“The judge is against us, we were some rich nigger it would be different,” she snapped. “And from where I’m sittin’, what you’re doin’s a waste of time and money. ’Cause Randolph don’t have a chance, he’s gonna get sent somewhere. Could be an aldult jail or could be someplace with little monsters.”

She shrugged. Her eyes were wet and she swiped them angrily. “Same difference. He ain’t gettin’ out for a long, long time and my life’s turned to shit.”

“Do you think he should be released?”

“Why not?”

“He murdered a two-year-old girl.”

“The monster did it,” she said. “Randolph was just too stupid not to get outta there.”

Her grandson had told me otherwise.

“You want blame,” she said, “there’s plenty to go around. What kinda mother is that, leaving a baby all alone? They should be puttin’ her on trial, too.”

I fought to remain expressionless. Must’ve failed, because she held out a palm. “Hey, I ain’t sayin’ it was all her fault. I’m sayin’ everything should be . . . considered. ’Cause everything had to be movin’ together for it to happen, know what I mean? Like all the astrology signs being in place. Like all the pieces in the puzzle fittin’ together.”

“Lots of things played a role,” I said.

“Zactly. First off, she leaves her baby alone. Second, the baby goes and wanders off. Third, Randolph goes with that monster to the mall even though I told him not to. Fourth, my legs were hurtin’, so I lay down to sleep it off and Randolph sneaked off. See what I mean? It’s like a . . . like a movie. Starring the devil, with us being the people the devil’s workin’ against. Like no matter what we do, everything goes to hell.”

She struggled upright, stood bracing herself with her cane. “Take me back, okay? I get over there too late, those bastards gonna love lockin’ me out.”

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

I drove Margaret Sieff back to the jail, went home, and picked up messages. Rand Duchay’s P.D., a man named Lauritz Montez, had left two.

He didn’t bother with small talk. “You’re finished with my client, so can we finally talk?”

“Feel free to state any relevant facts, Mr. Montez.”

“Only one fact, Doctor, but it’s the crucial one. Randy’s obviously impaired. No way you couldn’t have found that. What’s the extent of it?”

No one called the kid Randy.

I said, “It’ll all be in my report.”

“Spare me,” said Montez. “This isn’t the stuff of forensic debate.”

I said, “You know how it goes. Judge Laskin sees everything first.”

“Yeah, yeah . . . so, what’d you think of that grandmother? You bought her lunch. See that as conflict of interest?”

“I’m pretty busy, Mr. Montez— ”

“Easy, just kidding. So what do you think of her? Seriously.”

“At the risk of repeating myself— ”