Again I gave “the system” the benefit of the doubt. I had to believe that the authorities had investigated the situation thoroughly before awarding custody of a child to a man who was not his father.
I’m sure that Penny’s suicide attempt had a lot to do with the outcome. He painted Penny as unstable, which of course she was. He neglected to mention that he had been the one to convince her to take more medicine; that he had badgered her with, “Take more of your pills, bitch,” until she snapped and did just that. Marvin broadcasted Penny’s bipolar diagnosis to all his acquaintances, and implied that the children likely would have starved if he had not taken over the cooking in the home. When he was asked why he filed for custody of only Nick instead of all three children, Marvin said that he and Nick had a special bond. “Nick loves me and needs me,” Marvin said. “That little boy needs me and he thinks I hung the moon.”
Marvin had custody of Nick for the next five months. I saw them together at a school function once during that time. Nick was draped across Marvin’s lap, his head resting on his stepfather’s chest. The boy reached up and put his arms around the older man’s neck. His little voice was almost dreamy as he cooed, “I really love you, daddy.” Nick was not yet nine.
Chapter Fourteen — PENNY’S STRUGGLE
The days ahead for Penny were a monumental struggle. This marriage had lasted only eight months but left her life in ruins. She had to wonder if she would ever get her son back from this monster. She didn’t know if she would be able to gather up the broken pieces of her life. She had no way of knowing if she could repair the damage to her reputation, to her family, to her concept of self. She didn’t know if her children would heal from the assault by this monstrous human being, or if they’d ever get their little brother back. She had a divorce pending and no funds for legal counsel. She was squeezed dry, and withered, and had no place to turn. She was fighting a calculating evil, and the system didn’t seem to want to help her.
Two months after Marvin and Penny separated; I received a call from Marvin asking me to be a character witness for him at Nick’s custody hearing. I was nauseated by the request, and very nearly vomited. For the first time, I shook off the lethargy that I thought had protected me, and that I often hid behind. I didn’t fold and look away from danger. I told him he should be ashamed, trying to take a little boy from his mother. I asked him how he would feel if someone tried to do that to him. His answer was a furious, spitting, surge of anger. “That bitch is trying to put me in jail!” Nothing more. No rational explanation. No attempt to sway me with facts. Just, “that bitch is trying to put me in jail.” “Good,” I thought to myself, but only told him I wouldn’t help. Finally I had faced Marvin. Finally I had mustered the courage to deny him something he wanted. A rush of satisfaction flowed through me and painted my cheeks and made me catch my breath. Finally!
As soon as Marvin had assumed custody of Nick, Penny’s father requested a meeting. He begged Marvin to return his grandson to his daughter. He confronted Marvin about selling all of Penny’s possessions and spending the money on himself. Marvin held the meeting in his kitchen, and prepared for it by placing a tape recorder behind the refrigerator to record what was said. He wanted to catch the old man in an impropriety, something he could use against him if he needed. He didn’t find anything, but he later related that he listened to the recording often, laughing at the old man begging for the return of his grandson.
I don’t understand the why’s and wherefore’s, but Marvin managed to have his marriage to Penny annulled. It meant no child support, no alimony, and Penny remained broke while Marvin’s financial future was unscathed. He and his lawyer convinced the court that the child molestation charges were the fantasy of a woman scorned, and were not valid. Marvin told us that the molestation charges were dropped because he demanded to take a polygraph, and the results showed that he was telling the truth, that he was not abusing children. I strongly suspect that this polygraph test never happened. I have heard that there are sociopaths who have such perfect control over their reactions that they can pass a polygraph test in spite of being guilty. How can this be? It’s simple enough. Sociopaths are so bereft of conscience that emotions are not a factor. They see whatever they do as right and proper. Their pulse and blood pressure will not rise in the absence of guilt.
Marvin further insinuated that the reason Nick was remanded to his mother’s care was that his lawyer was dyslexic, had trouble with paperwork, and was late in filing a key document. Marvin claimed he was incompetent. He complained that he had paid some $30,000 in legal fees in a custody case that had gone against him, and now the lawyer “owes me big time.”
Martin in fact had used Penny's money to fight her in Nick's custody battle. He had opened a secret bank account while still married, where he deposited some of his takings from her. He used this money to try to take Nick from Penny.
Penny’s father was worried about his daughter, and tried to file a civil suit to regain some of his daughter’s stolen finances. Marvin got more credit cards, maxed them out buying and borrowing as much as he could with them, and then filed bankruptcy. He was able to keep $90,000 in newly purchased assets. He hired an accountant to repair his credit scores, and was able to obtain a new stack of credit cards. Nothing was left for Penny. The civil suit was dropped.
Chapter Fifteen — MALIGNANT
Marvin continued his whirlwind sociopathic games. He continued his non-stop seductions. He would take all he could from his prey, suck them dry of money, favors, and dignity. He was contemptuous of all his victims. He thought them all inferior, only useful for what he could take from them. He felt entitled, superior in every way. Each manipulation provided him with a new adrenaline rush.
One afternoon he purchased a book titled, How To Cast Spells. He proudly displayed it on his coffee-table . I doubt he had ever read a complete book, so this was out of character. There were no other books in his house. I am sure of that. But How To Cast Spells was there for all of us to see. Marvin saw the curiosity on my face as I stared at the book one afternoon and volunteered, “I can make things happen to people just by thinking them.” He then told me of a teacher he had hated as a kid. Alone in bed one night, he actively wished the teacher harm. The next day the teacher’s family were all killed in an automobile accident. Marvin smiled when he told me that story. There was an evil sneer on his face as he added, “believe it. It is true.” I thought then and still believe that Marvin had begun his descent into madness.
Marvin spent hours at his office computer every day, searching gay man-boy websites. Through an international website, he found a gay male twenty years his junior, who lived in Russia. This boy spoke broken English and was poor. He didn’t own a computer but would walk to a library to access the use of one. In Russia at that time, it was illegal to engage in any homosexual activities. Although it was punishable by a mandatory prison term, Marvin convinced the boy to maintain contact, and planned to sponsor the boy and send him enough money to get a visa and come to the States to live with him. What a perfect victim. If he did not comply with Marvin’s demands, he could be left alone in a foreign land. He would have no shelter, and would barely be able to communicate. I don’t know why the plan failed. I do know that failure was a monumental gift for the Russian boy. This failed plan and others like it were discovered after the fact by criminal investigators. I shudder when I think of the expansion of Marvin’s capabilities allowed by a computer. Now he had the whole world at his fingertips. He could expand his deviant search around the globe. He could find victims anywhere.