"I can't speak for everyone, but anyone with a brain in their head had to know. T getting a 1580? Q pulling 1520? That's about as likely as me dating a supermodel."
"So you suspected them, but didn't want to go to your father."
"He's the last person I'd go to. All he'd care about is how it impacted my application."
"Instead you called in those anonymous tips."
Silence. "That was cowardly, wasn't it?"
"The first one was kind of abstract, Charlie. Three dates."
"Abstract as in useless," he said. "No one figured it out."
"We did," I said. "And it led to everything else that followed. Your spelling it out on the second tip was a nice boost."
"We couldn't hide Marty forever and no one was getting anywhere. I knew I'd been too oblique the first time. How'd you know it was me?"
"The second time you phoned Lieutenant Sturgis's cell directly. Only insiders have that. As in your dad. More important, that phone registers caller I.D."
He slapped his forehead. "Oh, brilliant. Put that in the letter: Charlie has trouble with basic logic."
"If you feel like flogging yourself, that's fine. But the truth is you did the right thing and you were the only one at Prep who did."
"Big deal, it was too little, too late." He rotated a finger. "Whoopee-doo."
"Okay," I said. "Good luck."
"That's it?"
"Unless there's something else you want to say."
"No, I guess not... are you going to write the letter?"
"If you want me to."
"Can I think about that?"
"When's the application deadline?"
"Couple of weeks."
"Give me a day or two's notice."
"Okay." Shooting out a spindly, dry hand. "Sorry if I'm being a butt. Things are just weird and all."
The merest hint of shrink-talk would necessitate teenage sarcasm.
I said, "You'll get over it."
CHAPTER
42
One week later, I received an email, posted at two a.m.
dr delaware, it's me, you probably won't see this until tomorrow. if you still think it's appropriate, you can do it. either way, it's okay. thanks.
In late December, I received a follow-up, also sent during the early-morning hours:
dr delaware, it's me. due to profound and alarming lack of judgment on the part of the yale admissions committee, i got in. i'm deferring for at least a year, going to try a seminary in ohio. there was some turmoil which was to be expected. but i'm holding fast.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JONATHAN KELLERMAN is one of the world's most popular authors. He has brought his expertise as a clinical psychologist to more than thirty bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher's Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, and True Detectives. With his wife, the novelist Faye Kellerman, he coauthored the bestsellers Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. He is the author of numerous essays, short stories, scientific articles, two children's books, and three volumes of psychology, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children, as well as the lavishly illustrated With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California and New Mexico. Their four children include the novelists Jesse Kellerman and Aliza Kellerman.
www.jonathankellerman.com
Deception is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright (c) 2010 by Jonathan Kellerman
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kellerman, Jonathan.
Deception: an Alex Delaware novel / Jonathan Kellerman.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-345-51923-8
1. Delaware, Alex (Fictitious character)--Fiction. 2. Sturgis, Milo (Fictitious character)--Fiction. 3. Psychologists--Fiction. 4. Police--California--Los Angeles--Fiction. 5. Sexual abuse victims--Fiction. 6. Women teachers--Crimes against--Fiction. 7. Preparatory schools--Fiction. 8. Brentwood (Los Angeles, Calif.)--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3561.E3865D43 2010
813'.54--dc22 2010000507
www.ballantinebooks.com
v3.0
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
Deception: An Alex Delaware Novel Page 27