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“I don’t have a life, chief. I went home.”
“Anyone see you? A neighbor, for instance?”
“I don’t know Ralph Hammer.”
“He’s dead,” said Cappy.
“I don’t know nothing about none of this. You’ve got nothing, nothing on me. It’s not against the law to go to book signings, is it?”
“We’re arresting you for vehicular assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon—”
“What? What are you talking about—?”
Chi read Bender his rights, then said, “Destruction of municipal property, felony reckless evading, assault on me with a deadly weapon and incidentally, suspicion of murder. You get one phone call. I suggest you call your brother, the lawyer.”
Back at my desk beside Sonia Alvarez I said, “My gut says he’s not the guy.”
“No,” said Alvarez. “He didn’t blink. But he plowed into a police car. What’s with this guy?”
“He’s guilty of something. Something else. And he’s a hard-wired malcontent in my humble opinion.”
“I’ll help Chi and Cappy do background checks.”
“Good. Thanks, Sonia.”
I turned on my computer, checked my email, ran my eyes down the list. While we’d been listening to Bender, I’d gottenanother message from Blackout. My heart started galloping before I could focus on the subject line: “Blackout to Boxer.”
“What’s wrong?” Alvarez asked me. She came around the desk and looked over my shoulder as I opened the email. She read out loud, “Heads up, Boxer. I’m working on an idea for a new video. I think it’s going to be a masterpiece.”
CHAPTER 39
DR. SAMUEL HOYT, Lewis Sullivan’s psychiatrist, was on the stand, testifying for the defense. For several minutes he had explained to the court that he had been treating Mr. Sullivan for paranoid tendencies and explosive anger disorder.
Attorney Maurice Switzer asked, “Dr. Hoyt, is it possible that Mr. Sullivan was in an altered state when he inflicted injuries on his wife?”
“I wasn’t there, and I haven’t seen Mr. Sullivan since that incident or series of incidents. However, when in the middle of a rage, he could be irrational, another way of saying ‘altered state.’”
“Is it fair to say that if angry, if irrational, he might not have known what he was doing?”
“That’s possible.”
Switzer said, “Thank you,” and turned Dr. Hoyt over to Yuki for cross-examination.
Yuki said, “Dr. Hoyt, does Mr. Sullivan know right from wrong?”
Dr. Hoyt said, “Yes, with exceptions.”
“I’ll ask that a different way. Does Mr. Sullivan know that tying someone down, beating that person with fists and kicking that person with work boots, making twenty cuts in her torso and extremities with a serrated knife, stomping on that person’s head to the effect that the skull was fractured and an eye popped out of the socket—would he know that these actions are ‘wrong,’ doctor?”
Hoyt said, “Mr. Sullivan would have known that what he’d done was wrong, and still, he’s easily provoked and easily angered and when angry, he loses control.”
“So even if he’s feeling paranoid and angry and out of control, you agree he knows right from wrong. He’s legallysane,correct?”
“That is correct.”
“Is it likely that Mr. Sullivan could be in this angry, paranoid, or so-called altered state for three days without cessation?”
“In my opinion, that’s unlikely.”
