Marge leaned forward. “Why don’t you tell us your side?”
Oliver said, “Joe, it’s real simple. Just tell us exactly what happened.”
A few seconds passed and then Pine began to talk.
He talked and talked and talked and talked and talked.
Though she kept a straight face, inside she was grinning.
Strike three and you are so out!
THIRTY-NINE
THE UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS were dozens of pages long. Marge handed them to Decker and said, “These were taken off the audio portion of the tape by the computerized voice recognition system. Then Lee programmed the system to put whoever was talking in front of the statement.
There are lots of mistakes, but I think you can grab the gist of the interview.”
Decker skimmed through the paper. “What’s happening with Martin Cruces?”
“Messing and Pratt are still working on him.”
“How long have they been going?”
“About seven hours. We all figured as long as you’re here, maybe your title would make an impression on him.”
“Seven hours and he hasn’t asked for a lawyer?”
“Not yet,” Marge said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed, giving him just enough hope to think that he can weasel out of the forensics. The noose is going to tighten. Because at the end of the transcripts, Joe named names.”
Oliver let out a big yawn. “We’ll get him eventually.”
“Have you two gotten any sleep?”
“Not yet.”
“Want to go home?”
“Not on your life,” Oliver said. Marge seconded the sentiment.
Decker stifled an oncoming yawn. “Okay. Just let me review this to bring me up to speed. Then I’ll deal with Cruces.”
“Sounds good,” Oliver said. “Want some coffee? We’ve been living on caffeine.”
“That would be great.”
A few moments later, mug in hand, Decker went into his office, closed the door, and buried his attention in a stack of papers. There were tons of typos, but his brain was mostly able to correct them. The first two-thirds of the interview was Oliver and Marge cajoling Pine into confession, using everything from sympathy to lies.
In the last fifth of the interview, things got interesting. Although the dry printed words lacked emotion, maybe that was better. It was only Decker’s eyes and the text.
SCOTT OLIVER: Start from the beginning, Joe. How’d you get involved in the murders?
JOE PINE: It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.
MARGE DUNN: So how was it supposed to happen?
JOE PINE: No one was supposed to get hurt. It was supposed to be a robbery.
MARGE DUNN: How’d you get involved in the robbery?
JOE PINE: It was Martin Cruces. He had the plan.
MARGE DUNN: The plan to do what?
JOE PINE: You know. To get the money. Martin planned it for a long time.
SCOTT OLIVER: How long had Martin Cruces been planning this robbery?
JOE PINE: A long time.
SCOTT OLIVER: Weeks? Months?
JOE PINE: Maybe six months.
MARGE DUNN: That is a long time.
The same speaker in a row must indicate a pause, Decker decided.
MARGE DUNN: You mentioned money. That he planned it to get money. What kind of money? Cash? Jewelry? Valuables?
JOE PINE: Martin said that the old man kept a giganto wad of cash in a safe. I never seen the safe, but Martin said there was a safe so why should I think he was lying?
MARGE DUNN: Did you find the safe?
JOE PINE: No, things messed up pretty quickly.
MARGE DUNN: Did you take anything from the house?
JOE PINE: We found a little cash and rings and shit, but we didn’t have time. Cruces wanted us to bury Denny so we took what we seen around and got out.
SCOTT OLIVER: If it was a robbery, why kill anyone? And why take the time to bury Denny? You already had other dead bodies. Why not just get to the safe and split?
JOE PINE: Now that the old man and old lady was dead, it was gonna be a problem. Cruces said they’d come checking every guard. He said that if we buried Denny and no one could find him, it would look like Denny did it and ran away.
SCOTT OLIVER: Then what about Rondo Martin?
JOE PINE: Cruces said that he’d take care of him, personally.
SCOTT OLIVER: Joe, it looked like the burial site was planned in advance. It looks to our eye like the murder was planned from the beginning.
JOE PINE: It was supposed to be a robbery, but things messed up real quick.
SCOTT OLIVER: Joe, you had a place all picked out-the horse grave.
JOE PINE: Cruces said get rid of the body. I started digging, but the soil was like concrete, man. Then I thought of the dead horses. I figured it would be easier to dig up a grave than start from nothin’.
MARGE DUNN: But you buried the body way below the horses. That took time, Joe. How’d you have that much time?
JOE PINE: I guess I worked fast. Things were fuzzy that night.
Decker stopped and analyzed the words. Their line of questioning was excellent. It was clear that this had been a carefully planned execution by the use of the horse grave. They were just trying to get Pine to admit it. Decker continued to read.
MARGE DUNN: If I had planned to murder Denny and Rondo, I would plan to murder everyone around to eliminate witnesses, including Guy, Gilliam, and Gil Kaffey.
JOE PINE: Yeah, well as soon as Rondo bolted, that’s what Cruces decided to do. Just whack everybody. But that wasn’t the original plan. It was supposed to be a robbery and that’s why we had the guns. To scare the old man and convince him that we were serious. That’s why the son had to be there. That’s why the old lady had to be there. With guns to their heads, the old man would be more like…cooperative. No one was supposed to get hurt. That’s why we had a lot of people. To show that we were serious and to make sure no one got hurt.
SCOTT OLIVER: But people still got murdered, even if you didn’t plan it that way.
JOE PINE: I wouldna done it if I thought people would get hurt. It was supposed to be a robbery.
(Decker felt his eyes roll into the back of his head.)
MARGE DUNN: How many people were involved in the plan?
JOE PINE: I think there were six.
JOE PINE: Yeah, six.
SCOTT OLIVER: Why six?
JOE PINE: One for Denny, one for Rondo, one for the wife, one for the son, and two on the old man.
MARGE DUNN: We need names.
MARGE DUNN: Joe, if you want someone to help you out, you’ve got to help us out. Cooperation is your best friend right now. Cooperation is your only friend.
(But Pine still was hesitant to rat out the others. So Scott tried a different tactic.)
SCOTT OLIVER: You had six people: one for Denny, one for Rondo, one for the wife, one for the son, and two for the old man.
JOE PINE: Yes, sir.
SCOTT OLIVER: What about the maid?
JOE PINE: See, that’s how things got fucked up. She wasn’t supposed to be there. She was supposed to be at church. We knew how to get into the house through the maid’s quarters because we knew that shit. Or Martin knew that shit. I dunno. Anyway, we were supposed to go through the maid’s bedroom. But we didn’t know that there was another one. She started screaming and then it all went south.
MARGE DUNN: What happened?
JOE PINE: Gordo tried to knock her out, but that didn’t work. ’Cause the bitch kept on screaming. So Martin just plugged her.
MARGE DUNN: Joe, we need the names.
MARGE DUNN: Joe, if you don’t help us, how can we possibly help you?
SCOTT OLIVER: It’s survival, man. Either you roll on them or they’ll roll on you.
SCOTT OLIVER: You seem like a decent guy. I know you never meant to hurt anyone. Why should you take all the blame when there were others involved?
MARGE DUNN: Start out with just a name. Gordo. Gordo who?
JOE PINE: Gordo Cruces.
MARGE DUNN: See how easy that was. Gordo Cruces. Is Gordo Cruces a relative of Martin Cruces?