Kisscut

Grace shrugged. "She's my daughter, Chief Tolliver, not my best friend. Little girls have their secrets. You can ask your ex-wife about that."

He nodded at this. "Sara said Lacey's a great kid. Very smart."

"She is," Grace agreed, and she seemed pleased to have her daughter complimented. "But, it's not my place to pry if she's not ready to talk about it."

"Maybe she wouldn't mind talking with someone else about it?"

"Meaning?"

"Do you mind if I talk to her?"

Grace gave him another sharp look. "She's a minor. If you don't have cause, you can't talk to her without my permission. Is that right?"

"We don't want to talk to her as a suspect, Mrs. Patterson. We just want to get some idea of what state of mind Je

"But, I've just told you that Lacey hasn't seen Je

"She's not suspected of any wrongdoing."

"I want to keep it that way," she said. "Do I need to call the school and tell them that she is not to talk to anyone without either her father or me in the room?"

Jeffrey paused, probably thinking that she knew a hell of a lot more about the law than they had initially suspected. Schools were very friendly with law enforcement, and since administrators served as in loco parentis while the kids were on campus, they could allow interviews.

Jeffrey said, "That's not necessary."

"Do I have your word on that?"

Jeffrey gave a quick nod. "All right," he said, and Lena could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"We'd still like to talk to her," Jeffrey said. "You're more than welcome to sit in on an interview."

"I'll have to talk to Teddy about that," she told him. "But we can both imagine what he'll say." She gave a slight almost-smile, ending the hostility. "You know about daddies and their little girls."

Jeffrey sighed, and nodded again. Lena knew that Teddy Patterson was more likely to slip on his wife's Sunday best than to let his daughter talk to a cop. Cons learned to distrust the police early on, and despite the fact that he had been out of prison for a good while, Teddy still seemed to be practicing this.

To his credit, Jeffrey did not completely give up. He asked, "She hasn't been sick lately, has she?"

"Lacey?" Grace asked, obviously surprised. "No, of course not. Ask Dr. Linton if you like." She put her hand to her chest self-consciously. "I'm the only one in the family who's ever been ill."

"She was going to church? Lacey was?"

"Yes," Grace told them. She smiled again, and Lena could see that her teeth were slightly gray. "Mark was, too. For a while, anyway." She paused, looking at the fireplace. Lena thought she was looking at the painting, but then she noticed there were pictures of the family on the mantel. They were the kinds of snapshots every family had, kids and parents at the beach, at an amusement park, out camping in the woods. The Grace Patterson in these photos was a little heavier and not so sunken-looking. The kids looked younger, too. The boy who must have been Mark looked around ten or eleven years old, his sister around eight. They seemed like a happy family. Even Teddy Patterson smiled for the camera in the few shots that showed him.

"So," Jeffrey prompted, "they went to the Baptist?"

"Crescent Baptist," Grace answered, her voice animated for the first time. "Mark seemed very happy there for a while. Like some of his nervous energy was being directed, finally. He even started doing better in school."

"And then?"

"And then…" She shook her head slowly, her shoulders slumped. "I don't know. Around Christmas, he started to get bad again."

"Christmas this past year?" Jeffrey asked.

"Yes," she said. "I really don't know what happened, but the anger was back. He seemed so…" Again, she let her voice trail off. "We tried to get him into counseling, but he wouldn't show up. We couldn't make him go, though"-she looked down the hallway, as if to check to see if they were alone-"his father tried. Teddy thinks that people should be like him. Boys, that is. Or men, I should say. He has strong ideas about what's acceptable."

"There was a church retreat at Christmastime. Did Mark go on that?"

"No," she shook her head. "This was around the time he started to act up. He was grounded, and his father wouldn't let him go."

"Lacey went?"

"Yes," she smiled. "She'd never been skiing before. She had a wonderful time."

They fell silent, and Grace Patterson picked at some nonexistent lint on her dress. Obviously, she had more to say.

"I'm very sick," she said, her voice low. "My doctors don't hold out much hope for me."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jeffrey said, and he truly seemed to be.

"Breast cancer," Grace said, putting her hand to her chest. Lena noticed for the first time that the woman's chest was almost completely flat under her blouse. "Lacey will be fine. She always lands on her feet. I don't like to think what will happen to Mark when I'm gone. For all his posturing, he's a gentle boy."

"I'm sure he'll be okay," Jeffrey assured her, though even to Lena he did not seem confident. Short of a miracle, boys like Mark did not turn themselves around.

Grace picked up on the deception. She gave a small, knowing chuckle. "Oh, I'm no fool, Chief Tolliver, but I thank you all the same."

Teddy Patterson's footsteps were heavy in the hallway, and the trailer shifted slightly from his weight as he entered the room. His son was behind him, a stark contrast to the father. Patterson grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him into the room.

Lena 's first impression of Mark Patterson was that he was incredibly handsome. Last night, she had not taken much notice of him because so much had been going on. In the trailer, she took her time assessing him. Mark's dark blond hair matched his mother's, but it was more full, and slightly shorter. His eyelashes were longer than any she had ever seen on a man, and his eyes were a piercing blue. Like most sixteen-year-old boys, he had the begi

As Lena watched, he tucked his hair behind his ears with his fingers. She could not help but think there was something erotic in the gesture. There was also something about the way he walked and held his shoulders that gave him a certain sensuality. His faded jeans rested a little below his thin hips, and the tight white T-shirt he wore rode up a little, showing off the definition in his abs.

Despite all of this, there was a sexlessness to him. Mark Patterson was a sixteen-year-old child on the verge of becoming a man. He was boyish in that androgynous way that was now popular with teenagers. When Lena was in high school, boys had done everything possible to make themselves appear more masculine. Today, they were more comfortable with blurring the roles.

"Here he is," Patterson barked, pushing Mark farther into the room. The man seemed angry, even more so than before, and his hands were in tight lists like he wanted nothing more than to pummel his son. For some reason, Teddy Patterson reminded Lena of Hank. The gruff way he had pushed Mark and the nasty tone of his voice could have come from Hank twenty years ago.

"We'll go for a drive," Patterson told his wife. "Get your pills from the pharmacy."

"Teddy," Grace said, the word catching in her throat. Lena wondered, too, why a man with Teddy Patterson's i

Jeffrey obviously wanted to capitalize on this. "Mr. Patterson," he began. "Do you mind if we schedule an appointment with Mark tomorrow to get a blood sample from him?"