The Oedipus Murders

by Casey Dorman

  “Of course not,” George answered. He was embarrassed but he was also afraid. Why on earth would Susan come to Lucas’ house? Didn’t Reynolds warn her that she was in danger? “Call me after you talk to her. Let me know that you told her that you weren’t waiving confidentiality.”

  “You mean let you know that she’s safe? What are you afraid of Doctor Farquhar? What have you got going for that Chinese chick?”

  George hung up. Lucas was taunting him. He wished he had a drink right now. He felt as if he had to do something, but he was paralyzed. The thought made him check his legs, to make sure both of them still moved. What was he doing? Paralysis was Lucas’ symptom, not his. And what about his fear for Susan’s safety, was that real or was he taking on Lucas’ pathology, disguising his anger and jealousy as protective worry, just as Lucas had done with Sherry Bennett?

  He couldn’t just sit and obsess. He got out of his chair and headed for the door.

  Chapter 53

  “Mr. Bonaventure?” Abe Reynolds called. He and Susan Lin had let themselves into the house, just as Lucas had instructed them to do. They were standing in the vestibule just inside the front door.

  “In the den,” Lucas shouted.

  Lucas was sitting behind his desk. A polished black cane leaned against the wall. “Thanks for coming. Sorry, I didn’t get up to greet you. My leg seems to have gotten worse.” His face was serious and he looked tense.

  “Doctor Lin said you have some evidence for us,” Reynolds said. His voice was flat. His eyes showed his suspicion.

  “Have a seat,” Lucas motioned toward the couch. “No, wait a minute. I need to get Regina’s cell phone. It’s in the bedroom. Detective, can you come with me?” He started to get up.

  “You want me to get it? You said you have trouble walking.”

  “I can walk that far. It’s on this floor.” Lucas struggled to his feet and reached over and picked up his cane. He leaned heavily on it as he slowly limped out of the room. Detective Reynolds followed him.

  A few minutes later, Lucas returned. He sat down behind the desk.

  “Where’s Detective Reynolds?” Susan asked.

  “He’s fiddling with Regina’s phone. He said he wanted to check some things out. He’s checking the drawers in her dressing table and some pictures she’d printed out.”

  “There really were pictures?”

  Lucas smiled. “Of course, I told you there were. Surprised at your doctor, doctor? He’s not the innocent egghead that he seems to be. Sounds like you were taken in a much as I was.”

  “You seem happy,” Susan said.

  “I’m amused.”

  “Amused?”

  “You and the doctor seemed to have a thing going. I guess I was wrong about who seduced whom. He played you I guess.”

  They were interrupted by the front doorbell.

  “That’s probably your doctor now,” Lucas said.

  “Doctor Farquhar? Why would he be here?”

  “Just a guess,” Lucas said, still smiling. “Do you mind getting it for me?”

  — — —

  The road up to Lucas’ house had seemed strangely familiar. George had a vague sense of the Newport Coast area—he’d passed it many times traveling along PCH—but he had no recollection of ever visiting the Bonaventure residence. He felt an involuntary shudder as he passed the shopping center at the bottom of the hill. He ignored the feeling and kept driving. The road twisted and turned. As he turned a corner, he had a momentary image of a large dog standing in the middle of the street. He swerved, but then it was gone. His mind was playing tricks on him.

  Lucas’ home was a large ranch style house, all one story, although it sat on the side of the hill and may have had a second story below the first on the side away from the street. A black Ford with official Newport Beach plates was in the driveway. Was that Susan’s car? For some reason, he thought she drove a Prius. Why did he think that? He’d never seen her car, had he? He parked his car.

  He was surprised when Susan answered the door.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Lucas told me you were coming to see him. I was worried,” George answered. “Why are you answering the door?”

  “Mr. Bonaventure is having trouble walking. He asked me to answer the door for him.” She stepped aside and let him in. “He’s in his den.” She turned and walked down the hallway. George followed.

  “Here to rescue Doctor Lin?” Lucas said as Susan and George entered the den.

  “You came here by yourself?” George asked Susan, ignoring Lucas.

  “Detective Reynolds is in the bedroom, checking out Lucas’ wife’s cell phone.”

  George sat down. “What do you mean her cell phone?” He felt sick.

  “Your texts, doctor. And the pictures you sent her,” Lucas said.

  Had he? George had no memory of texting Regina. And what kind of pictures would he have sent her? Had George blocked out even more than he’d thought he had? “I didn’t text Regina,” he said weakly. He was addressing Susan.

  Susan stared at him. Her disappointment showed on her face. “You lied before,” she said. “Detective Reynolds said you admitted knowing Mrs. Bonaventure, knowing her quite well.”

  He nodded. “But that was years ago. I haven’t seen her for years.”

  “She told me you ran into each other in a bar,” Lucas said. His smile had been replaced by a scowl.

  “I thought I saw her in a bar a few months ago, but we didn’t even talk. I certainly didn’t send her any text messages.”

  “You texted her the night she went missing,” Lucas said savagely. “That very night!”

  “That’s impossible,” George answered. He was getting dizzy.

  “Lucas says the text messages are all on her cell phone,” Susan said coldly. “You’ve admitted you saw her in a bar. Can’t you just tell the truth?”

  He couldn’t admit what he didn’t remember. “I’m telling you everything I remember. I have this problem with my memory…” How was he going to explain things to Susan?

  “I’m the patient, Doctor Farquhar,” Lucas said. He face was twisted in a sneer. “You’re sounding as if it’s you with the mental problem.”

  Susan continued to stare at him, her face expressionless.

  “Why do you have her cell phone?” George asked Lucas.

  “Don’t try to change the subject,” Lucas said, scowling. “How well did you know my wife?”

  George turned to Susan. “No, really. Why would Lucas have Regina’s cell phone? She was buried without even her clothes on. None of her possessions were found, were they?”

  Susan looked over at Lucas. “No, they weren’t. How do you have her cell phone?” she asked.

  “I guess she left it at home.”

  “You said there was a text on it from me, from that night,” George said.

  “The phone was in her bedroom. Maybe you texted her before she left the house, or she never received the text.”

  “I want to see the cell phone,” Susan said. “I don’t know why Abe hasn’t brought it in here.”

  “I told you, he’s searching the bedroom,” Lucas answered. He reached for his cane. “Let’s all go look at the cell phone, shall we? It’s the only way to prove what’s true.”

  Lucas struggled to his feet and George and Susan followed him as he hobbled down the hallway, leaning heavily on his cane. The door to the bedroom was closed. Lucas stepped aside. “You first, he said to the two of them.”

  Detective Reynolds was lying on the floor. Susan ran to him. She
knelt down. “He’s alive.”

  George whirled around. Lucas was standing in the doorway with a gun in his hand. “The Detective was kind enough to loan me his gun.”

  Susan looked up. “What’s going on? Abe’s got blood all over the back of his head.”

  “The detective didn’t believe me,” Lucas said. “I’m afraid I had to hit him.” He had entered the bedroom. He walked normally, without the aid of the cane, which he’d let fall to the floor.

  “He needs a doctor,” Susan said. She stood up. “Stop this while you can, Mr. Bonaventure. You haven’t killed anyone yet. Turn yourself in.”

  “Haven’t I?” Lucas asked.

  “He killed Regina and Sherry Bennett!” George said. Despite Lucas’s gun pointed at him and Susan, he felt immense relief. He hadn’t been sure that he hadn’t done the killings himself.

  “But the cell phone, doctor?” Lucas said. “What about the cell phone?”

  George’s feeling of dread was back. “You mean there is a cell phone?”

  Lucas was pacing back and forth. There was no sign of his limp. “Of course there’s a cell phone, complete with your messages to Regina.”

  Susan looked over at George. “Where is this cell phone?”

  Lucas reached in his pocket. “I had it with me all the time.” He threw it over to Susan, who caught it in midair. “Go to the text messages, look for Doctor Farquhar’s name.”

  Susan scrolled through the texts on the phone. She began reading. “You did text her,” she said, looking at George accusingly.

  “What did I say?” George asked. He still didn’t remember anything.

  “You wanted to meet her. She didn’t reply.”

  “That’s all?”

  Susan was bent over the phone. “There was only one set of messages. You asked her to meet. Said you’d seen her in a bar.” She scrolled more. “That was it.”

  “They were carrying on an affair,” Lucas said. The look he directed at George was vicious. “She was cheating on me.”

  George was still confused. Even when Susan had read the text message, he couldn’t remember sending it.

  “Do you have any other evidence?” Susan asked, staring at Lucas.

  “I don’t need more evidence. I didn’t need more with Sherry either. Both Regina and Sherry were shopping for men. They made that clear. The doctor was an eager buyer.”

  “That’s not true,” George said. “I was never interested in Sherry or Regina. We were just old friends.”

  “And how about the doctor here?” Lucas said, waving the gun at Susan. “Her seduction worked just like Regina’s and Sherry’s had. You fell for her the same way.” He looked back at George. “Now you both have to pay for toying with me like that.”

  “This cell phone is no evidence of anything,” Susan said in disgust. She threw the phone toward Lucas. It fell short and skittered across the floor to Lucas’ feet. He bent to pick it up.

  George leaped for the cane on the floor. It was closer to him than to Lucas. He managed to get his hand on it before Lucas, who was still bent over, saw what he was doing. George brought the cane down on Lucas’ wrist. The gun fell to the ground. George dived toward Lucas and tackled him around the waist. They both fell to the ground. Lucas was stronger and heavier; he rolled on top of George.

  A shot rang out. “Stop it,” Susan shouted. She was pointing the gun at both of them. Plaster was falling from the ceiling where she’d shot a hole in it.

  Lucas rolled off of George. He stood up, his hands in the air. George struggled to his feet and backed away. Susan still had the gun pointed at Lucas. “Call 911,” she told George. “Tell them officer down.”

  Chapter 54

  “How is Detective Reynolds doing?” George asked, looking at Susan from across their table at the Fig and Olive, one of Newport Beach’s nicest restaurants. They each had a glass of wine and were waiting for their orders.

  “He’s recovering. He got a nasty blow on the back of the head, apparently from Lucas’ cane, which has a metal tip, but he only suffered a mild concussion, and he should be out of the hospital later today or tomorrow.”

  “And Lucas?”

  “He’s behind bars. He’s charged with both his wife’s and Sherry Bennett’s murders and the attempted murder of you and me, as well as assaulting a police officer. They found his wife’s clothing, with her blood on it, in that same bedroom. They also found the gloves he used when he killed both women, or it looks as if they’re the same gloves. They had traces of blood and they’re looking for fibers from the rope he used to kill Sherry Bennett. But anyway, he’s confessed to everything.”

  George nodded. “He must have taken Regina’s cell phone after he killed her.” He took a long drink of his wine.

  “He was hoping to use that text message to implicate you in his wife’s death. He may have opened it after he killed her. She may not even have seen it, since she didn’t answer, although it was sent weeks before she went missing.”

  He looked across at Susan without saying anything.

  “You still don’t remember sending that text, do you?”

  George took another sip. He looked around for the waiter, hoping to be interrupted by the arrival of food. Talking about his dissociative amnesia was still something that embarrassed him. “I only have a vague memory of having met her in a bar and not speaking to her. I don’t even remember leaving the bar that night.”

  The waiter finally arrived and they busied themselves with their food before Susan spoke again. “How long have you had such dissociative symptoms?”

  George put down his fork. “They started in early adolescence, then they stopped after I had my training analysis. So far as I know, they never returned until that night when I saw Regina in the bar.” He took another long drink of his wine.

  “Why do you think they came back?”

  “Regina and I went out in college once. We went to a dance over summer vacation. I was still having fugue states now and then. I drank too much and apparently misbehaved during a fugue state. I don’t remember what I did, but Regina objected to it. It upset both of us and we never saw each other again until that night in the bar. I guess that brought the memory back and provoked enough defenses against it to put me into a dissociative state. Then I blocked out having known Regina at all until I saw a picture of us together. It was taken the night we had that awful date.”

  She looked at him quizzically. “Have you had other fugue episodes since then?”

  He felt anxious. He reached for his glass of wine and saw that it was empty. He looked around for the waiter. “I’m going to need another glass of wine to talk about this.”

  Susan looked concerned. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  When the waiter had brought him another glass of wine, George took a long sip then shut his eyes for a moment. “OK,” he said, opening his eyes. “I had three more fugue episodes that I’m aware of. The first one was when I scheduled Lucas for his first appointment. My secretary was out and I made the appointment myself, but I don’t remember doing so.”

  Susan took a sip of her own wine and nodded. “So Bonaventure was telling the truth about you scheduling his appointment yourself.”

  George nodded. “The second time was when I went to meet Sherry Bennett that night when she called me from the parking garage. From the time I entered the parking garage until the time I found myself trying to remove the rope from her neck, I have no memory.”

  Susan’s eyes widened in surprise. “You blacked out that whole time?”

  “Not blacked out. I drove to her car and got out and tried to save her, but I don’t remembe
r doing so.”

  “You said there were three episodes.”

  “The third time was when I went to my property and dug up Regina’s body. Lucas had told me about a dream in which he described what sounded like my homesite at Banning Ranch. He said that in his dream he saw Regina buried there. I was curious, but when I got there and saw this mound of dirt, I blanked out. The next thing I knew I was digging in the dirt and her body was coming up.”

  “My God,” Susan said.

  “I thought I might have murdered them,” George said, taking another drink.

  “But you didn’t. Lucas has admitted killing those women and he tried to kill us, and they’ve found the evidence in his house.”

  George hung his head and nodded. He looked up. “Didn’t you wonder about me, yourself?”

  Susan shook her head. “I was shocked that you had lied to me, but I never believed you were the killer.” She gazed at him. “Abe thought it was you, I think.” Her expression became puzzled. “What about Lucas? Has he got a neurosis or was he making all of his symptoms up?”

  George smiled. It was the first time since the beginning of their lunch. “That’s my one big disappointment. I’ll never be able to complete Lucas’ therapy. I still think he has a real neurosis. He was fixated on Sherry Bennett as a substitute for his wife. And most of his dreams were real. He may have copied some from his wife’s books, but not all of them. Somehow, though, maybe after he saw the text from me on his wife’s cell phone, he decided to pin the murders on me. I’m not sure if he had that in mind when he scheduled his first appointment, but after I saw Sherry Bennett, I think the idea crystallized in his mind, or maybe after I found her dead and he knew that I could easily become a suspect. I’ll never know exactly.”

  “What about his paralysis?”

  “I think that was real. I mean you saw its onset yourself in the morgue. But obviously, it had remitted before we saw him that last time. His leg was fully functional when he pulled Reynolds’ gun on us.”