[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Looking for Bill.Eventually -after much work - I gotBill's permission and confronted Pierce.It wasn't easy but.eventually theyboth came to understand that their lives were interwined.'Matchmaking.Just as he'd done with Schwinn and Marge.The grand physician.Giving.'You waited until it was clear Burns had nothing to fear from Schwinn,' Isaid.'Meaning you learned the details of Janie Ingalls's murder.But all ofyou agreed not to pursue it.You became part of the cover-up.That's why youoffered me all those apologies.''Alex,' he said.'Some decisions are.these are shattered lives.I couldn'tsee any other way.''Schwinn changed things,' I said.'Changed his mind aboutkeeping the secret.Any idea why he grew agitated about the murder during theweeks before his death? Why he sent out the murder book?''I've asked myself all that so many times, and the best I can come up with isthe poor man felt he was going to die and had an urge to make peace.' 'Was hePage 275 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlsick?''Nothing I could diagnose, but he came to me and complained about feelingweak.Shaky, out of focus.A month before his death, he began experiencingcrushing headaches.The obvious possibility was a brain tumor, and I sent himup to the Sansum Clinic for an MRI.Negative, but the consulting neurologistdid find some abnormal EEG patterns.But you know EEGs - so crude, hard tointerpret.And his Woodwork was normal.I wondered about some late-termamphetamine sequelae.He'd been drug-free for years, but perhaps theself-abuse had taken its toll.Then, a week before the night terrors began, heblacked out.' 'Did Marge know about any of this?''Pierce insisted on keeping everything from her.Even hid his headachemedication in a locked box in his darkroom.I tried to convince him tocommunicate with her more openly, but he was adamant.Their entirerelationship was like that, Alex.Each of them talked to me, and I translated.In that sense, she was the perfect woman for him - stubborn, independent,fiercely private.He could be a profoundly immovable man.Part of what madehim a good detective, I suppose.''Do you think the night terrors were neurological, or unfinished business comeback to haunt him?''Maybe both,' he said.'Nothing unusual was found at his autopsy, but thatmeans nothing.I've seen postmortem brain tissue that looks like Swiss cheeseand turns out the patient was functioning perfectly.Then you come acrossperfectly healthy cerebral cortexes in people who fall apart neurologically.At the core, we humans defy logic.Isn't that why we both became doctors ofthe soul?''Is that what we are?''We are, son - Alex, I am sorry for concealing things from you.At the time Ibelieved it was the right thing to do.But that girl.thekiller's still out there.' Tears filled his eyes.'One sets out to heal andends up being complicit.'I placed a hand on his narrow, soft shoulder.He smiled.'Therapeutic touch?''Friendship,' I said.'The purchase of friendship,' he said.'Cynics coined the term to demean whatwe do.Sometimes I wonder about the direction my own life has taken.'We strolled toward the gravel pathway.I said, 'What kind of relationship did Schwinn and Burns develop?''Once I knew Pierce could be trusted, I brought him out here.They begantalking.Relating.Pierce ended up helping Bill.He'd come out from time totime, clean the house, wheel Bill around.''And now Pierce is gone, Burns remains as the last living witness to theIngalls murder.'Bert stared at the earth and kept walking.Page 276 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlI said, 'You call him Bill.What's his new surname?''Is that important?''It's going to come out eventually, Bert.''Is it?' he said, lacing his hands behind his back.He steered me toward theopen space at the front of the house.'Yes, I suppose it is.Alex, I know youneed to talk to him, but as I told you, he has very little time left, and likemost ex-addicts, his self-assessment is brutal.''I'll be mindful of that.''I know you will.''When we spoke earlier,' I said, 'you made a point of mentioning that heroinaddicts were unlikely to be violent.You were trying to steer me away fromBurns's trail.Caroline Cossack's, as well, by pointing out to me that femaleswere unlikely to be involved in that kind of sexual homicide.All true, buthow'd they end up witnessing the murder?''Bill came upon the scene once the poor girl was dead, saw what had been doneto her.''Was Caroline with him?'He hesitated.'Yes.They were together at the party.She was allowed to be atthe party because he was supervising her.''Supervising?''Keeping an eye on her.Her brothers paid him for that.' 'Drug pusherbaby-sitting the strange little sister?' I said.Bert nodded.I said, 'So she tagged along with Burns, followed her brothers and their palsto the neighboring estate, came upon the kill spot.The killers saw them, hadto be worried they'd unravel.Caroline, because her psychiatric history madeher unreliable, Burns because he was a junkie.But instead of eliminatingCaroline, they hospitalized her.Probably because even though the Cossacks hadparticipated in murder, they couldn't quite bring themselves to murder theirsister.They would've killed Burns, but he disappeared into the ghetto, andbeing rich white kids, they had no easy way to find him.Burns was scared,tried to make a big score, took too many risks and got arrested, made quickbail thanks to LAPD connections and Boris Nemerov's goodwill, and vanishedagain.But then, a few months later, he surfaced - got himself a job atAchievement House so he could see Caroline.The boys found out and decided thebig step had to be taken.But before they could arrange the hit, Burns wasgone again.He and Caroline managed to remain in contact.Eventually, he gother out of Achievement House, and the two of them hid out in Watts.How am Idoing so far?''A-plus, Alex.As always.''But something doesn't make sense, Bert.Why would Burns put himself interrible jeopardy by wangling a job at Achievement House? Why in the worldwould he risk his life?'Bert smiled.'Irrational, wasn't it? That's what I mean about human beingsbeing hard to categorize.'Page 277 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html'Why'd he do it, Bert?''Very simple, Alex.He loved her.Still does.''Present tense?' I said.'They're still together? Where is she?''They're very much together.And you've met her.'He brought me back into the house.The front room was empty and the push doorremained shut.Bert held it open, and I stepped into a corn yellow bedroom notmuch bigger than a closet.Tiny bathroom off to one side.In the sleeping area were two single bedsplaced side by side, each made up with thin, whitespreads.A stuffed bear sat atop a low dresser painted hospital green.Thewheelchair was positioned at the foot of the nearer bed, and the man whocalled himself Bill remained seated, the nearly empty Snapple bottle in onehand, the other grasped by the pudgy, white fingers of a heavyset womanwearing an oversize, royal blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants.Her downturned eyes Were aimed at the bedspread, and my appearance didn'tcause them to shift.She had a pasty, acne-scarred face - raw bread dough,pocked by airholes - and her flat nose nearly touched her upper lip.Fadedbrown hair striped with silver was tied back in a stub of a ponytail.Aimee, the cook at the Celestial Cafe.She'd prepared my crepes, doubled myportion without charging me extra, remained virtually mute.Just as I'd finished my meal, Bert had come in.Nice coincidence; now I knewit had been anything but
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
