“He contacted me first.”

“His e-mails were those of a desperately unhappy and frightened man. You were his psychiatrist.”

“Years ago. I can scarcely remember it.”

“You of all people know how he is, and you used him. You took advantage of him because you wanted to hurt me. I don’t care if you hurt me, but you shouldn’t have hurt him. Then you tried again, didn’t you? To hurt Benton. Why? To pay me back for Florida? I would think you’d have better things to do.”

“I’m at an impasse, Kay. You see, Shandy should get what she deserves, and by now Paulo has had a long talk with Benton, am I wrong? Paulo called me, of course. I’ve managed to make sense of some of the pieces.”

“To tell you the Sandman is your son,” Scarpetta says. “Paulo called to tell you that.”

“One piece is Shandy. The other piece is Will. Yet another piece is Little Will, as I’ve always called him. My Will came home from a war and walked right into another war far more brutal. Do you think that didn’t push him beyond the beyond? Not that he was normal. I’d be the first to say that not even my tools would do any good under his hood. This was about a year, year and a half ago, Kay. He walked in and found his son half starved to death and bruised and battered.”

“Shandy,” Scarpetta says.

“Will didn’t do that. No matter what he’s done now, he didn’t do that. My son would never harm a child. Shandy probably thought it was very sporting of her to brutalize that boy just because she could. He was a nuisance. She’ll tell you that. A colicky baby and a crabby little boy.”

“And she managed to hide him from the world?”

“Will was in the Air Force. She kept their son in Charlotte until her father died. Then I encouraged her to move here, and that’s when she started abusing him. Severely.”

“And she disposed of his body in a marsh? At night?”

“Her? Not hardly. I can’t imagine it. She doesn’t even own a boat.”

“How do you know a boat was used? I don’t recall that’s been established as a fact.”

“She wouldn’t know the creeks and tides, would never go out on the water at night. Little secret—she can’t swim. Obviously, she would have needed help.”

“Does your son have a boat and know the creeks and tides?”