Blood Money (Joe Dillard Series No. 6) Read Online Free PDF Page B

declared mentally incapacitated. That evidence also had to be “clear and convincing,” one of the highest standards in the legal profession.  
    “I understand these allegations make you angry,” I said to Roscoe, “but we have to talk about them and we have to file a written answer. So I’m going to ask you some questions and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t spit on me.”
    “Fire away, counselor,” Roscoe said. “I’ll try to mind my temper.”
    “They allege that you set your house on fire several times in the past year. Is that true?”
    “I get a little absent-minded sometimes and leave a hamburger patty on the stove. I’ve started a couple of grease fires, but they stayed in the pan. I told Zane and Fred about it because I thought it was funny. Didn’t think they’d use it against me to try and have me locked up in the looney bin.”
    “They say you left a dead dog in your bed for three days and your son practically had to get into a fist fight with you to get the dog out of the house.”
    “That happened during Christmas when he came to visit. My old retriever, Dixie, died in her sleep. I loved her dearly and couldn’t bring myself to accept that she was gone. It wasn’t three days; it was a day and a half. And he didn’t have to fight me to get her out of there. I finally wrapped her in a blanket and carried her out by the barn and buried her myself. I may not have done it quickly enough to suit him, but I did it.”
    “They say you talk to yourself sometimes.”
    “Don’t you? Doesn’t everybody?”
    “They say you forget to take your prescribed medications.”
    “Once in a blue moon I forget, but it hasn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t have known that, either, if I hadn’t told him.”
    “They say you served them food that was inedible and that your house is – and I’m quoting here – ‘unfit for human habitation.’”  
      “All I can say to that is that they ate the pork chops and the potatoes and the corn and the bread and I didn’t see any gagging or puking going on. The house isn’t as clean as it once was, but I keep it up pretty good. I do the dishes every day and I do the laundry and I vacuum and dust once a week. I even clean out the bath tub and the toilet every ten days or so. It isn’t as spic and span as a military barracks, but it isn’t filthy, either.”
    “Dr. Heinz’s report says you’re ‘disaffected’ and ‘incapable of sustaining a line of thought’ most of the time. Why do you think he would say something like that?”
    “Because that’s what my son paid him to say.”
    I pushed the papers away from me, folded my arms across my chest, and leaned back in my chair.
    “Why, Mr. Barnes?” I said. “Why is your son doing this? I’m not a doctor, but I have to admit you seem fine to me. So I’m having trouble understanding why this is happening.”
    “I can’t tell you,” he said.
    “Can’t or won’t?”
    “Won’t.”
    “Why not? Why won’t you tell me?”
    “You’ll find out soon enough.”
    “I’d rather find out right now, from you, straight from the horse’s mouth. Why is your son trying to have you committed?”
    “He wants something I have, but don’t even bother asking me what it is, because I’m not going to tell you.”
    “It’s difficult for a lawyer to represent a client who won’t be open and honest with him.”
    “But you’ve done it before, haven’t you? Charlie tells me you’ve done a whole bunch of high-profile criminal cases and that you were a prosecutor for a few years. You should be used to people being less than open. I’m not being dishonest with you, Mr. Dillard. I’m just not going to tell you everything. If you can’t live with that, then I guess Charlie and I will have to find someone else. And like I said a minute ago, you’ll find out soon enough what Zane wants so badly. Or at least Charlie will find out. If she chooses to tell you about it after she finds out, then so be it.”
    “Are we