Johnithan Kellerman – Bad Love

“Good boy,” I said to the dog.

“Seeing as he’s saved your kneecaps, Alex, don’t you think he deserves a real name? My vote’s still for Rover.”

“When I was trying to intimidate KeMer, I called him Spike.”

“Very manly.”

“Only problem is,” I said, “he’s already got a name–someone’s bound to come get him. What a drag. I’m getting kind of attached to him.”

“What?” He elbowed my ribs, gently. “We’re afraid of getting hurt, so we don’t reach out for intimacy? Give him a goddamn name, Alex.

Empower him so he can fulfill his dogly potential.”

I laughed and rubbed the dog some more. He panted and put his head against my leg.

“KeMer’s not the one who killed the koi,” I said. “When I mentioned it, he fuzzed over completely.”

“Probably,” he said. “That tree branch was too subtle for the Priests.

They would have taken out all the fish and mashed em up, maybe eaten them and left the bones.”

“Back to our bad love’ fiend,” I said. “Anything new on Lyle Gritz?”

“Not yet.”

“I was over at the library this morning, checking out the professional directories. No current listings on Rosenblatt or Katarina de Bosch.

Harrison moved to Ojai and has no phone number, which sounds like retirement–and the social worker, Lerner, was suspended from the social work organization for an ethics violation.”

“What kind of violation?”

“The directory didn’t say.”

“What’s it usually mean? Sleeping with a patient?”

“That’s the most common, but it could also be financial shenanigans, betrayal of confidentiality, or a personal problem, like drug or alcohol addiction.”

He rested his arms on the top of the railing. The squad cars were gone now. My pond was a dry hole and the sump pump was sucking air. I went down to the garden, dog at my heels, and turned it off.

When I got back, Milo said, “If Lerner was a bad boy, he could have done something that pissed off a patient.”

“Sure,” I said. “I looked up de Bosch’s writings on bad love.”

Specifically, it refers to abuse of parental authority leading to alienation, cynicism, and, in extreme cases, violence. De Bosch actually used the term retribution.” But, pardon the whining, I still don’t know what the hell I could have done.”

“Why don’t you try to get in touch with Harrison in Ojai, see if he has any idea what’s going on? If his number’s unlisted, I can get it for you.”

“Okay,” I said. “And Harrison may be a good source for another reason.

When therapists are suspended, they’re usually required to get therapy.

One of Harrison’s specialties was treating impaired therapists.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if he treated Lerner? It’s not that farfetched–Lerner turning to someone he knew. Get me that number right now and I’ll call.”

He went to his car and got on the radio. Returned ten minutes later and said, “No listing at all, even though the address is still on the tax roles. Can you spare the time for a little drive? Ojai’s nice this time of year. Cute little shops, antiques, whatever. Take the lovely Miss C for a cruise up the coast, combine business with pleasure.”

“Get out of town for a while?”

He shrugged.

“Okay,” I said. “And Ojai’s close to Santa Barbara–I can extend my trip. De Bosch’s school is defunct, but it might be interesting to see if any of the neighbors remember it. Maybe there was some kind of scandal, something that closed it down and left someone with a long-term grudge.”

“Sure, snoop around. If Robin can stand it, who am I to try and stop you?”

He slapped my back. “I’m off.”

“Where to?”

“A little more research on Paprock and Shipler.”

“Anything new?”

“Nope. I’m planning to drop in on Paprock’s husband tomorrow. He’s still a car salesman at the Cadillac place, and Sunday’s a good day for those guys.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Thought you were cruising to Ojai.”

“Monday,” I said. “Monday’s a good day for psychologists.”

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

“Blue day for everyone else. We get to concentrate on other people’s problems and forget our own.”

I went back into the house and looked through the freezer. In our haste to move, we hadn’t emptied it, and there were several steaks in the top compartment. I took out a choice-cut rib eye and put it in the oven to broil.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *