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him down beside her. She sat on her folded legs and stroked her fingers through Anthony's hair as he talked.
    "When his mother remarried, Billy was… I think eleven. Martin sent him to a high-priced hospital in West Palm Beach. He began to settle down after that, making fairly decent grades, staying off drugs. And then came the arrest for arson. The Morgans had hired him to mow their lawn. Billy said the gasoline spilled in the garage, caught fire, and spread out of control. That was his story, and he stuck to it. However, he made an inculpatory statement to a friend of his from high school, Richie Moffatt, who turned him in. Based on his priors, and the fact that he was a couple of months short of his sixteenth birthday, the state wanted to charge Billy as an adult. Do you know the maximum for arson?"
    Gail shook her head. "Twenty years?"
    "Thirty. But since Billy was so young, the prosecutor was willing to offer ten. Ten years in prison. What was I to do? Go to trial and cross my fingers? I hired a couple of very good investigators. Ah, the things we learned about Richie Moffatt. He was seventeen. Billy danced with his girlfriend at a party, and Richie wanted to fight him, but someone dragged them apart. A motive to frame Billy? Perhaps. Richie was the contact at Coral Shores High School for party drugs. Rufinol, Ecstasy. He would buy the stuff on Miami Beach. My investigator took some photographs of Richie in action. None of this is a defense to arson, but it adds a certain perspective, no? Richie knew what we had. I set him down for a deposition, and he didn't show up. Twice. Richie told the prosecutor he'd made a mistake in saying that Billy had confessed. And the Morgans had received complete restitution for their losses. So. The case was dismissed."
    Gail couldn't decide whether to be appalled at such maneuvers or envious.
    Perhaps reading her thoughts, Anthony took her hand. "You asked me if Billy was guilty of arson, and I said I didn't know. I didn't care then, and I don't care now. He was a seriously disturbed kid facing years in an adult prison. I couldn't let that happen. What about Teri? She would have lost her only remaining son. Do you understand?"
    Anthony was asking for more than a judgment on his ability to make a first-degree arson case go away. Gail nodded. "Billy had a good lawyer. He's very lucky. I'm sorry I jumped all over you." She couldn't resist adding, "If you'd told me before, we wouldn't have argued about it."
    "You're right. I should have told you." He set his empty glass on the coffee table. "Billy has put himself into another situation. Before he went off to commit suicide, he called the police to confess to the murder of Sandra McCoy."
    "What?"
    "Martin told me at the hospital." Anthony held up a hand to stop her from speaking. "Billy was lying. It was a delusion. Or a joke or a way to hurt himself or his parents. But definitely a false confession. I think so."
    "You think so. Wonderful. What are you going to do now?"
    "Get a statement from his alibi witness. Billy was watching videos that night with a woman who lives on another part of the island. That is all it was, believe me. This woman is probably in her sixties."
    "Yes, I heard about her," Gail said. "Joan Sinclair, the famous movie actress."
    "Who told you?"
    "That guy with the stutter who drove the boat. Arnel something. He's such a fan, he can probably name all her movies. Anthony, you might have a problem with Miss Sinclair. Lois said she might have made up an alibi because Billy asked her to. Supposedly they're pretty tight."
    "Yes. It could be a problem."
    "You'll have to find out."
    "Tomorrow," he said, "but first I need to be at the hospital very early to speak to Billy before the police do. A psychiatrist is coming to see him, and then, after all that, I'll pay a visit on the actress. Do you know what kind of movies she was in? Vampire movies."
    "I heard she was nominated for an Academy Award, but I don't think it was for