Jonathan Kellerman - Deception

"Sounds like you really liked her, as a person."

"I did."

He frowned. Shook his head. "That makes it a little tough, Pat."

"Makes what tough?"

"Having to tell you something that might conflict with your opinion of Elise."

"I'm not following." Moisture darkened the armpits of her jacket. Enough sweat to seep quickly through heavy twill.

Milo pulled his chair closer, leaned in close. Pat Skaggs's lower lip shook.

"Pat," he said, "the sad truth is you may have thought Elise was a nice person but the feeling wasn't mutual."

"I-what are you saying?"

He summed up the DVD.

Patricia Ann Skaggs screamed and ran from the room.

We caught up to her in the hallway near the vacant kitchen, where she'd slumped against a wall and was sobbing into both palms.

"I'm sorry, Pat." Milo placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not true! It's an ugly, ugly, ugly lie!"

We waited until tears gave way to snuffles.

"Let's sit back down and hear your side of it, Pat."

She pulled away. Red-faced, and some of the color had spread to the sclera of her eyes.

Red, white, and blue; the patriotism of fear.

"Let's sit down, Pat."

"There is no other side! If she said that-I can't believe she'd say that, why would she say that?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, Pat."

"She lied about Jim Winterthorn and Rico Hauer, too?"

"Why would you ask that, Pat?"

"They're the only other faculty members summoned to talk to you."

"Who told you that?"

"Marlene."

"Pat, have you discussed anything related to this case with Winterthorn or Hauer-or anyone else?"

"Absolutely not," she said.

"I need you to be straight about that, Pat."

"I am being straight, I've had no time to talk to anyone."

"So you tried."

Silence.

"Pat?"

"After Marlene told me, I tried to call both of them but neither picked up their phones."

"When?"

"An hour ago. I assure you there was no attempt to dissemble. I was merely curious about why only the three of us."

"Was any other faculty member at Prep as friendly with Elise as you?"

"I really wasn't that friendly, myself."

"Same question, Pat."

She chewed her lip. Shook her head. "Truthfully, I never saw Elise with Jim or Rico."

"Do you know Jim and Rico pretty well?"

"Uh-uh, no way, I'm not getting into personalities. Not when you drag me here and make vicious accusations."

"The accusations are not ours, Pat. They're Elise's."

"How do I know that's true?"

"Why else would we be talking to you?"

"And Jim and Rico."

"Let's concentrate on you right now, Pat."

"There's nothing to concentrate on. I want to get out of here."

"That's your right," said Milo. "But it will result in a subpoena and further questioning at the police station."

Pat Skaggs gaped. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"A woman's dead and leaves behind a taped accusation. If we didn't follow through on something like that, would we be doing our job?"

No answer.

"What kind of grade would you give us for that type of sloppiness, Pat? D? F?"

Pat Skaggs ground her teeth. "She may have said it, but it never happened. Elise's death has nothing to do with me."

"That's why we need to sit back down and hear what you have to say."

"Oh, God," she said. "This is Kafkaesque."

Same adjective Hauer had used. If a tormented, tubercular Jew hadn't penned a handful of stories, what would academics do for emotional shorthand?

"I'm sure it feels that way, Pat. Let's head back and clear everything up."

"There's nothing to clear up," she said, but his gentle prod got her walking.

When she was back in the chair, I said, "So the sex was consensual?"

Milo 's turn to blink.

Pat Skaggs didn't notice, her eyes were on me, wild and red-veined and bulging. Stricken as if I'd stripped her naked.

In a way, I had.

She let loose another flood of tears but made no attempt to bolt. Sat there snuffling and mumbling.

Milo said, "What's that, Pat?"

"It was only twice." She sat up. "Now you're going to say it's because of Wellesley, well, it's not, I'm tired of all those Harvard-boy jokes and I wasn't gay at Wellesley, I had a boyfriend, I was engaged to be married."

"Your sexuality doesn't matter to us, Pat, except as it relates to Elise Freeman."

"Twice," she said. "Two damn times. Okay? Satisfied? And you cannot tell my girlfriend, you simply cannot!"

The girlfriend was a harp teacher from Glendale named Michelle Washburn. She and Pat Skaggs had been living together for three months in an apartment not far from the Galleria.

The dual sexual encounters with Elise Freeman preceded that arrangement, though Skaggs and Washburn had been dating seriously. Skaggs's account evoked James Winterthorn's story: Following drinks and dinner, Elise Freeman had initiated contact. Substituting "soft kisses and affection" then a grope up Skaggs's skirt for the sudden fellatio she'd performed on Winterthorn. Both times, the women had ended up at Elise's house. Both times, Skaggs had left without spending the night, worried about giving herself away to Michelle Washburn.

"Brief encounter, then good night," said Milo.

"That makes it sound… I guess it was tawdry. I was an idiot, I still don't understand why I acceded. The first time could've been written off as Mojitos and bad judgment, the second? Moronic-and now I have to talk to you about it. Good Lord, this is humiliating."

"We hear all kinds of things, Pat. If it's not related to homicide, we couldn't care less."

"Well, I certainly didn't kill her. I never, never, never did anything remotely abusive or coercive with Elise. I just can't see why she'd say that." Tears. Abrupt panic. "You don't have to notify Prep about this, right?"

"Of course not."

"Please, I beg you. I love my job."

"Pat, if you've told us the complete truth, no one will know."

"I have, I swear. Please!"

"Okay, then. You can go."

"That's it?"

Milo smiled. "We could stretch this out a bit if you'd prefer."

Pat Skaggs inhaled, stood. Ran from the room looking smaller.

When we were alone, Milo paced the vacant house. I stayed in the back room, enjoying the view of the garden and wondering.

His footsteps lingered in the kitchen; the primeval urge. When he stomped back in, I said, "My bet's on Freeman making it up."

Milo said, "The teachers are horny but not monsters?"

"If they were drama coaches I might feel differently but all three seemed genuinely surprised about the accusation and it's hard to see the three of them cooperating on a campaign to torment poor Elise. Also, Elise made the DVD but never did anything with it. Maybe she contemplated an extortion scheme but changed her mind?"

"Seducing teachers for blackmail? Not exactly deep pockets."

"These are teachers who work for the richest school in the city," I said. "Talk about a massive workplace harassment suit. And something that waitress at the bar said makes me wonder if Fidella was involved. She pegged him as a get-rich-quick type."

He circled the room. Stopped. "Winterthorn and Skaggs I can see as vulnerable to extortion, but Rico Suavisimo doesn't care what wifey thinks. Why would Elise pick him as a stooge?"

"Maybe she didn't know about his wife's tolerance. She'd see a married man, one clearly giving off sexual vibes."

"Using the three of them to get to ultra-deep pockets… then why change her mind? Given what we're learning about her, I don't see a burst of moral growth."

"Could be she lost her nerve about doing battle with an institution like Prep. Especially after they gave her a permanent gig."

"Maybe the gig was payoff for not suing, Alex."