Playing God by Kate Flora Page A

son-in-law."
    "Jen calls you her father. You're the one she wanted in a crisis. That means you had an on-going relationship with her and her husband."
    "You'd think so," Kelly grunted. "I don't think Stephen had relationships with people. He was so eager when he was courting Jen, so desperate to capture her, to marry her, but I don't think it was ever Jennifer the person he wanted. It was Jennifer the possession. Unless it was Jennifer, Ted Shaw's daughter, and access to Ted's money. I tried to warn her. Should have known better. She's got her mother's romantic streak. These women fall in love, you can't do a damned thing about it."
    "That what happened when her mother fell in love with you?"
    Kelly's smile was shy. Pleased. "You might say that."
    "But her mother isn't here. You are."
    "Clara would be. She was devoted to her daughter." He shook his head. "My wife's dead, detective. I'm the only parent Jen has." He hesitated. "Well, you know that's not true. I'm the only active parent Jen has." He slapped his chest with two big palms, a loud sound. In its plastic nest, the baby shifted, made a sound. Kelly watched until it settled down. "I'm just a dumb, working class guy who cares about her. I'm the father who read her stories and taught her to ride a bike and went to her soccer games. Down the road a piece is the guy who was her wallet, who believes biology is destiny. She goes by Kelly but legally she's Jennifer Shaw."
    "Her wallet?"
    "Shaw's always been too busy to bother with Jen but she is his only child. He cares how she's turned out. How well she lives. It was important that she go to the right schools, know the right kids, live the right life. When she broke her leg, he was too busy to visit, but she had the best doctors and the biggest bouquets."
    "You sound bitter."
    "Only on her behalf. It was good for me that Ted didn't want a hand in the day-to-day rearing of his kid. It let me have a relationship with her without a tug-of-war."
    Jen had been luckier than she'd probably ever know. Half his cases these days came from broken homes and reconstituted families. Ex-husbands stalking, assaulting and killing their wives or their wives' new boyfriends. Boyfriends and second husbands beating and molesting the children. Stepsons beating up their step-mothers. His sisters always asked why he'd never married. Partly, he'd been so busy and ambitious he'd never found the right girl, one who'd put up with his crazy hours, his passion for the job. Partly, he saw so much of the dark side. Couldn't imagine how a woman could live with that. Live with him living with that.
    "You wanted to know about Stephen?" Kelly smiled his shy smile again. "Ever see a movie called The Manchurian Candidate ?" Burgess nodded. "Well, you ask about him and I find myself nodding and saying Stephen Pleasant was the nicest, kindest... then I say, 'wait a minute, Jack.' Steve was so good at presentation. He was so superficially great, genial, polished, just so damned slick. It wasn't until you got away and took a hard look that you realized it was all packaging."
    Who was Jack Kelly? He looked like a stevedore, talked like a shrink. But Burgess knew, start making assumptions about people based on appearance and you missed a lot. People surprised you. Sometimes the surprises were pleasant. "Was he unkind to Jen?"
    "I thought so. But I'm not sure she knew it, until she found out about the other women. Jen's so young, detective. She hadn't had a lot of experience before Stephen. She didn't know how she was entitled to be treated. She didn't know what to expect or how to negotiate it for herself. Steve was there after her mother died, offering what she saw as security, comfort. Jen's a natural caretaker." His smile was ironic now. "She thought getting to wait on Steve, trying to satisfy his whims, was a privilege. And Shaw was pleased at her marrying an up-and-coming doctor, even if he was divorced."
    "How did she learn about the other women?"
    Kelly took a