Page 87 of The Instruments of Darkness

Veilleux arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Within certain limits,” I conceded.

“She doesn’t want to get too involved.”

“Are you asking or telling me?”

“Both, if you wish.”

“Then, yes, I think that’s a fair summary of her position.”

“Do you know why?”

“Regardless of the ultimate verdict, there’ll be fallout from this case,” I said. “I wouldn’t condemn anyone for preferring not to be drawn into it.”

“Which isn’t answering the question.”

“No, because I gather you might have an opinion of your own.”

“Not an opinion,” said Veilleux, “but knowledge. Lyra’s an admirer of Paul Nowak and would like to see him elected governor. She’s planning to make the maximum contribution to his campaign once he officially announces his candidacy. Her wife will do the same.”

That would amount to at least $3,900 between Shapleigh and her spouse, which was a considerable financial commitment. But if what Veilleux was saying was true—and it could easily be checked—it also represented a potential conflict of interest should Shapleigh be required to testify, which was something on which Moxie would have to adjudicate. I was annoyed with Shapleigh. She was entitled to support whomever she liked. I just wished she’d been open about it from the start.

But Veilleux’s information raised another question, which was why she had elected to share it with me at this early stage of our conversation. It might have been an issue of conscience, which would make her a better person than I was inclined to give her credit for; but in my experience, people didn’t offer this kind of intelligence without an ulterior motive.

“How do you know this?” I asked.

“Lyra and I have mutual acquaintances. Her political affiliations are hardly worth keeping secret. It’s not like she’s joined the Klan.”

“What about you? Are you in the Nowak camp?”

“The two-party system has failed our country,” she said. “I favor Hannah Russell.”

Russell routinely ran as an unenrolled candidate and was always quickly eliminated. I tried to keep abreast of politics, and regarded myself as reasonably well-informed, but even I struggled to figure out exactly what Hannah Russell stood for, apart from better holistic veterinary care for pets.

“She seems like”—I searched for the right words and failed—“a nice person,” I concluded, lamely.

“She’s a dog with three legs,” said Veilleux, “but her heart is in the right place.”

“And Dr. Shapleigh?”

“What about her?”

“Is her heart also in the right place?”

“That depends on what you can do for her. I’ve known Lyra for many years now. She’s a pragmatic person, which makes her a pretty good physician. In the case of Colleen Clark, she wouldn’t want to do or say anything that might damage Nowak’s chances, but her preference would be to avoid saying anything at all. As you pointed out, there’ll be blowback if it goes to trial, whatever the verdict. If Lyra were to testify, and that testimony aided the prosecution, a small but vocal community, some of whom she considers friends, might view her as perpetuating a system that penalizes psychologically troubled women. On the other hand, if she were to help Colleen get off, there’d be people prepared to throw bricks through her window, and it wouldn’t help Nowak’s cause either. So Lyra will try to stay out of it, even if she has to lawyer up. She won’t go out of her way to assist you, but she’ll do her damnedest not to damage your cause either.”

Which was what Shapleigh herself had told me, if without the political insights.

“Does she often refer patients to you?”

“Sometimes, and always women. But Colleen’s initial referral came from another client, not Lyra. My base is almost entirely female, apart from a few couples.”

“Aren’t you sympathetic to male problems?”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Are you trying to bait me, Mr. Parker?”