Gone Read Free Page A

Mick-
aah
-la.”
    The smile was heavy firepower in the battle to be noticed. I walked her through high, white, hollow space to my office at the back.
    Tall and narrow-hipped and busty, she put a lot of roll-and-sway into her walk. If her breasts weren’t real, their free movement was an ad for a great scalpel artist. Her face was oval and smooth, blessed by wide-set aquamarine eyes that could feign spontaneous fascination without much effort, balanced perfectly on a long, smooth stalk of a neck.
    Faint bruising along the sides of the neck were masked by body makeup. The rest of her skin was bronze velvet stretched across fine bones. Tanning bed or one of those spray jobs that last for a week. Tiny, mocha freckles sprinkled across her nose hinted at her natural complexion. Wide lips were enlarged by gloss. A mass of honey-colored hair trailed past her shoulder blades. Some stylist had taken a long time to texturize the ’do and make it look careless. Half a dozen shades of blond aped nature.
    Her black, stovepipe jeans hung nearly low enough to require a pubic wax. Her hip bones were smooth little knobs calling out for a tango partner. A black jersey, cap-sleeved T-shirt rhinestoned
Porn Star
ended an inch above a wry smile of navel. The same flawless golden dermis sheathed a drum-tight abdomen. Her nails were long and French-tipped, her false lashes perfect. Plucked brows added to the illusion of permanent surprise.
    Lots of time and money spent to augment lucky chromosomes. She’d convinced the court system she was poor. Turned out she was, the debit card finished, two hundred bucks left in her checking account.
    “I got my landlord to extend me a month,” she said, “but unless I clear this up soon and get another job, I’m going to get evicted.”
    Tears welled in the blue-green eyes. Clouds of hair tossed and fluffed and resettled. Despite her long legs, she’d managed to curl up in the big leather patient’s chair and look small.
    “What does clearing it up mean to you?” I said.
    “Pardon?”
    “Clearing it up.”
    “You know,” she said. “I need to get rid of… this, this mess.”
    I nodded and she cocked her head like a puppy. “Lauritz said you were the best.”
    First-name basis with her lawyer. I wondered if Montez had been motivated by more than professional responsibility.
    Stop, suspicious fellow. Focus on the patient.
    This patient was leaning forward and smiling shyly, loose breasts cupping black jersey. I said, “What did Mr. Montez tell you about this evaluation?”
    “That I should open myself up emotionally.” She poked at a corner of one eye. Dropped her hand and ran her finger along a black-denim knee.
    “Open yourself up how?”
    “You know, not hold back from you, just basically be myself. I’m…”
    I waited.
    She said, “I’m glad it’s you. You seem kind.” She curled one leg under the other.
    I said, “Tell me how it happened, Michaela.”
    “How what happened?”
    “The phony abduction.”
    She flinched. “You don’t want to know about my childhood or anything?”
    “We may get into that later, but it’s best to start with the hoax itself. I’d like to hear what happened in your words.”
    “My words. Boy.” Half smile. “No foreplay, huh?”
    I smiled back. She unfolded her legs and a pair of high-heeled black Skechers alit on the carpet. She flexed one foot. Looked around the office. “I know I did wrong but I’m a good girl, Doctor. I
really
am.”
    She crossed her arms over the
Porn Star
logo. “Where to start… I have to tell you, I feel so exposed.”
    I pictured her rushing onto the road, naked, nearly causing an old man to drive his truck off a cliff. “I know it’s tough to think about what you did, Michaela, but it could be really helpful to get used to talking about it.”
    “So you can understand me?”
    “That,” I said, “but also at some point you might be required to allocate.”
    “What’s that?”
    “To tell the judge what you