Chapter 47



DIX HAD A PERFECTLY bald head, and big square hands, and a strong neck. I would not have called him handsome myself, but maybe I was just holding him unfairly to the Hunko standard. He looked like he had just shaved before I came in. His head glistened. His nails were manicured. His white shirt gleamed. He had on a blue blazer with bright brass buttons, and the crease in his gray slacks looked like it would cut paper.

"Captain Healy called me about you," Dix said.

"And you still agreed to see me," I said.

Dix smiled and didn't answer. Shrinks don't banter.

"You recall the school shootup in Dowling," I said.

"Yes."

"I would like you to talk to one of the participants, kid named Jared Clark."

Dix nodded. He sat erect in his chair, elbows resting on the arms, thick fingers laced across his flat stomach. Eyes resting steadily on my face. Entirely motionless. I wondered what Susan was like in session.

"There's something wrong with him," I said. "I want to know what."

"Are you asking me to judge him legally sane or insane?" Dix said.

"No. "

"Does he wish to talk with me?"

"I doubt it."

"Do you have any predisposed theory on what might be wrong?"

"No. He's ... He's off. . . . All the pieces don't quite fit."

"Do you want a diagnosis on the basis of a single interview?"

"Up to you," I said. "You give me a diagnosis as soon as you think you have one."

"Unless I have him willingly for a considerable time, it's more likely to be a guess."

"But an informed one," I said. "It's not something that you'll have to swear to under oath. I'm just looking for help."

"Do you think he is innocent?"

"No. I think he did it."

Dix raised his eyebrows and looked his question at me.

"His grandmother and I want to know why," I said. "Maybe if we know, there'll be a way to mitigate his sentence."

"An apostle of the possible," Dix said.

"Yes."

"You're with Susan Silverman," Dix said.

"Yes."

"So you have some understanding of our business."

"Yes."

"What is his attorney's position on this?" Dix said.

"His attorney," I said, "like everyone else, as far as I can see, except his grandmother and me, including the kid, wants him to disappear quickly into the prison system and never reappear. "

"Would his attorney object?" Dix said.

"He might," I said.

"Would access be a problem?"

I shook my head.

"The Bethel County DA will get us in," I said.

Dix raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" he said.

"My deal with Cleary is that he lets us in, and anything we learn will be between us, and not be used in court."

Dix was silent for a time. Entirely motionless, looking at me.

"What if I determine that he's legally insane and unfit to stand trial."

"Cleary's a decent guy," I said. "We tell him what we learn. If he's convinced, he'll have his own people take a look. He wants to win the case, and he's under a lot of pressure to do so, but he doesn't want to put a seventeen-year-old kid away for life if there's, ah, mitigation."

Dix was silent some more.

"Why not ask Dr. Silverman," Dix said.

"She's in North Carolina," I said.

"Ah, the conference at Duke," Dix said.

I nodded.

"I've met her several times," Dix said. "Very impressive woman."

"Impresses the hell out of me," I said.

Dix smiled. A breakthrough!

"You have said we in talking about the interview," Dix said. "If I do this, I'll talk to the boy alone."

"I'll wait outside the room," I said.

Dix nodded.

"Okay," he said. "I can do this. Who will be paying the charges?"

"I will."

"Then you'll need to know my fee."

"I don't," I said. "But I think it's part of your deal to tell me."

"It is," Dix said. And he told me.

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