Judy and Gary were certain they were building a convincing case of a defendant who—by all legal tests in Ohio—was incapable of standing trial. But they realized they faced another hurdle: If Judge Flowers accepted the report by Southwest, Billy Milligan would now have to be sent to a mental institution for evaluation and treatment. They didn’t want him sent to the Lima State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. They knew its reputation from many of their former clients, and they felt certain he would never survive there.

Though Dr. Wilbur was to have seen Milligan on Friday, her plans were changed for personal reasons, and Judy called Gary from home to tell him.

“You coming into the office this afternoon?” he asked.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” she said.

“We’ve got to go through this thing,” he said. “Southwest keeps saying there’s no alternative to Lima, and something in the back of my head says there’s got to be.”

“Look, with the thermostat turned down, the office is damned cold,” she said. “Al’s out and I’ve got a fire going here. Come on over. I’ll make you some Irish coffee and we can review it.”

He laughed. “You twisted my arm.”

A half-hour later, they were both sitting in front of the fire.

Gary warmed his hands on the steaming mug. “I’ll tell you, I was really thrown for a loop when Ragen came out,” he said. “What amazes me is how likable he is.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Judy said.

“I mean, Arthur calls him the ‘keeper of hate.’ I expected something with horns. But he’s really a charming and interesting guy. I believe him completely when he denies the August rape of the woman assaulted at the Nationwide Plaza, and now I find myself wondering when he says he didn’t rape the other three.”

“I agree about the first. It’s obviously a copy-cat accusation. Completely different pattern. But the last three were certainly abducted, robbed and raped,” Judy said.

“All we get are bits and pieces of what he remembers of the crimes. It’s damned odd, you know, Ragen saying he recognized his second victim, certain that one of them had met her before.”

“And now we learn about Tommy remembering coming out and being on the spot at the Wendy’s drive-in, having a hamburger with the third victim, figuring one of the others was out on a date with her.”

“Polly Newtons story confirms the stop at the burger place. And she’s the one who said he got the strange look and quit the sex after a couple of minutes, and said he couldn’t do it, and said to himself, ‘Bill, what’s wrong with you? Get yourself together.’ And then told her he needed a cold shower to cool off.”

“But all that crazy talk about being from the Weathermen and driving a Maserati.”

“One of them was boasting.”

“Okay, let’s just admit we don’t know what happened, and neither do any of the personalities we’ve dealt with.”