‘Standard criminal behaviour, Professor. One slime ball points a finger at another slime ball. The more you tell them about Buddy, the more they like you for it.’
I tried to explain my strategy, but I didn’t get far.
‘I’ve got news for you, David. Even if I buy your theory that Buddy Elder is out to get you it doesn’t make sense. What did you do to this guy? Murder his parents? Why in the hell would he go to all this trouble?’
‘I insulted his short story.’
‘And I thought it was something big like cutting in front of him in the lunch line!’
‘It’s a little more complicated than just an insult, Gail.’
‘I’m going to tell you one thing, and then I’m going to shut up. Get an attorney.’
‘You’re my lawyer.’
‘If I’m still your lawyer, why didn’t you call me when they asked for a second interview?’
‘I probably should have.’
‘Probably?’
‘All right. I screwed up. So shoot me.’
‘How about I just sit in the audience while a penitentiary doctor sticks a needle in your arm?’
‘It wasn’t that bad.’
‘I expect it was a lot worse than you think. Look, David, I’ll represent you, if that’s what you want, but you’re going to have to think about hiring a trial lawyer at some point, and I’d say the sooner the better. This thing could get out of hand on us real fast.’
‘What are you talking about? You’re acting like they’re going to arrest me!’
Gail sounded tired. ‘Probably not until they find a body, but I wouldn’t count on it.’
‘They don’t have anything, Gail!’
‘You mean besides motive, means, and no alibi?’
‘I didn’t even see her!’
‘The cops aren’t going to believe Buddy Elder called you on Johnna’s cell phone, David.’
‘Why not?’ I looked at Molly who had sat close through the entire conversation. She looked more worried than Gail sounded.
‘They like their cases straightforward.’
‘How’s this for straightforward? Buddy kidnaps Johnna Masterson and forces her to call me on her cell phone. At midnight Buddy calls on the same phone and tells me the rumour is I’m about to get a letter of censure, and he sure as hell hopes nothing happens at the university to change their mind!’
‘This guy kidnaps a young woman and quite possibly murders her, and he calls you up so you’ll know he did it? That’s insane!’
‘Why not tell me? Nobody believes me!’ I looked at Molly. ‘Ever since that diary surfaced,’ I said, my voice rising, ‘no one has even considered I might be telling the truth!’
Gail answered with cool irony, ‘I wonder why that is, David.’
‘Dalton wants me to take a lie detector test on Monday. Maybe then-’
‘Whoa! You didn’t agree to take one? Tell me you didn’t.’
‘I said I needed to talk to my lawyer, but I think maybe I should!’
‘Quit thinking, David. It’s bad for your health! That thing about talking to your lawyer, that’s the perfect answer. Believe me, you don’t want to take a polygraph.’
‘It looks to me like the only way.’
‘You’re representing yourself again, Dr Albo.’
‘Okay. Point made. I’ll cancel it.’
‘Cancel what?’
I explained to Gail that Dalton wanted to schedule the exam, but I was free to call and cancel if she thought it was a bad idea.
‘David, why don’t you just confess?’
‘Because I didn’t do it!’
‘So why are you trying to get yourself convicted?’
‘We cancel the son of a bitch! What’s the big deal?’
‘Suspect refuses to take a lie detector.’
‘That’s what you want!’
‘I’m not going to refuse a polygraph, David. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for you to demonstrate your innocence, assuming our conditions are met.’
‘That’s lawyer talk for refusing to take a polygraph.’
‘Damn straight it is,’ Gail snapped. ‘Those exams don’t measure truth or falsehood. They’re machines!
They measure how nervous you are. You’ve been framed for murder, if you’re telling the truth. That’s one hell of a scary situation. I mean, you could be going to death row if you don’t convince the police you’re telling the truth. Or look at it the other way.
Say you’re lying about something, some detail. Could be anything, something too embarrassing to admit – like a little sex in the office with your little stripper friend. You take the test and you’re going to try to beat the machine on that one lie. The results come back and you end up looking like you’re lying about a whole lot of things. Believe me, too much is riding on this for you to be calm!’
‘I’ll tell you what, you’re starting to scare me.’
‘That’s good. That means I’m finally getting through to you.’
Molly wanted to know about Tuesday evening the minute I got off the phone.
I ran through the thing in detail. When I had finished, I told her it was not as bad as Gail was making it out to be. ‘Gail defends scumbags. The scumbags are guilty.
The last thing you want to do with a guilty client is take a polygraph.’
Molly seemed hardly to hear me. ‘You’re going to listen to Gail?’
‘I guess.’
‘David -?’
‘I’ll listen to her!’
That evening we had dinner in the kitchen with the TV on. As we weren’t enthusiasts of the local broadcasts in the best of times, we didn’t know where to go or whom to trust now that the stakes mattered. By chance, though, I found Patty Storm on Channel 3.
Patty had been a student of mine during my first year at the university. Cute, ambitious, and possessing a remarkable degree of talent (in every sense of the word), Patty had quickly left English with an emphasis in creative writing and gravitated to journalism where, as she told me almost shamefully, she could make a living. I had seen her a couple times doing reports as I was surfing for something to watch, but I hadn’t realized she had worked her way up to a co-anchor position.
‘A former student of mine!’ I told Lucy and Molly cheerfully. ‘Let’s watch this. Patty’s all right!’
Johnna Masterson was still a second page story, but my name had come up as an individual sheriff’s detectives were interviewing. Patty Storm did not use the word suspect. Mostly the report was about the search for Masterson continuing. There was a touching plea from her parents.
Lucy looked at me suspiciously when the report was over.
‘Innocent,’ I said.
‘She’s pretty,’ Lucy rejoined.
‘Johnna? She sure is. Smart, funny, totally likable.
Personally, when I commit murder I like to do it to someone who deserves it!’
‘Don’t make jokes, David,’ Molly answered.
‘How well did you know her?’ Lucy asked.
I grimaced but I wouldn’t back away. ‘She was one of the women who filed charges against me at school.’
‘So what happened? Or is this not my business either?’
‘As long as we’re all living in the same house it’s our business,’ I said. I glanced at Molly.
‘Tell her,’ Molly said. ‘Tell her what you told me this afternoon.’
I went to the pantry and cracked open a bottle of bourbon. As I was pouring a couple of healthy shots over ice for Molly and me Lucy asked for one as well.
I got Molly’s nod of approval. Special occasion: her stepfather was coming clean.
‘We got a call on Tuesday night,’ I said. From there I went through the whole evening. I finished by explaining that I had something of a history with Buddy Elder because of some trouble at school, and I was fairly sure he was involved in this for no other reason than to hurt me.’
‘How could he do that?’ Lucy asked.
‘I think he might be trying to frame me for this.’
Lucy seemed uneasy. Molly was scared.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said. ‘It will blow over.’
There were some calls after dinner. A number of people from the university who had avoided all contact with me for the past two months suddenly wanted to know how I was doing. As per Gail’s instructions that afternoon before we got off the phone, I neither answered nor returned the calls.