“Yeah, yeah, sure. So you work full time for the other side?”

“The other side?”

“The righteous bunch that sits on the other side of the courtroom. Are you a resident prosecution expert or just a freelance?”

“I do occasional consultations.”

“Have Freud, will travel?” He lined up his utensils perfectly parallel to his plate. Removed a sugar packet from the bowl and squared a folded corner before slipping it back in. “What’s the hypothesis?”

I said, “They’re looking at Kristal Malley’s father.”

He said, “That guy. Always thought he hated my guts. You really think he’d be that nuts?”

“Can’t say.”

“Isn’t it your job to say when people are nuts?”

“Don’t know Malley well enough to diagnose,” I said. “Never met him during my evaluation and haven’t spoken to him since. How about you?”

He stroked his mustache. “Only time I ever saw him in person was at the sentencing.”

“But you feel he hated your guts.”

“I don’t feel, I know. That day in court, I was up at the bench doing my thing, returned to the defense table and caught him glaring at me. I ignored it but kept getting that itchy feeling at the back of my neck. I waited until the D.A. starting blabbing before I turned around, figuring Malley’s attention would be shifted. His eyes were still on me. Let me tell you, if they were guns, I wouldn’t be here.”

“He owns real guns,” I said.

“So do I,” said Lauritz. He flicked his bow tie. “Surprised?”

“Should I be?”

“I’m a bleeding heart subversive.” His mustache lifting was the sole indication he’d smiled. “But as long as the law says I can own bang-bangs, I will.”

“Self-defense?”

“My dad was military and the one thing we did together was blast away defenseless animals.” He massaged his left eyebrow. “I was actually good enough to qualify for my college team.”

“Have you been threatened because of your work?” I said.

“Nothing explicit, but it’s an edgy job so I stay on the edge.” He removed another packet, smoothed its edges, passed it from hand to hand.

“Law begets order,” he said. “And a shitload of disorder. I stopped fooling myself a long time ago. I’m part of the system so I triple-lock my doors at night.”

“Did Malley ever do more than glare at you?”

“No, but it was a heavy-duty glare. Serious rage. I didn’t blame the guy. His kid was dead, the system’s set up to be us-them and I was them. He didn’t scare me and I’m not scared now. Why should I be? All this time’s passed and he never made a move on me. Do the cops seriously think he killed Rand?”

“It’s just a— ”