His hand landed on my shoulder. Lightly, very lightly, then he began to leave.
“Happy hunting,” I said.
“I’m always happy when hunting.”
CHAPTER 15
STACY’S CALL CAME at four P.M. The connection was grainy and I wondered where she was. Had Richard given her her own little silver phone?
“Sorry for the inconvenience,” she said, not sounding apologetic at all. Cool. The detachment was back.
“What happened, Stacy?”
“Don’t you already know?” From cool to cold,
“Eric,” I said.
“So my father was right.”
“About what?”
“The cop who was here to talk to him. My father said he’s your friend. He informs you, you inform him. Didn’t you think that would be a problem, Dr. Delaware?”
“Stacy, I spoke to your father about that and he—”
“You didn’t speak to me about it.”
“We haven’t spoken at all. I was planning to bring it up when you arrived.”
“And if I told you I didn’t like it?”
“Then I’d drop off the Mate investigation. That’s exactly what I planned to do until your father asked me not to. He wanted me to continue.”
“Why would he want that?”
“You’d have to ask him, Stacy.”
“He told you to continue?”
“In no uncertain terms. Stacy, if it’s a matter of trust”
“I don’t get it,” she said. “When he told me about the cop, he seemed angry.”
“At something Detective Sturgis did?”
“At being questioned like a criminal. And he’s right. After all we went through with my mother, to be harassed by the police. And now I find out you’re working with them. It just seems … wrong.”
“Then I’m off the investigation.”
“No,” she said. “Don’t bother.”
“You’re my patient, you come first.”
Pause. “That’s the other thing. I’m not sure I want to be your patient nothing to do with you. I just don’t see why I need therapy again.”
“So the appointment was all your father’s idea?”
“Same as all the other appointments no, I don’t mean that. Before, once I got into it, it was good. Great. You helped me. I’m coming across so rude, I’m sorry. I just don’t see that I need any more help.”
“Maybe not,” I said. “But can we at least sit down once to discuss it? I’ve got time right now if you can make it over.”
“I don’t know. Things are pretty intense what exactly did your cop friend tell you about Eric?”
“That Eric hadn’t returned to his dorm for a couple of days. That he’d missed a test.”
“More like a day and a half,” she said. “It’s probably no big deal, he was always going off on his own.”
“Back when he was living at home?”
“Back to ninth or tenth grade. He’d cut school without explanation, take his bike somewhere, disappear all day. Later, he told me he used to check out used-book stores, play pool on the pier, or go over to the Santa Monica courts and listen to trials. The school used to phone, but Eric always got away with it because his grades were so much higher than anyone else’s. Once he got his driver’s license, he’d go away overnight, not come home till morning. That got to my father. Waking up in the morning and finding Eric’s bed still made and Eric gone. Then Eric would drive up at breakfast time, start toasting Pop-Tarts, and the two of them would get into hassles, my father demanding to know where Eric had been, Eric refusing to say.”
“Did your mother get involved?
When she was still healthy, she’d take my father’s side. But Dad’s always been the main one.
Was Eric ever punished?”
“Dad made threats kept warning he’d take away Eric’s car keys, but Eric shined him on. Everyone knew he wouldn’t follow through.
Why not?”
“Because Eric’s his golden boy. Any time Dad complains about him, all Eric has to say is, ‘What? Aren’t straight A’s good enough? Want me to get higher than sixteen hundred on the SAT?’ Same for Pali Prep. He was their big advertisement. Perfect GPA, Bank of America Award winner, National Merit Scholar, Prudential Life Scholar, Science Achievement winner, hockey team, fencing team, baseball team. When he interviewed for Stanford, the interviewer called our headmaster and told him he’d just encountered one of the great minds of the century. So why would they want to tick him off?