Read Online Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman - Free Book Online Page A

flat on the table.
    Milo said, “Mr. and Mrs. Beverly, this is our psychologist, Dr. Delaware. Doctor, Gordon and Sharna Beverly.”
    Gordon Beverly half stood and sat back down. His wife said, “Pleased to meet you, Doctor.”
    The pressing of cool dry flesh. I sat next to Milo.
    He said, “Mr. and Mrs. Beverly brought me this picture of Antoine.”
    I studied the picture, maybe longer than I needed to. Smiling, clear-eyed boy with a space between his incisors. Short hair, blue shirt, plaid tie.
    “Doctor, I was just explaining that you were involved because of the complexities.”
    Sharna Beverly said, “We could use a psychiatrist because if it wasn’t that maniac in Texas, it was
some
kind of maniac. I knew it from the beginning, kept telling those other detectives.” A silver-nailed finger touched the edge of the photo. “It’s been so long. No one
did
anything.”
    “They tried,” said her husband. “But there were no leads.”
    Sharna Beverly’s stare said he’d blasphemed. She turned to me. “I’m here to tell you what Antoine was like, so you’ll understand he didn’t run away.”
    Milo said, “No one suspects that, ma’am.”
    “They sure did sixteen years ago. Kept telling me he’d run away, run away. Antoine liked his practical jokes but he was a good boy. Our other boys went to college and that was Antoine’s plan. He especially looked up to his biggest brother, Brent. Brent has a degree in sound engineering and works on motion pictures. Gordon Junior is an accountant at the Water and Power.”
    Gordon Beverly said, “Antoine wanted to be a doctor.”
    “You probably heard this a million times,” said his wife, “but not knowing is the worst. Doctor, be honest with me. Knowing what you know about maniacs, what chance is there this devil in Texas is telling the truth?”
    I said, “I wish I could give you a solid answer, Mrs. Beverly. But there’s no way to know. His story’s certainly worth pursuing. Every angle is.”
    “There you go,” she said. “
Every
angle. That’s what I told those detectives sixteen years ago. They said there was nothing more to do.”
    I glanced at the picture. A boy frozen in time.
    Sharna Beverly said, “They should’ve had the courtesy to answer our phone calls.”
    Gordon said, “They answered them at first, then they stopped.”
    “They stopped pretty quickly.” Daring her husband to argue.
    Milo said, “I’m really sorry.”
    “No need to be sorry, Lieutenant. Let’s do something
now.
”
    Milo said, “Getting back to what we were talking about, ma’am, how exactly did Antoine get that magazine job?”
    “Magazine subscriptions,” said Gordon Beverly. “Nice white neighborhood, supposed to be safe.”
    His wife said, “He’s not asking
what,
he’s asking
how.
Antoine found out at school. Someone put a flyer up on the bulletin board just before summer break. Antoine loved to work.”
    “Antoine had ambitions,” said her husband. “Talked about being a surgical doctor. He liked anything scientific.”
    Sharna Beverly said, “The flyer made it sound like easy money, magazines selling themselves, just jumping into people’s hands. I told Antoine that was foolish but he couldn’t be convinced. He copied down the number and went to a meeting on a Saturday. Took two friends, all of them agreed to do it. They got sent to Culver City, which in those days was all white. They worked five days steady and Antoine sold the most subscriptions. The following Monday is when Antoine never came home.”
    I said, “Did Antoine or the other boys have any unpleasant experiences on the job?”
    Sharna said, “Antoine said a couple of people called him nasty names and slammed the door in his face.”
    Gordon said, “The N word. Other things along those lines.”
    “Why they sent those boys into a white neighborhood,” said Sharna, “I’ll never understand. People in Crenshaw read magazines, too.”
    “Supposed to be safer,” said her