Wrong Turn Read online

  ‘I can handle myself, captain.’

  ‘I know. I just wanted to make you aware.’

  ‘Thank you, captain,’ she said and walked back to his office. ‘Mr Culver, would you please come with me?’

  She didn’t say another word. Culver kept his mouth shut, too. In the elevator, they both stared straight ahead in silence as if afraid to look each other in the eye.

  She led the lawyer to the doorway of Michael Reed’s office and said, ‘Sir, Mr Culver is here to see you.’

  Reed smiled. ‘Why, thank you, lieutenant. Would you mind waiting here for just a minute? I’ll get Mr Culver settled in the conference room and have someone bring him a cup of coffee and then I’ll be back for a quick word. OK?’

  Lucinda listened to Reed’s jovial banter as he led Culver down the hall. When he returned, the smile was gone. He slammed his office door behind him as he entered.

  ‘I am fed up with you, Pierce. I cannot understand why you are still employed by the department.’

  ‘Excuse me, sir. I brought him up here as you asked and I didn’t say a word to him on the way.’

  ‘Oh, you think you’re so clever, don’t you? Well, while I was waiting for you and your buddy the lawyer, I followed up on a sudden hunch. And what did I learn? C’mon. What do you think?’

  ‘Don’t know, sir.’

  ‘I found out you visited Martha Sherman at the jail. Don’t deny it.’

  ‘I won’t, sir. I am involved in the current investigation in this case and felt an interview with her might be useful.’

  ‘You ought to go into politics, Pierce. You can spin it like the best of them. But you don’t fool me. I know that lawyer is here today because you leaked information to Martha yesterday. But I’ll tell you one thing, Pierce. If that son of a bitch mentions that Andrew Sherman was a donor to my re-election campaign, your ass is mine.’

  ‘Sir, that’s public information.’

  ‘I don’t care. You got that. I don’t care where he got that information. If he brings it up, I’m hanging it on you. And another thing. You will not show up for that hearing on Monday.’

  ‘I’ve been subpoenaed, Mr Reed.’

  ‘I don’t care. You will not be there.’

  ‘If I’m not there, the judge will find me in contempt.’

  ‘I don’t care. You would deserve it.’

  ‘He could put me in jail.’

  ‘It won’t kill you. You can spend your time thinking about why you betrayed us all.’

  ‘I have done nothing wrong. I have pursued the path of truth and justice – nothing more, nothing less.’

  ‘Bullshit! You’re probably working for that damned ass who’s running against me in my re-election campaign. How much did he pay you? What did he promise you? An investigator’s job in this office after he’s elected?’

  ‘I hope Culver does figure out the contributions Sherman made to your campaign. And I hope he gets it smeared all over the damned front page.’ She jerked open the door, slammed it behind her and headed downstairs.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Lucinda went straight to her office and sat down, breathing in and out, slowly and deliberately, focusing on nothing but the flow of air, until she felt she was calm enough to speak. She then went back up the hall and knocked on the captain’s open door.

  He looked up. ‘How did it go?’

  ‘Not well, sir. He ordered me to not show for the hearing.’

  ‘Did you remind him you’d been served?’

  ‘Yes, sir. He seemed to think a citation of contempt of court would look good on my resume and a jail sentence would be good for my character development.’

  ‘Listen, Pierce, no one under my command is going to refuse to respond to a subpoena, so you can put that thought out of your head right now.’

  ‘I have every intention of showing up, sir.’

  ‘And don’t even think of claiming the fifth,’ he said.

  Lucinda smiled. Oh what a relief, she thought. ‘Of course not, sir.’

  ‘You don’t have grounds.’

  ‘No sir.’

  ‘Unless you were involved – unless there is something you are not telling me.’

  ‘No, sir. I knew nothing about Lisa Pedigo until the last couple of days. I had no awareness at the time of the trial.’

  ‘Good. But listen, Pierce. If you ever get pressured to do anything by the prosecutors that you don’t think is right, come to me. I won’t guarantee I’ll stand with you every time. I’ll only do that if I agree with your assessment. If I don’t I’ll tell you – and explain why. Is that clear?’

  ‘Yes, sir. And thank you.’

  ‘Now, get out of here before I think of some reason to yell at you.’

  Lucinda grinned all the way back to her office. Holland might give her crap day and night but underneath that he was a decent, honest man and a righteous cop. She knew his moral compass was steady and dependable. She was lucky to serve under him. Now, if she could only get what she needed from Trevor doing it his way.

  She was getting ready to leave for the psychologist’s office when her phone rang. ‘Pierce, Homicide,’ she answered.

  ‘Barbara Craig. Dr Barbara Craig.’

  In that moment, Lucinda was certain the interview was off but she steeled her voice and said in as upbeat a tone as she could muster, ‘Yes, ma’am, what can I do for you?’

  ‘I’ve been having second thoughts ever since this morning’s custody hearing.’

  Lucinda felt something inside of her coil up tight ready to strike. She breathed deeply and waited for the doctor to continue.

  ‘I testified that Trevor was emotionally fragile and afraid of his father. I told them that contact with him at this time could destroy all the progress he’d made in the last couple of years. Chris Phillips’ attorney tried to get me to admit that he could be more traumatized by the separation from his father and that a reunification with him would heal Trevor’s wounds. The judge nodded as if he agreed.’

  ‘You’re kidding me.’

  ‘I wish I were, lieutenant. Some of these family court judges can’t see beyond the biological connections as if the answer to everything were bringing the family back together no matter how poisonous that environment might be. Trevor’s legal team objected to the judge overruling the best judgment of the professional who had been treating Trevor. The judge scowled and ordered an interview with a social worker from CPS to give an independent analysis of Trevor’s state of mind. Then, he turned to Chris Phillips and said, “I’m sure we can get resolution here soon, Congressman”.’

  ‘When’s the interview?’

  ‘A time was not set then and I don’t think CPS will be able to set a time this late on a Friday. But I would expect considering the judge’s urgent regard of the matter that they will take care of setting the appointment on Monday and, in all likelihood, it will be scheduled for Tuesday. You need to get Phillips locked up again before then.’

  ‘I doubt if I can make that happen – the decision is in the district attorney’s hands.’

  ‘I know you have influence there. I need your commitment to apply pressure to make it happen, lieutenant, or I can’t agree to this afternoon’s meeting.’

  ‘You’ve got it, doctor,’ Lucinda said while thinking that the only influence she had there now would be to push the DA in the opposite direction from what she suggested.

  ‘I also was calling to make sure that you do not arrive here early. Trevor is coming in to talk to me at quarter till and I don’t want him to run into you in the waiting room. I want to speak to him before your first encounter.’

  ‘No problem, ma’am.’

  ‘Thank you. I’ll see you at four sharp then.’

  Lucinda left the office right after the call. She couldn’t bear to be stuck inside her small space just sitting around waiting. She decided to stop at a coffee shop and get fortified with a latte before showing up at Craig’s office.

  She arrived in the waiting room ten minu
tes before the hour, a time she was fairly certain that Trevor would have already gone into the inner sanctum. The minutes seemed to refuse to move forward, but, finally, at precisely four o’clock, the door opened and Dr Craig invited her inside.

  The psychologist was an attractive brunette in her late thirties or early forties. A simple, no-fuss haircut downplayed the striking beauty of her face, giving her a very accessible look. She wore a shirt dress covered with blue tulips and windmills, a pale yellow scarf around her neck and a mile of bracelets running up her right arm. And she was a tiny woman, definitely less than five feet tall with an equally petite bone structure. She made Lucinda feel like a marauding giant.

  Trevor slouched in a chair beside her desk, his legs stretching out long in front of him. An artificially manufactured wear pattern ran down the front of his jeans; the kind of holes that don’t come cheap. His shaggy hair looked like it needed a cut but Lucinda thought he probably liked it that way. His lower lip stuck out as if in contemplation or a pout and his eyes followed Lucinda’s every move. He held an open, folded-over, spiral notebook in his hands.

  ‘Trevor, this is Lieutenant Lucinda Pierce, the detective we discussed. I want you to remember if, at any time, you grow uncomfortable or wish to terminate the interview, you let me know and it’s over. No one will harass you for that. Will they, lieutenant?’

  Lucinda swallowed hard. ‘Of course not, doctor.’

  ‘Now, lieutenant, I have told Trevor that he could ask you some questions and you would answer them before proceeding with your questions. I trust you will be willing to accommodate him.’

  Lucinda didn’t like it but she had little choice in the matter. ‘I’d be glad to answer his questions.’

  ‘You can start your questions, Trevor,’ the doctor said.

  Looking down at his notebook, he said, ‘Do you think my dad is guilty of the murder of Patty Phillips?’

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  ‘Do you think I saw something when my stepmother Patty died?’

  ‘I don’t know, Trevor. Did you?’

  ‘No questions yet, lieutenant,’ Dr Craig snapped. She softened her voice when she said, ‘Continue with your questions, Trevor.’

  Trevor looked down at the page again. ‘Do you think I saw something when my mother died?’ His lower lip quivered.

  ‘I don’t know, Trevor,’ Lucinda said, imagining his pain, aligning it with her own.

  ‘Do you think I saw something when my stepmother Gloria went down the stairs and got injured?’

  ‘Yes, Trevor, I do.’

  ‘Did Gloria tell you that?’

  ‘Yes, Trevor, she did.’

  ‘Why do you care if my dad goes back to prison or not?’

  ‘Because, Trevor, I think anyone who takes another person’s life should take responsibility and accept the punishment for the crime they committed.’

  ‘If I decide not to testify, will you tell him what I tell you?’

  ‘No, Trevor. I will not. I promise you that I will never tell him.’

  Trevor turned to Dr Craig, nodded his head and said, ‘OK.’

  ‘You may ask questions now, lieutenant.’

  ‘Trevor, did you see anything when Patty died?’

  Trevor squeezed his eyes shut and squeezed his lips together sideways with one hand. ‘I can’t. I can’t. I want to but I can’t. They’ll all hate me.’

  ‘Who do you think will hate you, Trevor?’ Lucinda asked.

  ‘My grandparents mostly. If I tell you what I know, they’re going to think I saw what happened to my mother and they’ll hate me. But I didn’t – I didn’t see him do anything to my mother.’

  Lucinda wondered if that was true or if the memory was so deeply repressed that he might never resurrect it. If he did see something, she hoped he would never remember. She knew how painful that could be.

  ‘They won’t hate you, Trevor,’ Lucinda said. ‘They know how young you were when your mother died. They know that even if you were there, you couldn’t possibly remember anything.’ Out of the corner of her eye, Lucinda saw Dr Craig nod in what seemed to be approval of her responses.

  ‘But Patty’s parents will. And Gloria will.’

  ‘No, Trevor, they won’t. They will understand that you couldn’t say anything no matter what you saw. They will realize the quandary you were in.’

  ‘What does quandary mean?’

  ‘A no-win situation – a place where no matter what you did, it would feel wrong. It would damage you whether you spoke up or not.’

  ‘But if I saw something and I didn’t say anything doesn’t that make me responsible? If I saw what happened to Gloria and didn’t tell anyone, doesn’t that mean it’s my fault that Patty is dead?’

  ‘No, Trevor. It’s not your fault. I can understand why you would feel guilty about it. But I know: it is absolutely not your fault.’

  ‘You weren’t there. How could you know? How could you have any idea of what I’m thinking?’

  ‘Because, I’ve been there, Trevor.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I saw my father shoot my mother. I saw her die right in front of my eyes.’

  ‘Did you tell the police what happened?’

  ‘I gave a statement, Trevor, yes.’

  ‘You told them what you saw?’

  ‘Yes, Trevor, but—’

  ‘See you did the right thing. You must really think I’m a pile of crap.’

  ‘No, Trevor, because I don’t know what I would have done in your case. You see, after shooting my mom, my dad shot himself. They both died that day. Unlike you, I had nothing to lose.’

  Trevor stared down at his shoes. A minute passed. And then two.

  ‘Trevor,’ Dr Craig said. ‘Do you want me to send the detective away?’

  Trevor raised his head and looked straight at Lucinda. ‘No, Dr Craig. I want to tell her what happened.’

  Both women sat quietly waiting for him to begin. Lucinda doubted the wisdom of remaining silent, but felt unsure. Should she ask a question or just wait on him?

  Finally, he broke the silence. ‘Like I said, I don’t remember anything about my mom dying. I don’t remember much about her at all,’ he said while tears puddled in his eyes.

  ‘But I do remember Gloria. Dad was putting concrete blocks into the stairwell landing just before he turned and went out into the living room. I asked him why he was doing that. He said, “Insurance, son, insurance”. I asked him what he meant and he said, “Someday when you have to deal with women, you’ll understand”. I asked him what that meant and he shushed me.

  ‘He went upstairs and I followed after him. He went into his bedroom and shut the door and I heard him start yelling at Gloria. I went into my room but left the door open. Then the yelling got louder when Gloria came out of the room. She saw me standing in the doorway and said she was sorry.

  ‘Dad came out and he was still yelling. Gloria said, “Not in front of the boy, Chris”. And my dad said, “How else is he supposed to learn what women are like”. She said, “Stop it, Chris”, and went toward the stairs. He went after her, spun her around so her back was to the stairs and pushed her.

  ‘I ran to the top of the stairs and saw her tumbling. I don’t know how she did it but somehow she crashed into the banister and fell through to the floor below instead of hitting the blocks.

  ‘My dad ran down the stairs after her and I followed him. He stood over her with his hands on his hips and started cussing. Gloria lay on the floor moaning. I kneeled down next to her and Dad shoved me and told me to leave her alone. I ran out of the house and went to the neighbors. I told them to get an ambulance ’cause Gloria had fallen down the stairs. But I knew she didn’t fall – she was pushed but I didn’t tell anyone that.’

  Tears ran down Trevor’s face. Lucinda wanted to rush to him and wrap her arms around him but she sensed he’d resent it if she did anything to acknowledge that she’d even seen his tears. ‘Did the same thing happen to Patty?’

/>   ‘He didn’t put the blocks down there that time. He put a glass top table on the landing. And he didn’t push her. He hit her over the back of her head with my baseball bat and she fell. He wiped off the bat with an old T-shirt and handed the bat to me and told me to go down to the river and throw it in the middle. I just stood there.

  ‘He went down the stairs to Patty. She’d hit the table, there was broken glass and blood all over the landing. He dipped that T-shirt in the pool of blood around her head and smeared it on the banister and the post. Then, she groaned. He said the F word and wrapped his T-shirt around a broken piece of glass. I looked away then. I didn’t want to see what he was going to do. When I turned back, blood was shooting up in the air like a fountain. And then it stopped, like someone turned it off.

  ‘Then he said, “Get going” and I told him it was dark outside. And he said, “Listen, little scared-of-the-dark baby, I need you to get rid of that and get back here – I’m not going to call 9-1-1 until you do”.

  ‘All I could think about was Gloria. And how calling 9-1-1 saved her life and I didn’t think anyone could do anything for Patty but maybe I was wrong. So I ran as fast as I could, threw the bat as hard as I could and raced back home. All my dad said was “about time you got back”.’ Trevor doubled over, his arms wrapped around his stomach.

  ‘Very good, Trevor. I’m proud of you. You needed to get that poison out,’ Dr Craig said.

  ‘He said we’re going to take a nice, long vacation on a sunny beach in the Caribbean after he has custody. Don’t let him take me. Please. I think he wants to get rid of me.’ Trevor cradled himself and rocked back and forth on the chair as he pleaded with Lucinda.

  Dr Craig and Lucinda both said, ‘What?’ Then Lucinda asked, ‘When did you talk to him, Trevor?’

  ‘He sent me a text message at school.’

  Dr Craig turned to Lucinda. ‘Please leave your tape recorder on my desk and wait outside the room while I talk to Trevor.’

  Lucinda rose and crossed the room, wondering why she hadn’t brought two devices and kept one hidden. She placed the recorder on Craig’s desk, her fingers not wanting to release it. She looked up at the doctor.