08 Justice by Faye Kellerman

Author:Faye Kellerman [Kellerman, Faye]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Still pale, but at least she was conscious, trembling with raw, hard shakes. Decker had dug up an old sweater from the coat closet, had placed it over Terry’s shoulders. Sitting at the dining-room table, he waited while the girl sipped tea, her shoulders hunched as she gripped the mug to get warm. Not that it would help much. The house wasn’t cold. Her chill was internal.

She raised her eyes from her teacup, the color as clear and gold as filtered cider. Her voice was very soft. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“You can ask anything you’d like.”

“Did you actually see the sketches?”

“Yes.”

“All of them?”

“I don’t know,” Decker said. “I saw sketches of you nude, I saw sketches of you tied up and secured on his bed. Are there more?”

“No…that’s about…” She returned her eyes to her drink. “Do you have children?”

“Yes.”

“What would you have done if…” Her eyes lifted and met his. “If your daughter posed like I did?”

He sat back in his chair. “First thing I’d want to find out is why she did it. That’s what I’d like to discuss with you, Terry.”

“Would you be mad at her?”

“It depends.”

“What if she told you it was art. Nothing sordid or dirty…or shame—…it was just art. Would you accept that? Or would you still be mad at her? Think that she’s a whore or something?”

“Terry, I don’t think you’re a whore. No one does.”

She lowered her head. “Thanks. But it’s not something you’d want your daughter to do, right?”

Decker considered the question. “If this was an honest interpretation of what she considered art…if her posing wasn’t coerced either physically or psychologically…and if she had considered the consequences, I wouldn’t be mad at her. But as a father, I’d feel real squeamish about it. Even though my daughter is of legal age.”

“Which I’m not.” She covered her face. “I’m very embarrassed you had to see them.”

Decker didn’t know what to say. When in doubt, be a professional. He took out his notebook. “When are you going to be eighteen, Terry?”

“I’ll be seventeen in a month.”

“You skipped?”

She nodded. “What are you going to do with the pictures?”

“They’ve been filed and entered as evidence in Cheryl Diggs’s murder case.”

“So a lot of people are going to see them, right?”

“Some people might.”

“Am I going to have to appear in a trial or anything?”

“I can’t tell you any specifics, Terry, because I don’t know them.”

“Can you give me an educated guess?”

“It’s likely the State will present the drawings to a grand jury in order to obtain an indictment.”

“Will the sketches be in the papers?”

“No,” Decker said.

“Not even in the tabloids?”

Decker rubbed his hand over his face. “You’re a minor. They shouldn’t touch you.”

“Ah…the recklessness of youth,” Terry muttered.

“Your parents will probably find out, Terry. You should talk to them about it.”

“I’ll pass, thank you. Let them find out. Deal with it one step at a time.”

Decker said, “Tell me about the sketches, Terry.”

“They were art. Chris’s interpretation of Jesus dying on the cross.

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