Free Deception: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman Page A

mill have to say about Elise?"
    Winterthorn bit his lip. "I'm not comfortable talking behind her back. Especially now."
    "Now is when you need to talk behind her back, Jim. That back is currently resting on the cold steel surface of a coroner's dissection table."
    Winterthorn shuddered. "Good Lord, you don't pull punches, do you?"
    "I've found that unhelpful when dealing with murder."
    "Murder... this is surreal."
    "Let's get back to the gossip question, Jim. What did loose lips flap about concerning Elise?"
    "Do I have to be quoted on this in your official document--your file, whatever you call it?"
    "Not if you're forthcoming, Jim." Smooth lie.
    Winterthorn rubbed his eyes. "I can't vouch for this firsthand but yes, there was talk to the effect that Elise had a drinking problem. I certainly never saw it, but people claimed they had."
    "Which people?"
    "Other teachers."
    "Names, please."
    "I..."
    "Jim, this is important."
    "Please don't say it came from me."
    "Deal. Who, Jim?"
    "Enrico Hauer, he teaches psychology and urban studies. He claimed he'd seen Elise drunk."
    "At school?"
    Head shake. "At a bar."
    "Which one?"
    "I didn't ask. He said she was pretty much wasted."
    "Are we talking a single episode or a pattern?"
    "He claimed he'd smelled it on her breath at work."
    "And what did Mr. Hauer do with this information?"
    "Nothing," said Winterthorn. "At least as far as I know. I didn't want to hear it. I try to remain above the fray."
    "What fray is that?"
    "It's an expression, Lieutenant. I don't like getting involved in other people's issues." Winterthorn's voice had taken on metal. Tightened posture brought out muscle in the thin, pale arms. Small man, but sinewy, with square shoulders, maybe stronger than he looked.
    Milo said, "What about drugs?"
    "That I never heard," said Winterthorn. "Are you saying drugs were somehow used in conjunction with dry ice? Because as a chemist I really can't come up with an obvious scenario--"
    "So you never hung out with Elise."
    "Never."
    "So if someone else testified that you did hang out with her, they'd be lying."
    Winterthorn's eyes raced from side to side. "Who told you that?"
    "What would you say if I told you Elise did?"
    "I'd say that's ridiculous."
    Milo summarized the DVD.
    Winterthorn gripped the sides of his chair. Burst into tears, lips churning.
    Milo said, "That goes beyond hanging out, Jim."
    Winterthorn rocked, clutched his hair, as his mouth continued to work soundlessly. Two strangled words finally escaped:
    "Only. Once."

CHAPTER
11
    James Winterthorn kept shaking.
    Milo said, "Tell us about the one time."
    "You know already, why play games?"
    "Know what, Jim?"
    "It's your strategy," said Winterthorn. "Don't ask questions unless you already know the answer. Lawyers do that." Bitter smile. "Mom's a litigator."
    "Tell us anyway, Jim."
    "One damn time, okay? We were both working late and then we walked to our cars together and that's where it happened."
    "In one of your cars."
    "Hers. I walked her there. Being a gentleman and all that." Arid laugh. "She thanked me and kissed my cheek." Winterthorn's arms crossed his chest. "She turned her head, cheek turned into mouth, and then... what's the difference? It was one time, neither of us talked about it again and there was certainly no harassment and if she claimed different, she was obviously deranged."
    Milo kept silent.
    "In point of fact," Winterthorn went on, "she was the aggressor--she initiated, I was just stupid. We didn't even have conventional sex--no, that came out wrong, I'm not implying anything weird or kinky, I'm just saying we didn't have intercourse. Understand?"
    "Not fully, Jim."
    "She went down on me, okay?" Winterthorn sprang up, walked to the French doors, looked out at impatiens, begonias, ferns, a cute little pathway fashioned from round pond stones. "And then it was over and we never talked about it and it's not relevant because Elise wasn't significant to me and I'm sure the same went for