JONATHAN KELLERMAN. THE CLINIC

“Still painful?” I said.

“Sitting is painful,” he said. “How much more time do we have?”

“Ten minutes. So once you’d learned Hope’s name from Mandy it was time to take care of her, too.”

“You bet.”

“And you used the same strike pattern. Heart, vagina, back.”

“Absolutely,” he said. “The only difference was that Hope tried to struggle. Not that it helped her, but it did mess me up. I’d wanted to get the fucking surgeon’s name out of her but I was afraid she’d manage to break free and scream, so I just did it.”

“When did you learn the surgeon’s name?”

“Not until last week, when that kid attacked him and the news said he’d known Devane. Light bulb on. Two plus two. So I started watching him, too, and got a bonus. The punk.”

“Casey Locking.”

“My other judge. I was never really sure if he was in on the plan but I suspected because he was sucking up to Devane. Once I knew, he was history. I got his file from the psych department, learned his address. I already knew where Cruvic lived because that’s where I’d seen him with the punk—his house up on Mulholland. So I started watching Locking.”

“Saving Cruvic for last.”

“You bet.”

“Tell me about Locking.”

“Another easy one—it’s so easy.”

“Probably harder to act it out.”

“Definitely . . . where was I?”

“Locking.”

“Locking. I followed him home, walked into the house, and shot him.”

“Why a gun and not a knife?”

“Three reasons,” he said, pleased to answer. “A. I know cops are into M.O. and I didn’t want it to be obvious that the same person had done him and the girls. B. Stabbing was for the women, it just didn’t feel right for him, and C. I’d already gotten rid of the knife.”

“Where?”

“Tossed it off the Santa Monica Pier.”

“You could have bought another one.”

“Hey,” he said, grinning. “Starving artist.”

“What about the photos framing Locking’s body?”

“Another bonus. Showing the world what she was like—what they were all like. Do you believe that stuff? Sick.”

“So what was your plan? To get Cruvic?”

“Him and the asshole using my kidney. I figured to learn everything, eventually. Perform a little surgery of my own, take back what was mine.”

The deputy said, “Two minutes.”

Muscadine mouthed Screw you to his back and smiled at me. “So how’re we doing?”

“Fine,” I said. “I appreciate your forthrightness.”

“Hey, only way to go. Tell the truth, it feels good to finally unload.”

Oster was just outside the prison’s main door. The line was still long.

“Well?” he said.

“Well what?”

“I instructed him to cooperate.”

“He did.”

“What do you think?”

“Gruesome.”

“I’ll say. So does it fit?”

“Does what fit?”

“Is there severe mental anguish?”

“Definitely,” I said, shaking my head. “No shortage of anguish.”

“Good,” he said. “Great. Gotta go, we’ll talk more.”

He hurried into the jail.

Instead of returning home, I drove to a restaurant on Sixth Street where I ordered lunch—nice big one: Caesar salad, T-bone steak medium rare, home fries, creamed spinach, their best burgundy by the glass.

While I waited for the food, I opened my briefcase and took out a yellow pad.

As I sipped the wine, I began.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION:

REED MUSCADINE

PRISONER #464555532

EXAMINER: ALEXANDER DELAWARE, PH.D.

I wrote for a long time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JONATHAN KELLERMAN, America’s foremost author of psychological thrillers, turned from a distinguished career in child psychology to writing full-time. His works include ten previous Alex Delaware books—When the Bough Breaks, Blood Test, Over the Edge, Silent Partner, Time Bomb, Private Eyes, Devil’s Waltz, Bad Love, Self-Defense, and The Web—as well as the thriller The Butcher’s Theater, two volumes of psychology, and two children’s books. He and his wife, the novelist Faye Kellerman, have four children.

BOOKS BY JONATHAN KELLERMAN

FICTION:

Billy Straight (1998)

Survival of the Fittest (1997)

The Clinic (1997)

The Web (1996)

Self-Defense (1995)

Bad Love (1994)

Devil’s Waltz (1993)

Private Eyes (1992)

Time Bomb (1990)

Silent Partner (1989)

The Butcher’s Theater (1988)

Over the Edge (1987)

Blood Test (1986)

When the Bough Breaks (1985)

NONFICTION:

Helping the Fearful Child (1981)

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