Read Online The Best Thing for You by Annabel Lyon - Free Book Online Page B

had a case not long ago,” Jupiter says. “Now, you tell me what you think. Here is this young woman, single, living alone in her apartment. She has a job, has some regularly scheduled activities on evenings and weekends – a fitness class, some volunteer work. Her routine is pretty predictable, okay? Next door to her is a retired man, widower, nice guy. They say hello coming and going, he shows her pictures of the grandkids. He gets to know her schedule and takes to sticking his head out the door when she leaves in the morning. Same thing when she comes home at night. Doesn’t phone her, doesn’t knock on her door, doesn’t follow her down the street. Twice a day he goes a little out of his way to say hi, that’s it.” Jupiter pauses. “Question: is he stalking her?”
    “No,” Liam says.
    Jupiter looks at me. “Well, I mean, no,” I say.
    “All right. Now, imagine the man a little differently. This is a younger man, university student, also single. Big guy. Very good-looking.” May, who has obviously heard this before, is lifting up pot lids and smelling the food. When she sees me watching her, she gives me a thumbs-up. “Exact same behaviour as the first man. Instead of the grandkids, he shows her pictures of his horse. Gradually she starts looking forward to seeing him there in the hallway every day.”
    “All right,” I say.
    “They fall in love.”
    “All
right.
”
    “Is he stalking her?”
    “No,” Liam says.
    I put my hands on my hips and squint at Jupiter, mock-tough, half-smiling. “What’s your point?”
    “Last scenario. Same, identical situation. Only this time the man is paranoid schizophrenic. He’s on permanent disability. Rarely leaves the apartment. He’s taking his meds but sometimes she hears him talking to himself, he wears the same clothes every day, he seems nervous of everyone except her.” I start placing plates on the table, now that I know what’s coming. “Is he stalking her?”
    “Yes,” Liam says.
    “Oh, come on,” I say. “You’re going to walk right into that one?”
    “Walk into what?” Liam says. “It’s totally different. There was no reason for her to be afraid of the first two. Here, a reasonable person would be apprehensive. How does she know he’s not going to have some kind of – episode?”
    “Hey, May,” I say. “As a woman, wouldn’t you have been a little apprehensive about the second guy, the cowboy? Jupiter said he was big.”
    May nods. “Big, yeah. Big can be intimidating.”
    Sheer nonsense, of course. Calvin, for instance, is big. So what?
    “You had the man?” Liam asks.
    “I had the woman. She couldn’t get any kind of criminal charge brought, so she wanted to sue for infliction of emotional suffering.” Jupiter looks at me. “My point is, you can make the same act right or wrong just by changing the variables. There’s no such thing as an evil act, murder as an act or stalking as an act. The evil lies in the person who’s doing the act, and our perception of that person.”
    “So you’re saying Liam didn’t stalk me?”
    “Hell, I don’t know,” Jupiter says. “That’s my party story. You just gave me a lead-in.”
    “I didn’t exactly stalk her,” Liam tells May.
    “So on your theory, the victim’s identity is also relevant.”
    Jupiter, chewing pappadum, nods frantically. “Sure, crucial.”
    “If she’s very ugly, for instance.”
    “Okay, I know where you’re going.” He makes a stop sign with his hand.
    “Not exactly?” May asks.
    “I went to see her band a few times.”
    “Twelve times,” I say. “In one month. Plus he hung around outside my house a lot. Look, all you’re talking about is motive. Same act, different motive, depending on the individual. And to determine motive, you rely on stereotypes. No, piss off.” Liam’s trying to stick a pappadum in my mouth. He and May are laughing at me. “If he’s schizophrenic, we assume he’s motivated by a desire to harm. That’s like