He called Sabre and left a message reminding her that he needed the visitor logs at DJJ and at Northern to see if Tray had had any visitors over the last three years. Then he continued with his research, this time concentrating on DDA Marge Benson and Judge Thomas Palatini.
Louie, JP's beagle, dashed up to him with a Frisbee in his mouth. JP stood up and stretched. He had been sitting longer than he should have without a break, so he took Louie outside. For the next ten minutes, he and Louie played catch with the Frisbee, but JP couldn't get his mind off of his investigation.
He went back inside, poured a cup of coffee, and positioned himself in front of his whiteboard. He had so many suspects he decided to approach his board differently than the one at Sabre’s office. He made sticky notes for each of the residents who had lived at the group home since Tray’s case began or for anyone who was directly involved with a murder victim. They included Jacob, Mario, Tray, Oscar, and Barlowe. He had sticky notes for all the group home staff for that same time period: Jesse, Callum, Cheryl, Isaac, and Antonio. There were more sticky notes for the three therapists. After investigating the rest of the adjunct staff, teachers, and volunteers, he couldn't find any reason to continue with any of them.
He created two categories. The first category he labeled "Dead Goofs.” Even though these men had been murdered, JP couldn't get himself to call them victims. As far as he was concerned, the boys were the real victims. The second was "Goof-Killer Leader." The other possible scenarios were that the defendants did it themselves on their own and copied Tray or that an outside copycat had done it. JP had already investigated possible family members of Oscar and Barlowe and had come up dry, which didn't surprise him since it was highly unlikely that random people with no connection to the group home killed all three men.
Then he placed the sticky notes of the names of anyone who didn't have a good alibi for at least one of the murders into the first group. Since the exact time of death for Sammy Everton wasn't determined, that left only the time frame for when Glen Irving and Roy Harris were murdered. JP excluded the defendants for this round, which left Cheryl and Dr. Deb. Dr. Deb was home alone when both men were killed. Her husband traveled a lot with the ministry, and he was out of town on both occasions. And Cheryl, who lived by herself, was home alone with only her cats to vouch for her.
The next category, “Goof-Killer Leader,” included Cheryl, Jesse, Callum, Mario, Antonio, Dr. Deb, and Dr. Bell. JP excluded Dr. Prasad because he had had very little contact with Tray. Isaac was unlikely because none of the boys liked him enough to follow him. Cheryl and Dr. Deb had risen on JP's "most likely suspect" list. They fit on both lists, so not only could they have led the goof-killer organization, but they were available to assist since it seemed unlikely any of these boys could’ve pulled off the murders alone.
The phone rang and JP picked it up. "Hi, Greg. Do you have something new for me?"
"You're all business today."
"Sorry, I'm knee-deep in this investigation."
"Maybe the question should be: do you have anything for me?" Nelson said.
"No, just a lot of dead ends."
"I called to tell you that you were right."
"Of course I was right. What about?"
"The other body we found is Carl Murray. So spill. What exactly do you know?"
JP sighed. "Murray molested another resident of Mary Ellen Wilson Group Home."
"Are you kidding me? Who was Murray's victim?"
"He's a seventeen-year-old boy named Jacob Lowe. His dependency case is about five years old, so he would’ve been about twelve. He still lives at Wilson."
"Anything else?"
"There's something very wrong with this whole thing, Nelson. Too much doesn't add up."
"I know. We're looking beyond these boys, but we still think they were involved."
"There’s definitely something beyond what these kids are capable of. By the way, have they narrowed the time of death on Murray yet?"
"Determining his identity helped with the time of death. Based on what the entomologists, the coroner, and the witnesses have reported as to when he was last seen, we've pinpointed the death on or around five years ago.”
"He was definitely around the first part of April that year because the accusations on the petition are for April 2.”
“Good to know.”
"Thanks, Nelson, for the info. That's a big help."
"How's that? What else do you know?"
"Nothing for certain. I'll let you know when I get something concrete."
"Don't hold out on me, Torn."
They hung up, and JP checked his notes and wrote out a quick timeline. Then he went to the board and removed four of the names—those who were not involved with the group home when Carl Murray, Jacob's goof, was killed. Then he went back on the computer and continued to research the remaining two suspects but was unsuccessful in finding anything that might help.
JP had reached a frustration point when Sabre called. He took a deep breath and smiled. Hearing from her was a welcomed break.
"Hey, kid," JP said.
"I only have a second, but I have the information you wanted on Tray's visitors. His mother was there three times while he was in San Bernardino and she has not been to Northern. Each time, June Longe, the foster mother, transported her. I'm sure it wasn't easy for the mother to get there on her own. Tray's sister, Shanisha, never came. On two other occasions the foster parents went without the mother. My guess is that his mother was probably in no shape to go. She's been in and out of rehab since he left. The only other visitor he had was his therapist, a Dr. J. Williams."
"Is that ‘J’ as in an initial or a name?"
"It's an initial."
"How many times did the doctor go?"
Sabre didn't answer right away, but JP could hear her counting. "Five times," she said. "Looks like every six months, probably some kind of evaluation or something. I'm not sure what they do there, but I'll check to see if there is some paperwork I should be reviewing since I'm still the attorney of record."
"Has the doctor been to Northern?"
"Just once."
"And Mario, or anyone else from Wilson, has not been to visit him?"
"No. No one else has visited. I'll email you the paperwork."
"Thanks, and if you get any reports from Dr. Williams, send those too, please."
"Will do, but it isn't likely it'll be today. It's already late. By the way, have you learned anything about Judge Palatini?"
"For what it's worth, Palatini had a minor grandson who was charged with armed robbery. He won his 707 hearing and was tried in juvenile court but lost. He maintains his innocence and the judge has been his biggest champion. The judge stated publicly that a jury would've found him innocent and the kid should’ve had a jury trial. He wasn't slamming the judge who made the ruling but rather the system."
"There's been a lot of scuttlebutt here at juvenile court that Palatini has never ruled for a minor to stay in juvenile on a 707, but I don't know if it's an exaggeration. I know he's conservative, but I don't know that he's unfair. I have a friend in the clerk's office who has agreed to get me that information, so we'll see. They’re ready for me in court. I gotta go." She hung up.
JP returned to his computer and began searching for Dr. J. Williams. He found Joseph Williams, PhD in Staten Island, NY; Jaqueline in Roseville, California; Jessica in Woodland Hills, California; and another fifteen or so possibilities. He Googled the doctors who were local but quickly eliminated the majority of them for one reason or another. He had two left who were possibilities: Jessica of Woodland Hills and J.B. Williams of Los Angeles. He continued to dig and discovered that J.B. was educated at McGill University in Montreal and was an internationally famous, renowned expert in hypnotism and had served time in the Marine Corps. Jessica received her PhD from the University of California, San Diego. She was a member of the American Psychological Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. H
er expertise was child abuse.
Next he researched Under the Same Sun, the program in Africa that worked with the albinos. Dr. John Bell was a regular, loyal participant of the program. There were photos of the good doctor working with children at the school.
JP picked up his phone and started making phone calls. What he found proved to be very informative.
Louie walked up and laid his head on JP's leg. JP reached down and petted him. "Hey, boy. Let's watch a movie."
JP retrieved the flash drive of the Albertsons’ security video when Tray was in the store. He had probably watched it forty times when they were preparing for Tray's trial. He was hoping he might see something he had missed in light of all he had learned. Maybe one of the other "suspects" would show up on the video. He ran it through, stopping frequently to zero in on different people. When he saw Irving, he blew it up and looked at him from every possible angle, and then he saw something. "See that, Louie! How did I miss it before?"
He called and left Sabre a message as to where he was going.
Chapter 59
JP opened the door to Dr. Bell's office to find the doctor standing behind his desk, which was off to the right of the room. He had several stacks of files in front of him.
"Come on in," Bell said.
"Thanks for seeing me so late." JP stepped inside, leaving the door about three-quarters of the way open.
"No problem. You know I'm glad to help these boys."
JP found something uncomfortable about the stance the doctor had. He couldn't see his right hand. JP stopped. His first reaction was to reach for his shoulder holster, but before he could, Bell raised his right hand, exposing his FNS9 semi-automatic 9mm pistol. The doctor's hand was steady and he looked all too confident for JP not to take him seriously. "Keep your hands where I can see them. And don't underestimate me. I may be short, but I'm no slouch. I did my time in the U.S. Marine Corps in a special psychological ops unit that few people knew existed. We had extensive combat training as well as PsyOp training. I will kill you if I need to."
"Okay," JP said. "It's your rodeo."
"I want you to remove your gun very slowly with your left hand and lay it on the floor."
JP did as he was told.
"Kick it over there." He nodded to the side of the room farthest from the door.
JP kicked the gun, and it stopped as it slid into the wall about ten feet from him.
"Now, slowly sit down in that chair over there."
As JP sat down, Bell walked around to the front of the desk and leaned against it, positioning himself about six feet from JP. The door was still open, but JP didn't look at it for fear Bell would close it.
"I know you've been looking into my past."
"I don't know that much," JP said.
"It would be only a matter of time before you do. You already know my name is ‘Williams,' not 'Bell.'"
JP's phone rang.
"Don't answer that."
"Okay." When it stopped ringing, JP said, "Are you really a psychologist?"
"Yes. Dr. John Williams is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal. Dr. Bell had to fix a few documents, but he’s just as much a psychologist."
"What is it that John Williams has done that John Bell doesn't want anyone to know?" JP thought that as long as the doctor was speaking in the third person, he may as well too.
"I was ridding Canada of child abusers."
"The way you have been here?"
Bell smiled. "I've been concerned about Ms. Brown. When she gets her teeth into something, she doesn't let go, does she?"
"No, she doesn't." JP watched for any clue that Bell wasn't fully focused so JP might catch him off guard, but so far he hadn't seen any. JP's phone rang again.
Bell shook his head.
"It's probably Sabre, and if I don't answer it soon, she'll call the cops. She knows I'm here."
"What else does she know?"
"Only that I had some suspicions. She doesn't have any specifics."
"Answer it and if you do anything funny, I'll have to shoot you, and then I'll go find her and shoot her. Put it on speaker."
JP caught the call on the last ring. "Hi, Sabre."
"Hi, are you okay?"
"Sure, I just finished up with the doctor and I'm going to stop on the way home for a beer, a good ol' Shiner Bock."
"Okay. Don't be too late."
He hung up.
"What kind of beer is Shiner Bock?"
"It's a Texas beer, the very best."
"Slide your phone across the floor over there by your gun."
JP slid his phone away, and asked, "Why did you do it?"
"They got what they deserved. They were walking around free to molest other children. I had to stop them."
"But you let Tray go to prison for it."
"I tried to stop it. I did everything I could."
"Except tell the truth. Were you going to let Oscar and Barlowe get convicted as well?"
"Only if I had to. It's for the greater good."
JP tried to come up with a plan, but the best idea he had was to keep Bell talking until Sabre found help. He just hoped she wouldn't try to come herself. All of a sudden he was concerned that she might, but the clues he gave her sent a pretty strong message. JP was sure that he could keep Bell talking. The doctor seemed to enjoy the interchange almost as if he were proud of what he had done and finally had the opportunity to talk about it.
"Did you kill the men or did you have the boys do it?"
Bell scowled at him. "I wouldn't do that. What kind of an animal do you think I am?"
JP still wasn't certain which question he had answered. He waited for Bell to explain.
"Don't you understand? These boys needed justice and closure. This way, they got both."
"How did you get them to do it?"
"Are you not listening to me?" His voice was louder. "I wouldn't let those boys take a life at their age and have to live with that forever. I know what that's like. I'm trying to stop their suffering, not add to it."
"But won't they suffer in prison? I know Tray is miserable."
"You don't get it. They're already in prison in their minds. There is no prison worse than that. The only thing that helps is to see their predator get his due. If the justice system works, the abusers go to prison. If it doesn't, the goofs must die."
"You said you knew what it was like. Were you young the first time you killed someone?" JP knew he had to keep him talking.
"I was fifteen, but that doesn't matter. After a while, it gets easier. But I have never killed anyone who didn't deserve it."
"Until now. We both know you're going to have to kill me to shut me up. Besides, you wouldn't tell me everything if you didn't already plan to get rid of me."
"Sometimes it's about survival. I learned that in Vietnam."
"Tell me, Dr. Bell, why did you write GOOF on their foreheads?"
"So the world would know who and what they were."
"Did you write it, or did the boys?"
"I did. I wanted them to do it, but then they would've had to see their abusers and I didn't want to put them through that. But if they had seen them dead, I think that might’ve been good for them. But I wasn’t sure that I could control them enough to keep them quiet about it."
"And the notebooks with their handwriting? They were samples for you?"
"Yes, I traced them right onto the bodies."
"How did you get the boys to write in the notebooks and not tell? Did you hypnotize them?"
"You could say that. It actually took a little more mind control than your ordinary hypnotism, but I still didn't make them do anything they didn't want to. None of them wanted to kill them, except maybe Jacob. He might have been able to. Even Oscar, as angry as he is, didn't have it in him. But they all wanted to see them pay for what they did. The shame children suffer when they have been molested can be almost unbearable. It can affect every part of their lives. Some of them never get over the anger and the
shame, and they end up hurting other children. It's a vicious cycle. I helped to cleanse some of that.”
“It sounds like you know this from experience. Were you molested when you were young?”
“No.”
“But someone you were close to was?”
“We had been living in Oregon when our mother died. We were nine years old. They sent my twin brother and me to live with my father in Canada. He was a horrible man who called my brother a freak because he was albino. He treated him like he wasn’t even human. My father claimed the only thing my brother was good for was to satisfy his urges, and so he used him. I tried to stop him, but he would just knock me around.”
“Until?” JP asked.
“One day my brother couldn’t take it any longer and he hanged himself. My father just laughed, so I grabbed an iron skillet and hit him on the head. Then I buried him in the woods.”
“That explains a lot.”
“Don’t try to placate me. It won’t work.”
JP was silent for a few minutes.
“There are some statistics to show that when a child's abuser is punished, the victim is less likely to offend himself. I believe if the abuser is dead, the numbers will be even better."
"Really?"
"The stats are from such a small test sample that it's not really a valid test, so I've been collecting data myself for over ten years now. My biggest concern is that I won't live long enough to prove my theory because we have to wait for the boys to grow up and go out into the world. And then I have to keep in touch with them so I can see how they end up. I have records stored away and I've written the study into my trust, so they'll be shared with the scientific world and eventually the public."
"Are you killing these men as a part of an experiment?"
"No. I'm killing them because they need to be stopped, so they can’t hurt anyone else; because their victims need relief; and because they don't deserve to live. Having material for my study is just a bonus."
JP decided to try again to placate him. "I can see how the study would be an important tool."
The Advocate's Homicides Page 24