by Greg Iles
“There’s one other possibility.”
“What?”
“Eve was telling the truth from the start!”
The lawyer slammed his hand down on Waters’s desk. “For God’s sake, wake up! You’re about to be at the center of the biggest murder case this town has seen since I reopened the Del Payton case. You could go to prison for life. You could get the death penalty! And you’re so far down in denial, you can’t see anything. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think you do!”
Waters threw up his hands to show he understood the obvious. “I don’t want to go to prison. But compared to a threat to my wife and daughter, prison is nothing. I can’t ignore what all my instincts tell me is true.” Waters put his hands on the front of his desk and leaned toward Penn. “You were a prosecutor, right? What happens when human beings have sex? Biologically. The seventh-grade sex-ed version.”
The lawyer shook his head in exasperation. “The male deposits sperm in the vagina of the female.”
“Exactly. An exchange of bodily fluids.”
“From male to female,” Penn clarified.
“You don’t think anything goes the other way? Forget intercourse. Just think about kissing. That old expression, swapping spit? That’s exactly what you’re doing. And scientists can do DNA tests on cells in saliva.”
“What are you getting at, John?”
“What do we really know about human consciousness? The top neuroscientists in the world can’t tell you what it is. Where in the brain is consciousness located? What if there’s consciousness in every strand of DNA in your body? Or what if your consciousness is at least linked to every strand of DNA in your body?
We know our individual consciousness grows out of our DNA maps. It has to. That’s where our brains come from. Do you dispute any of that?”
Penn waved his hand impatiently. “If we were sitting in a bar or a college seminar, I’d love to bat this around with you. But you’re in real trouble, and you’re proposing as an explanation something that defies all physical laws.”
“Known physical laws. Every Sunday, people go to church and pray for their immortal souls. Is there an immortal soul, Penn? If you believe so, you’re saying it survives past death. If that’s the case, who’s to say that in certain situations-extreme situations of violence or desire for survival-that the soul can’t move into another person the way Mallory said hers did?”
Penn sighed but did not argue.
“Mallory said the transfer can happen only during sex. And not just any sex, but during orgasm, when the individual self is blanked out. That creates a window of opportunity for the incoming soul-or consciousness-to gain a foothold. Do you deny that your conscious self, your identity even, basically blanks out during orgasm? Isn’t that how it feels to you?”
“In a way, yes. But this idea of soul transfer…it’s like some crazy blend of New Age science and Eastern mysticism.”
“That’s what quantum physics sounds like too, if you read much of it. Penn, have you ever slept with two women at the same time?”
“What? No.”
“I don’t mean in the same bed. I mean, have you slept with two women concurrently? Both for a long period of time?”
The lawyer shifted in his chair, obviously uncomfortable with some memory. “I was in that situation once. For a couple of months.”
“Two months isn’t really long enough. I was in that situation for five months one time. And something happened that I remember to this day. When I started sleeping with the second woman, her periods were three weeks off from those of the first woman. But by the third month, their periods had synchronized. And they stayed synchronized.”
Penn nodded thoughtfully. “I think it’s well known that women who live together-roommates, or girls living in the same dorm hall-sometimes get synchronized periods.”
“Yes, but something mental could be operating there. What I’m describing is different. Neither woman I was sleeping with was conscious of the other. Certainly not of when the other woman’s period was. And all I can think is that somehow, something was passing between those two women. And it could only have been passed through me. You see? Hormones, cells of some kind…I don’t know. Cole’s had the same thing happen to him. This is weird stuff, but all I’m trying to show you is that even in this day and age, we understand very little about some things.”
“I’ll concede that much. But what do you want me to do about it?”
“I want you to keep your mind open enough to help me in the way I really need help. That’s all. I’m a hell of a lot more afraid of Mallory Candler hurting my wife and child than I am of going to prison for murder. So…what do you think?”
Penn took a deep breath, sighed, and looked up at Waters with deep compassion. “I think I’m your lawyer, John. And I think no jury in this state is going to buy what you just told me as a defense for murder. Not unless we’re going for a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. That’s all I know for sure. And today, that’s what we have to work with.”
Waters wasn’t sure what he had hoped for, but Penn’s refusal to even consider what he believed to be the truth drained something out of him. A debilitating fatigue settled into his limbs.
“I’d be irresponsible if I told you anything else,” Penn added.
“Of course. I understand. So. What do we do now?”
“We go to the path lab and give blood for the DNA sample.”
“Right.” Waters took the Mini-DV tape from his back pocket and slid it across the desk.
“What’s this?”
“The tape of Lily and me in bed. If I’m arrested at the lab, I don’t want the cops to find that on me.”
As Penn put the tape into his shirt pocket, Waters suddenly thought of Annelise sitting in class at school, oblivious to the storm gathering around her. “I need to call St. Stephens before we go.”
“All right. Anything wrong?”
“I just want to make sure my daughter’s in class. Where she’s supposed to be.”
Penn looked long and hard at his client. “I understand. No problem, John.”
The pathology lab was housed in an unobtrusive medical plaza near St. Catherine’s Hospital. Penn drove them over in his Audi. The nurse took them straight back to the lab when they arrived, but instead of finding Tom Jackson waiting for them, they found a technician from the police crime lab. Penn seemed pleased, and Waters soon saw why: the forensic technician said little and asked no direct questions.
Waters sat in the phlebotomist’s chair while a med-tech inserted a needle in the antecubital vein in the crook of his elbow. As his blood ran into the tube-evidence that could one day end his life-he watched Penn standing nearby, likely pondering the intricacies of murder defense. Waters thought only of Annelise, whom his phone call had verified as being safe in class at St. Stephens. He would check on her constantly today, for until Mallory moved out of Lily and into someone else, Ana was in critical danger.
The med-tech ripped off the Velcro tourniquet. “Press down hard,” she said, pointing at the cotton swab she’d placed over his vein. She took a scraping from the inside of Waters’s cheek, then dismissed him.
Penn looked at the police technician. “Satisfied?”
After the cop nodded, Penn took Waters’s arm, led him outside, and helped him into the passenger seat of the Audi. Then he got behind the wheel and started the engine.
“I know that was hard to take. Makes you feel like a felon, doesn’t it?”
“I’m fine. I’m glad Tom Jackson wasn’t there.”
“Yes. Informal questioning is hard to control. When your mind is on something else, you tend to say things you might not have meant to say.” Penn pulled the Roadster out of the lot and onto the highway. “But I have a feeling Tom is going to hit you hard this afternoon.”
Waters nodded, but his mind was already far away.
The little convertible quickly ate up the distance to
downtown, and as Penn turned into the back lot of Waters’s office, Waters glanced down Main Street and saw Cole’s silver Lincoln protruding from the line of cars parked on the left.
“What are you going to do between now and three?” Penn asked.
“Probably stay right here.”
“Do you mind me asking why?”
“I’m going to try to do some work. Some mapping. It’s all I can think to do.” He lied because Penn could not help him in the way he needed help. “Something normal, you know?”
“I understand. But Cole may show up today. Be careful about confrontations at this point. Today is a critical day, and we don’t know what he knows about you and Eve.”
“I doubt he’s even coming in today.”
Penn squeezed Waters’s arm and gave him a warning look. “Don’t trust him, John. Never again. Cole Smith does not have your best interests at heart.”
“I hear you. Do you have my tape?”
Penn reached into his pocket and brought out the small plastic case, then passed it to his client.
“Thanks.” Waters shook his hand, got out, and closed the door.
“I’ll pick you up here at a quarter of three,” Penn said.
Waters nodded, then turned and trotted up the back stairs.
Cole sat at his desk, staring at the signed Number 18 Ole Miss jersey framed on the wall, but the glassy sheen in his eyes made it clear that his mind was elsewhere. Waters walked softly into the room and stopped a few feet from the desk.
“Hey!”
Cole whipped around as though he’d heard a gunshot. “Shit, Rock! Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Are you expecting company you don’t want to see?”
Cole splayed his hands on the desktop as if to steady himself. “I’m always expecting that.” He slid open his top drawer and took out what appeared to be a short-barreled Magnum.357.
“What the hell is that for?”
Cole laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s loaded. Where you been?”
“Giving a blood sample to the police for a DNA test.”
“Shit.” Cole’s smile vanished. “Did Penn Cage tell you to do that?”
Waters was taken aback. “How do you know Penn is my lawyer?”
“Lily told me. She called up here a little while ago, worried sick.” Cole slid the.357 back into the drawer.
What the hell is Mallory up to? he wondered. She could have called my cell phone. Why would she call Cole?
“I didn’t think Penn Cage took clients. I thought he just wrote books.”
“He’s doing it as a favor to me.”
“Celebrity lawyer, huh? I hope he knows what he’s doing.”
“He knows what he’s doing in court.” Waters let his eyes drill into his partner’s. “But that’s not the kind of help I need right now.”
Cole’s big head turned slowly, like that of a battle-scarred old bull. “Talk to me, John Boy.”
“I need to stay out of jail. I don’t give a damn what happens later, but I need to stay free right now, for as long as possible. And to do that, I need an alibi.”
Cole looked at him with sympathy. “I’d like to help you. But it’s too late. Cowboy Tom Jackson called me an hour ago and asked where I was the night of the murder. I had to tell him I was home watching HBO all by my lonesome. I couldn’t say you were there, because for all I knew, you’d already told him you were somewhere else.”
“Shit.” Waters cursed his paranoia. Because he hadn’t trusted his friend, he’d screwed himself on the alibi.
“I warned you about this.”
“I know.”
Cole stood and squeezed his powerful hands together. “Sit down, Rock. You look like you’re about to pop a blood vessel.”
“I don’t want to sit.”
“Sit your ass down. I can’t think with you standing up.”
Waters took the leather chair opposite Cole’s desk, and the big man began to pace the room.
“How much time does Penn think you have before the cops bring you in?”
“Probably not much. They’re questioning me this afternoon.”
“Well, let’s just cut to the chase. Did you kill that crazy bitch or not?”
Waters looked at the floor. “My hands strangled her. But I didn’t kill her. I know that now. Not that it’s much comfort, given my situation.”
“But that’s your joy juice on the slides down at the crime lab?”
“Yes.”
Cole gave a theatrical groan. “What about Lily for your alibi? I’m sure she’ll swear you were home when the murder happened.”
Waters looked up at his partner. “Lily’s not Lily anymore. I can’t trust her to act in my best interest. That’s why I’m here.”
Cole stopped in midstep and stared as though Waters had just sworn the world was flat. “I thought the possibility of being cornholed for forty years in Parchman Farm had finally cured you of this Wuthering Heights, Mallory’s-back-from-the-dead bullshit. But it hasn’t, has it?”
“No. And I’m here because you’re the only guy I know who might be crazy enough to believe me.”
Cole scratched the back of his neck, amusement in his eyes.
“But even if you don’t believe me,” Waters continued, “I know you’ll do anything you can to help me.”
“Now you’re talking,” Cole said. “Okay, lay the weirdness on me.”
“Mallory’s inside Lily now.”
“Tell me I didn’t just hear that.”
“I’m serious. Mallory passed into me on the night Eve died. She killed Eve to shut her up, and to hold the murder over my head. Then she passed from me into Lily.”
Cole began to pace again, moving in a wide circle around Waters. “Why would she do that?”
“Because she thought I’d never leave Lily for Eve.”
“Huh. Would you have?”
Waters thought about it. “I’d like to say no, but I can’t honestly tell you. Did I risk losing Lily and Annelise just to sleep with Eve for two weeks?”
“I guess now we’ll never know.”
“Don’t be so sure. Last night, I convinced Mallory to leave Lily alone. To move into some other woman, on the condition that I would leave Lily for whoever it was. Now I’m afraid I might be arrested today. Penn says it won’t happen, but I have a feeling it’s going to. And if it does, Mallory might decide to stay right where she is. Inside Lily. She’ll be alone in the house with Annelise, and I’ll be stuck in jail.”
“That scares you?”
“What do you think?”
Cole stopped behind Waters and laid a hand on his shoulder. “What exactly do you want me to do?”
“If I’m arrested, I want you to bail me out. I’m going to give you access to an account with enough money to do it.”
“You don’t need me for that. Lily will bail you out of jail in a heartbeat.”
“I told you-”
“Lily isn’t Lily anymore…right.”
“That’s right. And I have no way of knowing what she’ll do until she does it.”
Cole took his hand from Waters’s shoulder, walked to his desk, and sat on its forward edge. “Okay, I’ll bail you out of jail. What else?”
“The charge will be murder one. The judge could deny bail. If that happens, I’ll need you to be my go-between with Mallory while I’m in jail. Obviously, she could visit me in jail as Lily, but only for a short time. I wouldn’t be able to monitor her movements or state of mind, or keep her calm if she starts to flip out. You have to do all that, and keep her moving forward with my plan. She has to move into another woman.”
“How do I do that?”
“Tell her I’ll get out of jail one way or another. And when I do, I’ll come to her. I’ll run away with her. You have to keep her convinced of that.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed as he studied Waters. “Is that really your plan? Or are you just trying to get Mallory out of the way so you can run with Lily and Annelise?”
“Seriously, John. I mean, Ward Cleaver gets the chance to run off to paradise…Does he take the wife and kid? Or his beautiful love goddess?”
Waters gripped the arms of the chair in frustration. “This isn’t some hypothetical game! The police want my ass. And I’ll be face-to-face with them at three o’clock!”
Cole held up his hands. “Easy, John Boy. I get the picture.” He got off the desk and walked to within a few feet of Waters. “So, what are you going to tell the cops? I mean, if your lawyer thinks you’re crazy with this Mallory stuff, how are you going to play it?”
“Penn may think I’m nuts, but he also thinks I’m innocent.”
“He does? Who does he think killed Eve?”
Waters gave a hollow laugh. “Are you ready for this? You.”
Cole blinked in surprise. “What?”
“Penn thinks you slipped in and strangled her while I was passed out.”
“No shit.” Cole folded his arms across his chest and looked at the floor. “Penn always was too smart for his own good.”
Waters started to laugh again, but something in Cole’s voice stopped him. “What do you mean?”
Cole stepped forward and crouched before the chair, his eyes inches from Waters’s own. Up close, the blood vessels in his nose were a ravaged red network of lines, like worms flattened by a car tire.
“I mean I killed her.”
The glint in Cole’s eyes left no doubt as to the truth of his words. The hair on Waters’s forearms stood erect, and a shiver went through his heart. He drew back in the chair, but Cole clutched its arms with both hands, penning him in.
“Penn was right?” Waters whispered. “It was you all along? You fed Eve all that stuff about Mallory and me?”
“You’re so lost,” Cole said, as though the subject were not worthy of discussion. “You don’t know which end is up, do you?”
Fragments of Penn’s merciless logic poured into Waters’s mind with the crushing weight of hindsight. Who’s in a position to know all about you and Mallory? Who would benefit if you were to go to prison for murder? I think we both know who we’re talking about…. I’ve seen things done between lifelong friends that you wouldn’t believe. There’s literally no depth to which human beings cannot sink….