A block later, he said, “She’s completely nuts but everything she told us fits. What do you think of Daney’s sperm-obsession?”

“All part of his me-obsession. What interests me is that right from the beginning Daney wanted to focus blame on Malley. Why would that be unless he knew Malley before Kristal’s murder and had some reason to resent him? I brought up the rodeo to Weider and she looked at me as if I was crazy. So Daney lied about hearing it from her. He knew Barnett eight years ago or did research.”

“Maybe the swinger’s scene, like you suggested.”

“Or a tamer possibility,” I said. “Now that we know we’ve got two couples with infertility problems.”

“A clinic,” he said. “They met at a damned fertility clinic?”

“Weider said Cherish had ‘finally’ given up on having her own children. That implies she had tried to conceive for a while. That had to include medical treatment.”

“Chatting in the waiting room, the old misery loves company bit.”

“Until Drew and Lara took the friendship a step further,” I said. “The two spouses who just happened to be fertile. It’s possible neither of them knew that and Lara’s pregnancy caught them by surprise. Drew had to figure she’d terminate because of the repercussions with Barnett. But she refused. Having a baby meant more to her than her marriage.”

“All of a sudden the Malleys are having a baby and the Daneys aren’t.”

“Leaving Cherish with a whole lot of frustration and anguish. Three guesses who she’d vent to.”

“She gets on Drew’s case, pushes for more fertility treatment.”

“Which would be expensive and a monumental hassle for something Drew didn’t want in the first place. Either he agreed and it didn’t work, or he refused. In either case, Cherish switched her goal to adoption. Became obsessed with it.”

“Idiot thinks he’s the cleverest guy in the world and all of a sudden his life’s getting knotted up because of a problem he helped create. Talk about insult added to injury.”

“So he decided to eliminate the source of the insult,” I said. “Turned Kristal into an object lesson for Cherish. ‘See the joy babies bring, hon?’ At the same time, he was able to play out his God fantasy and free himself of any future demands from Lara. And as long as he was cleaning house, why not get a movie deal out of it?”

He hunched and scowled and gripped the wheel, as relaxed as a student driver. Salt air blew through the car’s open windows. Charming neighborhood. How long before Sydney Weider imploded?

Milo said, “Cleaning house permanently. Kristal, then Troy because he killed Kristal, then Nestor because he killed Troy. And Lara either because she wanted to get serious with him or she had figured out he had something to do with Kristal’s death.”

“Jane Hannabee, too, because Daney couldn’t be certain Troy hadn’t said something to his mother.”

“And now Rand… think Drew did any of them himself or were they contract deals?”

“Whoever did Lara did Rand. My money’s on Daney for those. Hannabee could’ve gone either way.”

“Six bodies,” he said. “And there’s something I neglected to mention. I checked for any Mirandas on Daney’s foster list. Nothing close.”

“Why would Daney take in a ward and not bill the state?”

“Why, indeed.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Now how the hell am I going to prove any of it with no evidentiary connections?”

I had no answer.

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

He dropped me home at one-forty p.m. Allison hadn’t called my cell and there were no messages on my machine.

In five minutes, she’d be between patients. I watched the clock, had a cold cup of coffee, phoned her office when the big hand touched the nine.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m in the middle of something, promise to call as soon as I can.”

“Emergency?”

“Something like that.”

“We’re okay?”

Silence. “Sure.”

It was seven-thirty when I heard from her.

“Emergency resolved?”

“This morning Beth Scoggins went into a changing room at work and locked herself in. It took awhile before anyone noticed. When they found her she was sitting on the floor, curled up, sucking her thumb. She was unresponsive, had wet her pants. The manager dialed 911 and the ambulance took her to the U. They gave her a physical and a tox scan, then some psych residents tried out their interview skills on her. Finally, she let someone know I was her therapist and an attending psychiatrist called me. It was him I was talking to when you phoned. I canceled my afternoon patients and went over there, just got back to the office.”

“How’s she doing?”

“Still regressed but she’s starting to talk. About things she never talked about before.”

“More about Daney or- ”

“I can’t get into it with you, Alex.”

“Sure,” I said. “Allison, if I had anything to- ”

“She’s obviously been sitting on a mountain of issues- a volcano. I was probably too laid-back, should’ve worked harder at opening her up.”

Same thing, nearly word for word, that Cherish Daney had said about Rand.

This was different. Allison was trained. Cherish had been running with scissors.

Out of her element.

Or maybe not.

My head flooded with what-ifs.

I said, “I’m sure you handled it optimally.” That came out hollow.

“Whatever. Listen, I’ve got to phone all those cancellations, rearrange my schedule, extend my hours, then go back to the hospital. It’s going to be awhile before we can… socialize. Don’t even suggest to Milo that he’ll ever have access to this girl.”

“It’s not an issue.”

“I know what’s at stake, Alex, but we’re on opposite sides on this one. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it has to be.”

Three hours later, she was at my door, dangling her car keys. Her hair was tied up in a careless way I’d never seen before, black as the night sky behind her. One of her stockings sported a run from knee to mid-calf, the polish on some of her nails was chipped, and her lipstick had faded. A picture I.D. badge was clipped to the lapel of her black cotton suit. Temporary privileges, Department of Psychiatry. Her eyes, always deep-set, were captives in fatigue-darkened sockets.

She said, “I haven’t meant to be distant. Though I still have problems- big problems- with the whole deception thing.”

“Have any dinner yet?”

“Not hungry.”

“C’mon in.”

She shook her head. “Too tired, Alex. I just wanted to say that.”

“Come in anyway.”

Her chin trembled. “I’m exhausted, Alex. Won’t be good company.”

I touched her shoulder. She edged past me as if I were an obstacle. I followed her into the kitchen, where she tossed the keys and her purse on the table and sat staring at the sink.

She refused food but accepted hot tea. I brought a mug with some toast.

“Persistent,” she said.

“So I’ve been told.” I took a chair across from her.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said. “I’ve had patients go through worse than this. A lot worse. I think it’s a combination of this particular patient- maybe I let the countertransference get out of hand- and your being involved.”

She raised the mug to her lips. “When I met you, what you do… it turned me on. The whole police thing, the whole heroic thing- here was someone in my profession doing more than sitting in an office and listening. I never told you this, but I’ve had hero fantasies of my own. Probably because of what happened to me. I guess I’ve been living through you. On top of that you’re a sexy guy, no question. I was a sucker.”