Read Online Delusion by G. H. Ephron - Free Book Online

each year died at the hands of a man who was or had been an intimate partner. A piddling five percent of men killed were done in by wives, ex-wives, or girlfriends.
    He went on. “No one can predict who’s going to go over the edge.” He bit his lip. “I’ve been wrong before.”
    It was one of the hardest things about working with troubled individuals. Anyone who tells you he can predict which ones are going to go berserk has his head up his ass.
    â€œHave the police contacted you?” I asked.
    â€œNot yet. They will. I’m sure they will. They like you to twist in the wind first.”
    The intensity of his tone suggested firsthand experience. His answers were a beat off, as if something turbulent going on inside his head were competing for attention.
    â€œYou were counseling Nick and Lisa Babikian?” I asked.
    â€œI knew I should have referred them to someone else.”
    I waited for him to explain. He swallowed. “I moved to this area a little over a year ago.” I wondered why the move, but he rushed on before I could ask. “It was hard to leave the practice I’d been building for years.” A vein pulsed in his forehead. “I admit it, I needed the business. So when this couple comes in, no referring doc, they give a false name neither one of them can remember from the beginning to the end of the session, I tell myself: No big deal.” He grunted a laugh. “He pays cash. Wouldn’t that tell you something? Looked under the desk, ran his hand across all the books. Checked that out”—Teitlebaum indicated a mirror set into one wall—“like he thought it was one-way glass. Wasn’t until the third session that I found out their real names. And that was by mistake. She spilled it. I should’ve said forget about it.”
    â€œWhen did they start seeing you?”
    â€œBack in the fall.” Teitlebaum reached for the file folder and
paged through it. “October fourth. Lisa, Mrs. Babikian had quit her job to take care of Mr. Babikian’s mother. She was having a hard time making the adjustment. She chafed—that would be a mild way of putting it. He’s a very controlling man, but that doesn’t seem to have bothered her as long as she had the outlet of work and friends.
    â€œWhen she quit her job, it bothered her. The more unhappy she became, the more he withdrew. Spent more and more time working. They were having problems with intimacy as well. It made him uncomfortable, having sexual relations with his wife while his mother was in the house. And she was always there. He was effectively impotent. He could do it only when they both wore masks. Creeped her out.”
    Teitlebaum tossed off this bit of information as if it were of no great significance. It gave me one more piece to explain why, as paranoid as Nick was, he willingly surrounded himself with masks. Once the masks became intertwined with the sex act, having them on the wall would be a reminder that he was in control.
    I wondered how many other people knew about this particular kink in Lisa and Nick Babikian’s life together. The killer must have known that putting a mask on Lisa’s body would implicate Nick.
    â€œUsually that’s a sure sign of stress and disorganization,” Teitlebaum went on. “Ritualization of what should be a pleasurable act. He fetishized it by adding accoutrements in order to engage.” Teitlebaum’s face had gone neutral. The language of psychiatry had a wonderful way of leaching emotion.
    He glanced through the file, pausing to read some of the entries.
    â€œHe was breaking down?” I asked.
    â€œThe marriage was breaking down.”
    â€œDid you feel they made any progress?”

    He thought about that. “A little. He agreed to enroll his mother in a day center a few mornings a week so Lisa could work part-time. She was going to start out by helping at his company while she looked