“If so, Locke would have to know not only Gordonn's secret, but what was going on in his mind-now,” said Kim.
“The diary entries,” Jessica said, thinking aloud. “Gordonn wrote about his fantasy to kill and be killed in the manner of his parents. Said he had recurring dreams about it.”
Kim nodded. “The diary entries alone would likely have ensured life imprisonment, but Locke didn't count on the chips falling as they have.”
“I hope you nail that brash, arrogant SOB,” said Garrison Burrwith, which brought Jessica sharply back from her thoughts. She thanked Burrwith for his time and help.”
“You're going to put him away for life, aren't you?”
“We will if he is our killer, yes.”
“Then you don't believe Gordonn did those horrible things.” At the moment, we are not a hundred percent certain of it, no, but we must ask you to keep this to yourself. Word of our suspicions gets out, and, as we said to Dr. Plummer, anything could happen. We don't want to damage a man's reputation without airtight evidence, you see.”
“Of course, like you people did with poor Donatella.”
They left abruptly then.
“Vladoc isn't telling us everything he knows, Jessica,” Kim said as they located the car in the lot outside the building, a bright Philadelphia sun momentarily blinding Jessica before she slipped on her dark glasses.
“What do you think Vladoc is hiding?”
“I don't know exactly. But something's not right. For one thing, how could Gordonn afford Vladoc's rates for therapy?”
“You think the shrink was using the boy? How and for what?”
“I don't know. I just know that on Gordonn's salary, he could ill afford a downtown shrink like Vladoc, unless they had cut some other deal.”
“Like access free and clear to the kid's story?”
“You mean for a book or something? Who knows?”
“That night at the club, when I spoke to Gordonn, before I knew who he was, when he was videotaping the nude poets…”
“Yes…” Kim leaned over the hood of the car so as to hear over traffic.
“He said he had been hired by the owners of the club, and that he got free copies of the tapes for his own use.”
“Go on.”
“Suppose Vladoc had cut a deal with the owners in order to put George to work doing what George wanted to do, and making money in the bargain. Each video sold to the clubs to create a kind of library, which they could use to create their ads.” Yeah, I've seen a few while flipping through channels in the hotel room. They're enticing in a crude way. And their makers must get well paid.”
“George does the work, George obtains free psychiatric help, Vladoc gets paid-the old barter system at work.”
“I hope that's all Vladoc is hiding.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
They drove to Locke's place, Jessica telling Kim, “We need to get a sample of his DNA any way we can, from a beer glass to a cigarette, anything he has recently touched.”
“You distract him, and I'll filch something.”
“It has to be in plain sight, and preferably something he hands over, to please the court.”
“Sheeeeesh.”
“Obviously he knew of the urban legend long before the night George Gordonn supposedly killed himself and his supposed final victim.”
“Are you going to confront him with it? Tell him we know he shared the particulars of the so-called legend with his students, discussing it as yet another example of Lord Byron's mythic legacy, further evidence of a poetic voice and legend that defy death and the passage of time?”
“Burrwith hinted at a bond between Locke and George Gordonn, after Gordonn had become his student. The bond may well have been the poet Byron.”
“A poet out of time,” said Kim.
“I'm going to tell him that we know that Gordonn had approached him-his professor at the time-that Gordon told him that the story Locke had repeatedly used over the years in his lectures was in fact a true story and not merely an urban legend, as Locke had thought. That Locke became extremely interested in Gordonn as a result. Learning that the legend was in fact true, seeing Gordonn's clippings, and learning that Gordonn had been the forlorn child who survived his parents' suicide, Locke becameobsessed with the why of it all, delving into the depths of Gordonn's mind for answers.”
“I'd certainly like to get my hands on Vladoc's records on Gordonn, see what shakes out there. Suppose out of the goodness of his heart, Locke began to pay Gordonn's psychiatric bills?”
“You're really hung up on the cost of therapy, aren't you?”
As they passed a row of small antique stores while searching for the Interstate, Kim replied, “At one-fifty an hour, I'm telling you, Gordonn could not afford Vladoc. Perhaps the video thing paid for a portion of his bill, but it couldn't have covered all of it.”
Jessica picked up the radio and asked dispatch to put her through to Dr. Vladoc. When he came on the line, she held nothing back, telling him they were onto Locke, and then she asked, “How did Gordonn pay your rates on his salary and go to classes at the same time? Did Locke have anything whatever to do with George's therapy?”
“I can only tell you that when… after his bill became too high and I cut him off from any further sessions, he came to me with the full amount and then some, asking to continue his therapy.”
“Did he empty his bank account, cash in annuities, what?”
“He never said. He would have the money in an envelope, white and unmarked, but all the money ready and up front after that.”
“You never questioned him further about his newfound income?”
“He once said that he'd gotten the money from the Lord Poet of Misspent Time.”
“Who was…?”
“I swear to you, he never said.”
“Did you have any suspicions?” About Locke giving him the money? No, not until now. They knew each other, passed one another in my office when I would take a breather. One going out, one coming in.”
“What were sessions with Locke like?”
“A pain, a real headache. A man with an ego the size of Pennsylvania. He liked to hear the sound of his own voice, and he liked taking over the sessions, in a sense doing all the work he paid me to do. As to his subsidizing or floating George a loan, I can't be sure, but I was sure that Locke had a special-how would you put it? — attraction for the boy, yes, he acted hopelessly attracted to George and George's story.”
“His family history?”
“That and how George had so heroically pulled himself out of the state of depression which for years had engulfed him.”
“And the videotaping for the club owners, Dr. Vladoc; was that your idea or Gordonn's?”
“Ah, well, it was Gordonn's.”
“Was it Gordonn's idea or Locke 'si If we dig a bit more, will we learn that Locke owns a half interest in one of the clubs? Or will we learn that you, sir, do?”
There was a long pause filled with a bit of static over the police radio. Then Vladoc said, “Silent partner; it was an exciting investment. That's all.”
“And Locke?”
“Also a co-owner.”
“He had a special reason to be at the clubs, just as you and George had a reason, so much so that you all became fixtures, and no one took much notice of you after a while. WTiy didn't you inform us of this sooner? Why have we had to pry it from you?”
“He… Lucian is… well, my brother.”
Jessica was silent for a moment, taking in the revelation. “Your spiritual brother?”
“No, my actual brother. He changed his name the day he turned eighteen. Parry's doorman saw a short man, and he assumed him a boy.”
Jessica recalled the bartender at one of the coffeehouses telling him of a man of extremely short stature, an older man, who had left with a young woman on his arm. Jessica had figured it was Vladoc, when, in fact, it might well have been Lucian Locke.
Kim, hearing all this, yanked the receiver from Jessica's hand and shouted at Vladoc, “Are you blinded by the fact that he's your brother? Go over your records for Gordonn's psychiatric care, and compare them to what you know of your brother's problems, why he comes to you. There will be innumerable correlations between Gordonn's fantasy life and your brother's real life. Your brother has been acting out Gordonn's fantasies, and both men at some point knew this, and in the end-”