Malice by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online

haven't,” Molly said quietly. “But maybe you will later.” She handed the girl her card. “If you want to see me, call me. And if you don't, I'll be back to see you again anyway. You and I are going to have to spend some time together so I can write a report.”
    “About what?” Grace looked worried. Dr. York scared her. She was too smart, and she asked too many questions.
    “About your state of mind. About the circumstances of the shooting, such as I understand them. You're not giving me much to work with for the moment.”
    “That's all there is. I found the gun in my hand, and I shot him.”
    “Just like that.” She didn't believe it for a moment.
    “That's right.” She looked like she was trying to convince herself but she had not fooled Molly.
    “I don't believe you, Grace.” She looked her right in the eye as she said it.
    “Well, that's what happened, whether you believe it or not.”
    “And what about now? How do you feel about losing your father?” Within three days she had lost both of her parents and become an orphan, that was a heavy blow for anyone, particularly if she had killed one of her parents.
    “… I'm sad about my dad … and my mom. But my mom was so sick and in so much pain, maybe now it's better for her.”
    But what about Grace? How much pain had she been in? That was the question that was gnawing at Molly. This was not some bad kid who had just blown away her old man. This was a bright girl, with a sharp mind, who was pretending that she had no idea why she had shot him. It was so aggravating to listen to her say it again that Molly would have liked to kick the table.
    “What about your dad? Is it better like this for him?”
    “My dad?” Grace looked surprised at the question. “No … he … he wasn't suffering … I guess dais isn't better for him,” Grace said without looking up at Molly. She was hiding something, and Molly knew it.
    “What about you? Is it better for you like this? Would you rather be alone?”
    “Maybe.” She was honest again for a moment.
    “Why? Why would you rather be alone?”
    “It's just simpler.” She looked and felt a thousand years old as she said it.
    “I don't think so, Grace. It's a complicated world out there. It's not easy for anyone to be alone. Especially not a seventeen-year-old girl. Home must have been a pretty difficult place if you'd rather be alone now. What was ‘home’ like? How was it?”
    “It was fine.” She was as closed as an oyster.
    “Did your parents get along? Before your mom got sick I mean.”
    “They were fine.”
    Molly didn't believe her again but she didn't say it. “Were they happy?”
    “Sure.” As long as she took care of her father, the way her mother wanted.
    “Were you?”
    “Sure.” But in spite of herself, tears glistened in her eyes as she said it. The wise psychiatrist was asking far too many painful questions. “I was very happy. I loved my parents.”
    “Enough to lie for them? To protect them? Enough not to tell us why you shot your father?”
    “There's nothing to tell.”
    “Okay.” Molly backed off from her, and stood up at her side of the table. “I'm going to send you to the hospital today, by the way.”
    “What for?” Grace looked instantiy terrified, which interested Molly gready. “Why are you doing that?”
    “Just part of the routine. Make sure you're healthy. It's no big deal.”
    “I don't want to do that.” Grace looked panicked and Molly watched her.
    “Why not?”
    “Why do I have to?”
    “You don't have much choice right now, Grace.
    You're in a pretty tight spot. And the authorities are in control. Have you called a lawyer yet?”
    Grace looked blank at the question. Someone had told her she could, but she didn't have one to call, unless she called Frank Wills, her father's law partner, but she wasn't even sure she wanted to. What could she say to him? It was easier not to.
    “I don't have a lawyer.”
    “Did your father have any