"No," he said, "if I said that, I'd be just another phony cretin. Sure, I care. I've been conditioned to care."

Two steps. "Sometimes I think about going to junior college. Just to show them how stupid the whole thing is."

"That would be something," I said.

"Where'd you go to school?"

"The U."

"No pressure from your parents?"

"The Ivies weren't in my universe. I was just glad to get the hell away from Missouri."

"What's wrong with Missouri?"

"Absolutely nothing."

He stared at me. "Oh. Anyway, don't feel you have to do anything that contradicts your principles."

"Writing a letter for you doesn't," I said. "On the contrary."

"You don't even know me."

"I know enough."

"Whatever--if I say don't write it, you won't?"

"Not a comma."

"He doesn't take well to being told no."

"I've told him no before."

Brown eyes widened. "In what context?"

I said, "He's been bugging me for years to give up my practice and work for the department. Keeps tossing more money and better titles my way."

"Yeah, that's his style. So what, you shine him on because you don't like him?"

"I could deal with him, Charlie, but the money still sucks and always will and, more important, I prize my independence. You can relate to that."

His look turned sour. Don't Patronize Me.

I said, "Don't get all sensitive, I'm stating a fact. No need for me to kiss your ass."

The follow-up look, saucer-eyed and confused, said Who Is This Space Alien?

We walked a bit more before he said, "It's utterly absurd, his thinking I deserve a prize. I just did what was necessary."

"Were you and Marty friends?"

"I don't have any friends," he said. "Neither did he, at Prep."

"Common enemy's as good a reason as any for rapport."

First smile of the day. "True... he used to sit by himself, a couple of times I went over and talked to him. He was polite but didn't have much to say. After he hurt his shoulder he wasn't much for any kind of sociability, I could see he wanted to be alone, so I stayed away. But then I heard some of their clique trash-talking about Marty killing Ms. F., I knew I had to do something. Planting lies is so typical. They live to deceive."

"T and Q," I said.

"They take no responsibility and the system feeds their narcissism."

"Finding scapegoats."

"Finding and tossing them over cliffs. That's the original concept. Of scapegoat, I mean. It's from the Old Testament, used to be literal. When the community deteriorated to utter corruption, they picked two goats. One was designated godly, the other was the Azazel and they tossed it over to atone for everyone's sins." Huffing. "As if."

"They teach Bible at Prep?"