He was pouting now as she returned to her seat, staring down with his nose inches from the tabletop.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come yesterday, Dennis,” Anne said. “I was tied up in an important meeting.”

“More important than me,” Dennis said.

She didn’t take the bait. “Meetings have to happen when they have to happen. Judges have very busy schedules.”

At the mention of a judge, he looked up at her. “Was it about me?”

“No.”

“Then why the fuck should I care?”

“No reason,” she said, ignoring his language. “What did you do yesterday?”

“Nothing. There’s nothing to do here but watch the crazy people. That one weird guy with the dreadlocks pulled his pants down and shit on the floor in the activities room,” he said, laughing. “That was pretty funny!”

Oh my God, I have to get him out of here, she thought. She would look into group homes herself. There had to be one somewhere that would be appropriate for him.

“Did you do your reading assignment?” she asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You didn’t come.”

“You should have read it Tuesday. You didn’t know I wouldn’t come yesterday.”

“But you didn’t,” he argued. “How was I to know if you’d ever come back again? You could have been dead for all I knew. You could have been murdered and stabbed a hundred times and your head cut off.”

“I could have flown to the moon,” Anne said. “But that wasn’t likely. And it wasn’t likely that I had been murdered either. That’s no excuse not to do your homework, anyway.”

“Dr. Crane tried to murder you,” he pointed out. “Why wouldn’t somebody else?”

“Let’s talk about you,” Anne said pointedly. “I know you had a session with Dr. Falk yesterday. How did that go?”

“Somebody killed that other lady,” Dennis said. His small eyes gleamed with excitement. “They stabbed her a million times and cut her head off.”

“How do you know about that?”

“I know stuff,” he said evasively.

“Did you see it on television?”

“No.” She could see him contemplating whether or not to tell her the truth. Finally he said, “I read it in the newspaper.”

“Really?” Anne said, brows lifting in surprise. At least he was reading something. She would have preferred the subject matter wasn’t murder, but she wasn’t going to be choosy at this point. “I’m impressed. Do you enjoy reading the newspaper?”

“No,” he said, frowning, knowing he had gotten himself caught in something now. “Just about murders and rapes and stuff like that.”

“Reading is reading,” Anne said, determined not to react to his supposed interest in the macabre. He only said those things to rattle her. She hoped. “So you can write me a report about this murder. I want to see two pages tomorrow.”

His jaw dropped. “The fuck!”

“Yeah, life’s a bitch, isn’t it?” she said. “I’m a teacher. I can take anything and turn it into an assignment. I want you to write two pages about the murder. And no copying from the newspaper. I read it too.”