Jonathan Kellerman – Monster

“Little Ms. Daredevil?”

“Jumping out of planes is one thing. Murder’s another.”

” ‘Dr. A bad eyes in a box,’ ” he said. “What if it’s not pure gibberish? What if

Peake had a buddy who got out? Someone who told him he was gonna do something bad to

Claire?”

“It doesn’t sound as if Peake has buddies. Heidi said he rooms alone, no one wants to associate with him. But maybe. Let’s have a closer look at him.”

“Ardis Peake,” he said. “Long time since he did his thing. Sixteen years ago. I know exactly, because I’d just started Homicide, first thing they hand me is a screwed-up whodunit, I’m sweating over it, not getting anywhere, wondering if I went into the wrong line of work. A few days later Peake does his thing over in Whateverville, some local yokel sheriff solves it the same day. I remember thinking some people have all the luck: asshole just hands himself over on a platter with garnish. Few years later, when I took that VICAP course at Quantico, the Fibbies used Peake as a teaching case, said he was typical of the disorganized spree killer, just about defined the profile: raving lunatic with poor hygiene, mind coming apart at the seams, no serious effort to hide the crime. ‘Bad eyes in a box’-so now he’s gone from psycho to prophet?”

“Or he overheard another patient say something and repeated it. I just can’t see him involved in Claire’s murder. Because he is disorganized. Borderline intelligence.

And whoever murdered Claire-and Richard-planned meticulously.”

“That’s assuming Peake really is that messed up.”

“You think he’s been faking all his life?”

“You tell me-is it possible?”

“Anything’s possible, but I’d say it’s highly unlikely. You’re saying he’s part of some murderous duo? Then why would he brag about it? On the other hand, a guy like that, withdrawn, never talks, someone might figure he’s not tuned in, let down their guard around him, say something interesting. If that’s what happened, maybe Peake can focus enough to tell you who it was.”

“Back to Bedlam,” he said. “Peachy.”

We headed out of the park, toward our cars.

I said, “One thing’s consistent with what we were just saying about Claire. Picking

Peake as a project because she wanted serious pathology. But what if something else happened along the way? In her attempt to open Peake up, she opened herself up-had the poor judgment to talk about herself. In therapist jargon, it’s called self-disclosure, and we’re taught to be careful about it. But people mess up all the time-focusing on themselves instead of the patient. Claire’s specialty was neuropsych. As a psychotherapist, she was a novice.”

“She never got personal, but with Peake she related?”

“Precisely because Peake couldn’t relate back.”

“So,” he said, “she tells him something about a box, bad eyes… whatever the hell that means, and he spits it back.”

“Maybe a box refers to some kind of bondage game.”

“Back to dominance… You really see her that way?”

“I’m just throwing out suggestions,” I said. “Maybe Claire selected Peake out of some great sense of compassion. Robin disagrees with my impression of Claire’s house. She says it just sounds like Claire wanted privacy.”

“Something else,” he said. “Something that made my little heart go plink-a-plink when Heidi mentioned Peake’s name. At Quantico, his case summary was passed around.

I remember relatively seasoned guys looking at the photos and groaning; a couple had to leave the room. It was beyond butchery, Alex. I wasn’t a hardened bastard yet.

All I could do was skim.”

He stopped so suddenly that I walked past him several steps.

“What?” I said.

“One of the photos,” he said. “One of the kids. The older one. Peake took the eyes.”

11.

WILLIAM SWIG SAID, “You think that means something?”

It was just after four P.M. and we were back in his office. Milo’s unmarked was low on gas, so he left it at the park and I drove to Starkweather.

On the way, he made two calls on the cell phone. An attempt to reach the sheriff of

Treadway, California, resulted in a rerouting to the voicemail system of a private security firm named Bunker Protection. Put on hold for several minutes, he finally got through. The brief conversation left him shaking his head.

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