They reminded him again that the crime was and that she was no longer a juvenile offender. also mentioned that the intent of that restriction was to keep juveniles separate and from hardened criminals, and besides she was longer a juvenile for the third time. The said the questioning was academic, anyway, since would not allow his young client to answer questions put to her by the police.
They were all walking on eggs here.
The girl was only thirteen years old.
They were saying she'd killed a priest by or slashing him seventeen times.
The police were in possession of what they certain was the murder weapon, a knife with handle and blade caked with dried blood certainly the priest's. Presumably, there were fingerprints on that knife. And presumably, fingerprints would match Gloria's. But her argued that taking her fingerprints here in a station would be tantamount to questioning her which would be in violation of not only her fights under Miranda-Escobedo, but also in of the statute specifically forbidding the que of a person under the age of fifteen in a station.
They told him yet another time that she had infancy when she'd turned thirteen, and that Miranda-Escobedo they would not be takin incriminating testimony without permission if fingerprinted or photographed Gloria, or asked her to submit to a blood or breathalyzer test, or examined her body, or put her in a lineup, because the difference between these actions and a statement in response to interrogation was simply the difference between non-testimonial and testimonial responses on the part of the prisoner. There was no question that Gloria was a prisoner. She was in custody. They were going to charge her with the crime of Murder, Subdivision One: With intent to cause the death of another, causing the death of such person.
But this was a tough one.
Nellie Brand, who'd been called in because of her familiarity with the case, couldn't do a Q and A because Gloria's attorney said he would not permit her to answer any questions. The attorney was now saying they'd had no cause to bring her in here in the first place, were they perchance familiar with the expression "false arrest"? Carella had already briefed Nellie on his reason for bringing in Gloria, and whereas she considered his deduction sound enough, she also recognized that absent a fingerprint match, they were treading shaky ground. Carella was using the girl's possession of the last check written by Father Michael as proof that she'd been to the church on the day of his murder. If her fingerprints were on that knife, all well and good. If not... A fingerprint match was essential to their case.
And even though Nellie felt positive that they were permitted to take Gloria's fingerwints (and the Police Department's Legal Bureau concurred on point) she didn't want to risk what appeared to good case by giving anybody reason to about a rights violation later on; these w trigger-happy times. Anyway, once they charged girl and booked her and they would do downtown at Central Booking, as soon as they tap-dancing here fingerprints and photol would be taken as a matter of course, juvenile or So why push Miranda-Escobedo now?
The attorney would not let go of it. So they it back and forth, Mr. and Mrs. Keely putting in two cents every now and then with comments about what a good girl and student their daughter was, espousing Byrnes's "Class Valedictorian" line of the lawyers and detectives quoting chapter and of the various applicable laws, and in the midst this, as the shouting and gesticulating reached heated climax, Gloria suddenly said, "I killed Her attorney immediately said, "Gloria, I advise you..." but she rolled over him like steamroller flattening a fly. And since neither police nor the district attorney were required Miranda-Escobedo or any other law in the land warn a person of her rights if she was volunteering statement, they stood by silently and let her to it.
I didn't mean to do it, she said.
I only went there to pick up the check. This was around six o'clock or so, I went in through the garden, the gate was open, I left it open because I figured maybe they wanted it that way, whoever'd left it open.
The rectory door was open, too, the wooden one, not the screen door, that was closed. I opened the screen door and went right in. I'd promised Kenny the check, Kenny Walsh, he's leader of The Wanderers, he plays lead guitar and writes most of the he said he needed the songs, deposit check right away if we expected him to play the job. So I only went there to get the check.
I went into the rectory, and... There's like this little bend before you come to the office, this sort of little turn after you come out of the entry, and I heard the.., the voices.., before... before I made the turn.., the moaning.., the woman moaning.., and Faiher Michael saying, Oh God oh God oh God, and the woman saying Give it to me, give it to me, Michael!
And... I'm not a child, you know. I know about such things. A lot of the girls at Graham do these things, they talk about these things, I'm not a child, I knew what they were doing even before I... I should have turned back, I guess.
I should have left the minute I heard them.
But I... I went around the.., the turn there.., the little bend there where the.., the bench is... that you sit when you're waiting to see the priest, and I... I looked.
And he was.., they were.., her back was to m her skirt was up, she was holding her skirt up, sh was naked under the skirt, her panties down around her ankles, her legs apart, his hands were up unde her skirt, they were kissing, oh dear God, and sh kept moaning and moving against him, they were you know, they were, they were making love there his office, her long blonde hair trailing down her back, twisting her head, moaning, and him saying| love you, Ab, oh God how I love you, a priest!
An then he he sort of of of slid down her, his hand,, moving down the backs of her legs, and he he got o his knees in front of her as if he was praying, and ] realized all at once what he was doing to her, and[ covered my face with my hands and ran through th sacristy into the church and prayed to God fo guidance.
I waited till she was gone. She came out through the church, I guess she didn't want anyone to see her leaving on the rectory side. I was still sitting in a near the altar. Praying. This was about half an hour after I'd seen them, maybe forty minutes, I aon know, she came clicking out of the sacristy on high heels, tall and beautiful and clicking by in a hurry, a smile on her face, she was smiling. I watched her, I could see the line of her panties under the yellow skirt, I turned to look up at Jesus hanging on the cross and I looked at his sad eyes, do you know his sad eyes, I cry when I look at those eyes, and it seemed to me he was saying I should discuss this with Father Michael, ask him about it, find out what he what he why he he was doing this, why he had done this.
I didn't mean to kill him.
I only wanted to ask him why he was betraying not only God but also me, too, yes, because I'd trusted him, I'd thought we were friends, I thought we could tell each other things we couldn't tell anyone else, hadn't I said things in the confession box, hadn't I told him things I'd never told another human being on earth, not even Alexis? So that's what I planned to do. Just ask him how he could do such a thing. He was supposed to be a priest but instead he was behaving like a like a, I just wanted to tell him.
He was sitting in the rectory alone, behind his desk, this had to have been, I don't know, seven, a little before seven, ten to seven, something like that?
He looked up when I came in, and he smiled, and said You're here for the check, am I right?
Something like that. And I said Yes, Father Michael, and he gave me the check and I put it in my purse and I I I was waiting there because I didn't know how to start this, and he said Is there something, Gloria?
And I said, Father Michael, I saw you and that woman. And he said, What woman, Gloria? And I said A blonde woman, Father Michael, the one who was here earlier. And he looked me in the eye said I don't know what you're talking about, I said Father Michael, why are you doing this, sin! And he looked me in the eye again and he You must be mistaken, Gloria, please go now.