They handcuffed her–gently, it seemed–and led
-BLOOD TFST” 5
‘her to the. door. She passed by me-and OUr eyes
locked. The ebony irises seemed to moisten and
· ‘ melt. Then she hardened them, held her head high,
and was gone.
28
I FOUND Raoul in his lab, staring at a computer
screen on which were displayed columns of polyno-
mials atop a multicolored bar graph. He’d mutter in
‘Spanish, examine a page o pounds printout; then-turn to
the keyboard and rapidly type a new set ot: num-
– bets. With each additional bit o datum the height
the bars in the graph changed. The lab was
airless and fffied with acrid fmes. High-tech doodads
clicked and buzzed in the backgroul.
I pulled up a stool next to him, sat’ and said
hello.
He acknowledged me with a downward twist of
his mustache and continued to work with the computer.
The bruises on his pounds ce had turned to
purplish-green smudges.
“You know,” he said.
“Yes. She told me.”
He tped,’ hitting thc keyboard hard. The graph
convulsed.
“My ethics were no better than Valcroix’s. She
347
28
FOVNO Baoul in his lab, staring
reen on which were displayed colt
ntals atop a multicolored bar graph.
;panish, examine a page of printou
he keyboard and rapidly type a ne’
mrs. With each additional bit of dat
:-the bars in the graph’ changed.
/r/ess and fi//ed with acrid fiunes.
ads clicked and buzzed in the back
I pulled up a stool next to him,
e//o.
He acknowledged me with a dowm
s mustache and continued to work n
ter. The bruises on his face ha
rplish-green smudges.
“You know,” he said.
“Yes. She told me.”
He typed, hitting the keyboard har
nvulsed.
“My ethics were no better than V
47
tt a computer
mns of polyno-He’d
mutter in
:, then turn to
w set of nhm-um
the height
The lab was
.Iighotech doo-
‘sat’ and said
· ard twist of
th the eom.d
turned to
1. The graph
dcroix’s. She
came wiggling in here in a skintight dress and proved
that.”
I’d come to the lab with the intention of comforting
him. There were things I could have said. That
Nona had been turned into a weapon, an instrument
of vengeance, abused and twisted until sex
and rage were inexorably intertwined, then laUnChed
and aimed at a world of weak men like some kind
of heat-seeking missile. That he’d made an error
judgment but it didn’t negate all the good he’d
done. That there was more good work to be done.
That time would heal.
-But the words would have rung hollow. He was a
proud man who’d shed his pride before my eyes.
I’d witn6ssed him ragged and half-crazed in a stink-lng
cell, obsessively intent on finding bas patient.
His quest had been ignited ‘by guilt, by the mis:
taken belief that his sin–ten lust-blinded minutes
of Nona kneeling before him, ravenousmhad Caused
the removal of the boy from treatment.
Coming to see him had been a mistake. Whatever
friendship we’d had was gone, and with it, any
power I might havehad io reassure,
If salvation existed, he’d have m Find it for himself.
I plac. ed my hand on his shoulder and Wished
him well. He shrugged and stared/at the screen.
I left him with his nose buried in a pile of daB,
cursing out loud at some arcane.numerical discrep-ancyo
I drove east on Sunset slowly, and thought about
families. Milo had once told me that family.’ disputes
were a cop’s most dreaded calls, for they
were the most likely to erupt in violence that was
murderously sudden, stunningly intense. A good
BLOOD TEST 349
‘chunk of-my life had Men spent sorting out the
scrambledcommUnications, festering hostilities, and
frozen affections that characterized families in
tUrmoil.
It was easy to believe that no thing worked. That
blood ties strangled the soul.
·
BUt I knew that a cop’s reality was skewed bythe
d;a.y struggle against ‘evil, that of the psychotherapist
distorted by too many encounters withmadneSs.
There were families that worked, that nurtured
and loved. Places in the heart where a soul cold
find refuge
Soon a beautiful woman WOUld meet me on a