She thought of waking her husband and talking to him about it, but she knew what Al would say. She knew what anyone would say if she tried to tell them what she was thinking now. In more than three years in the public defender’s office, she’d never come up against anyone like Milligan. She decided to say nothing to Gary yet, either. She had to check it out for herself.

The next morning she called Dorothy Turner. “Look,” she said, “the Milligan I’ve met and talked to for the past few weeks has acted strange at times. There have been changes of mood. He’s temperamental. But I haven’t seen the major differences that would lead me to conclude it’s like the Sybil case.”

“This is something I’ve been struggling with for days,” Turner said. “I promised not to tell anyone and I’ve stuck to that. All I told you was to read that book. But I am going to try to get him to agree to let me tell you the secret.”

Reminding herself that this was a psychologist from Southwest—from the prosecutor’s side—Judy said, “You take the lead. Let me know what you want me to do.”

When Dorothy Turner came back to see Milligan for the fourth time, she met the frightened little boy who had called himself David that first day.

“I know I promised never to tell the secret,” she said, “but I’ve got to tell Judy Stevenson.”

“No!” he shouted, jumping to his feet. “You promised! Miss Judy won’t like me anymore if you tell her.”

“She will like you. She’s your lawyer and she needs to know so she can help you.”

“You promised. If you break a promise, that’s like a lie. You can’t tell. I got into trouble. Arthur and Ragen are mad at me for letting the secret slip out, and—”

“Who’s ‘Ragen’?”

“You made a promise. And promises are the most important things in the world.”

“Don’t you understand, David? If I don’t tell Judy, she won’t be able to save you. You might even go to jail for a long time.” “I don’t care. You promised.”

“But …”

She saw his eyes glaze and his mouth begin to move as if he were talking to himself Then he sat erect, placed his fingertips together and glared at her.

“Madam, you have no right,” he said in a crisp, upper-class British accent, his jaw barely moving, “to break your promise to the lad.”

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” she said, gripping the arms of the chair, trying desperately to hide her surprise.

"He told you about me.”

“You’re ‘Arthur’?”

He acknowledged with a curt nod.

She took a deep breath. “Now, Arthur, it’s essential that I tell the attorneys what’s going on.”

“No,” he said. “They will not believe you.”

“Why don’t we see? I’ll just bring Judy Stevenson over to meet you and—”

“No.”

“It might save you from prison. I’ve got to let—”

He leaned forward and glared at her disdainfully. “I tell you this, Miss Turner. If you bring anyone along, the others will just remain silent, and you’ll look like a fool.”