“You trusted her once,” I went on. “You confided in her, and all the while she was an accomplice to Gault. You were their pipeline, Lucy. Right into the heart of all of us.”

“I’m really too tired to talk about this,” she said.

But she was going to talk about it. I was determined about that. I got up and turned off the overhead light, because I had always found it easier to talk in an atmosphere soft and full of shadows. Then I plumped pillows on her bed and mine and turned down the spreads. At first she did not take me up on my invitation, and she paced some more like some wild thing as I silently watched. Then she reluctantly sat on her bed and settled back.

“Let’s talk about something besides your reputation for a moment,” I began in a calm voice. “Let’s talk about what this New York trial is all about.”

“I know what it’s all about.”

I was going to give her an opening argument anyway and raised my hand to make her listen.

“Temple Gault killed at least five people in Virginia,” I began, “and we know Carrie was involved in at least one of these since we have her on videotape pumping a bullet into the man’s head. You remember that.”

She was silent.

“You were in the room when we watched that horrific footage right there in gory color on TV,” I went on.

“I know all this.”

Anger was crawling into Lucy’s voice again.

“We’ve been over it a million times,” she said.

“You watched her kill,” I went on. “This woman who was your lover when you were all of nineteen and naive and doing an internship at ERF, programming CAIN.”

I saw her draw up more into herself as my monologue became more painful. ERF was the FBI’s Engineering Research Facility, which housed its Criminal Artificial Intelligence Network computer system known as CAIN. Lucy had conceived CAIN and been the driving force behind its creation. Now she was locked out of it and could not bear to hear its name.

“You watched your lover kill, after she had set you up in her cold-blooded premeditated way. You were no match for her,” I said.

“Why are you doing this?” Lucy’s voice was muffled, her face resting on her arm.

“A reality check.”

“I don’t need one.”