exchanged looks with Victoria.

'Uncle Bill got rid of the pool thingie,' Amanda continued. 'He came up with the story that Mom slipped and hit her head. The jury didn't believe him. Why should they? It wasn't true.'

'I don't believe you,' Steve said.

'But I do.' Victoria stood, grabbed the apple from Steve, and tossed it from hand to hand as she spoke. 'And if I'm right, if you're telling the truth, you owe your life to Kreeger. I'll bet you stayed faithful to him all those years he was in prison.'

'I was a good girl. I promised I'd wait for him, and I did.'

Victoria nodded in agreement. 'After what he did for you-covering up a murder you committed-how could you do anything else?'

'You got it, Ms. Lord.'

Victoria took a step toward Amanda. 'Which means you'll never betray him, no matter what he's done in the past, no matter what he's doing now.'

Amanda winked at Steve. 'She's smarter than you are, Cutie.'

'I know,' Steve admitted. He turned to Victoria, looking defeated. 'So if Amanda killed her mother, I lost a case for an innocent man. No wonder Kreeger hates me.'

'But you were right about everything else.' Still tossing the shiny green apple from hand to hand, Victoria paced in front of the sofa where Amanda sat cross-legged. 'Kreeger killed Beshears and De la Fuente, didn't he, Amanda?'

'I'll never tell,' she sang in her little-girl voice.

'You know one difference between Steve and me?' Victoria asked.

'I don't know and I don't care.'

'Steve would never hurt a woman. It's not in him. But me.. '