Christi looked at him in surprise. Then she laughed. “You’ve never even met her, have you?”

“I have.”

“Yeah? And how many questions did you survive? You can’t just . . . talk . . . to someone like Shana. She’s serious fucked-up shit. Not the cute kind of cuckoo, or the lights-on-but-nobody’s-home loony. She’s really, genuinely, sold-my-soul-to-the-devil crazy. She don’t care about me or anyone else in the place. I mean, sure, she killed Frankie. And maybe she wanted to save the rest of us or whatever. But mostly, she just plain wanted to kill him. I mean, she stabbed him like a zillion times. Then licked his blood. I don’t remember Wonder Woman ever doing that at the end of an episode.”

“But then she called you Adeline,” D.D. pointed out, because she found that curious. That Frankie’s assault of Christi had seemed to trigger something inside Shana. She’d slaughtered him; whereas, the death of the second guard, Rich, had been much more subdued, almost gentle, as Christi said.

“She’s Adeline; ask her.” Christi gestured to the doctor.

D.D. turned to Adeline.

“Basic projection,” Adeline supplied, her voice sounding rough, not quite her usual composed self. The doctor cleared her throat. “Shana spent four years in an abusive household before moving to a series of foster homes that probably offered little in the way of personal security. For such people, a younger sibling often comes to represents the person’s own inner child. In trying to rescue a younger sibling, the older child is really trying to go back and save herself. Shana fixated on guarding me as a proxy for protecting herself. Likewise, in prison, looking out for younger, less experienced inmates would be one way of trying to preserve some sense of self.”

“Yeah?” Christi asked. “And where does the blood licking come in?”

“Genetics,” Adeline said, and there was a grim smile around her lips.

“What did Sgarzi tell you about his book?” Phil asked.

“Not much. Shana killed his cousin. He was writing about it and he wanted to interview her and people like me in order to get the inside scoop.”

“What did he think of this story involving the corrupt COs?”

“Honestly? He seemed a little shocked. I mean, if the guy’s gonna write a true-crime book, don’t you think he’s got to get a better stomach for gore?”

“Was it news to him?” Phil asked.

“Seemed like it.”

“He asked you about friends, fans of Shana’s?”

“Yeah. But that’s a short answer. She doesn’t have any.”

“You keep in touch with her?” Adeline asked. “After you were paroled?”

“Nah. I hardly ever talked to her when we were both still in the joint. Why would I talk to her outside of it?”

“But inmates can communicate inside the prison.”

“Sure.” Christi squirmed in her seat, looking at her parole officer self-consciously.