I, Psychopath

by Ph. D. Stephen M. Kahn

  The only adult I could think of turning to was the ex boyfriend of my mother who treated me better than any other man. I didn’t want to bring my mother into this and decided to look into her address book for Lester’s phone number and address. I didn’t know if he would really help but it was the best that could be done at this moment. The others were not having any luck in coming up with names of possible accomplices so I took it upon myself to start the ball rolling. When I came home that afternoon, the first place to look for the address book was in mother’s nightstand and there it was. I leafed through it quickly and held my breath until Lester’s name was found. Quickly copying down the information, I replaced the book and called the number. If he did not answer, I didn’t want to leave a message or he might call and my mother would answer. Then, I would have to answer a lot of questions about the contact which really did not concern her. The phone rang a number of times and finally a man answered in a voice I didn’t recognize. I asked if Lester was there and he said “that’s me”. After telling him who I was, his voice seemed very happy and surprised to hear from me. He wanted to know if anything was wrong and I asked him if we could meet and discuss something of importance that could benefit both of us. I’m sure he was very curious and we decided to meet in one hour at a nearby shopping mall that provided ample privacy.

  I arrived at the mall a little early and looked around for Lester until he appeared looking almost exactly as remembered by me. I waved to him and he came right over to me and patted my shoulder while motioning that we should sit on a bench away from other people. In my opinion, Lester did not look very prosperous and may have fallen on hard times recently which raised my optimism that he would be willing to help for a cut of the proceeds. After we discussed my mother for a few minutes and realizing that nothing was seriously wrong, he asked why I wanted this meeting. Taking a very deep breath, I told Lester that it was important that he keep our discussion secret and he agreed to do so. Starting at the beginning, I disclosed a shortened version of all the events leading up to the present and hoped that he would help. If Lester started moralizing or threatening to turn me in to police, then Cal, Bart and I were doomed. After finishing my story, I anxiously waited for his response and for a time, couldn’t tell what it would be. He looked at me in a serious way and then smiled while putting his hand on my shoulder. I felt relieved by his actions and listened to him as he described the best way to fence the stolen merchandise. Lester seemed to know what he was talking about and I began to wonder what his line of work was. He wanted to see the goods very soon and if they looked promising, the next step would be to show them to prospective buyers while figuring out what a good price would be. I felt a huge degree of elation after he spoke and knew then and there that my actions had been correct. I told Lester that we could meet tomorrow at this same place and the jewelry would be handed over to him. He promised that any transaction made would be quick and fair to all by splitting the proceeds equally between the four of us

  I called the others that evening and told them the good news. They gave me a lot of praise for my work and looked forward to seeing what kind of profit was forthcoming. I mentioned that Lester would have to receive some of the proceeds but they thought that it was fair to include him in. I couldn’t wait for school to end the next day so the meeting with Lester could take place. I had visions of a huge amount of money coming my way and wanted to get the process started. After school was let out, I headed for the mall with jewelry in my school bag, and waited for Lester to arrive. He showed up promptly and said that we should walk out of the mall to a deserted area where less people could notice us. We found an isolated area and I handed the goods to him which he briefly looked at with widening eyes. He told me that the stuff looked genuine and could bring all of us a nice bounty. Before departing, Lester put the goods in a bag and told me to call him in two days when everything should be completed. I told him how much he was appreciated and left the mall with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. I phoned Bart and Cal that evening and relayed what had happened. Both of them seemed very satisfied with the events. Now all we had to do was wait for the money train to come in and live life a little better.

  As tired as my mother was when she came home, I received a few remarks from her about how pleasant my disposition had been in the last week. I suppose it was very hard for me to hide my feelings when things looked like they were going well but it certainly would be better in the future if my demeanor could remain neutral at all times. Time passed by uneventfully as I waited for the moment to call Lester and learn about his accomplishment. It was not easy to keep from phoning him before the agreed upon time, but I bit my tongue and held off until the correct moment. Now was the time and I phoned his number with trembling fingers and waited for his voice to answer. I got the answering machine and left a message about phoning him later. It was a little disappointing but I couldn’t expect him to hang around the phone all day waiting for me to call. About an hour later I tried again and didn’t leave a message. I called him about every half hour with a rising impatience that was turning to anger when finally his voice answered. I asked him how the deal went and was told that certain people were very interested in the pieces but that the price was not as high as he hoped for because the robbery had been reported to police and the goods were being sought by them. A good measure of fear ran through my body when I heard the word “police”, but I was able to calm down and ask how much we were offered. I almost went through the roof when the words three thousand dollars reached my ears. That was an incredible amount and splitting it evenly between the four of us would provide seven hundred and fifty dollars each. I didn’t know if Lester thought that the amount was terrific but for eight year old boys, it was a fortune. Lester was going to pick up the cash tonight and said he would meet me at the mall by three tomorrow afternoon with the money. I told him he did a great job and hung up the phone still reeling from the news. I wanted to call the others right away but decided to see them at school and perhaps take them with me to the mall so we could split the money immediately.

  My head was so filled with excitement that night that I hardly slept at all but a huge influx of youthful energy made me feel great. I looked for my pals at school and after finding them, told them what Lester had said. They almost let out whoops of joy in the hallway and other students must have thought we were high on something. I decided that after school let out, all of us would go to the mall but they would stay back when the meeting occurred. I didn’t know if Lester wanted other people to know his face and unless he indicated that others could join in, then it was just him and me. We walked to the mall and the boys waited outside while I went in to look for Lester. About ten minutes later, he showed up carrying a briefcase and sat down next to me. He mentioned that the buyers had been very impressed with the quality of the pieces and would be interested in purchasing more of the same. I told him that it was very likely we would come across similar items as we went through upper class houses. I was to call him when more goods were acquired and he was sure that very good prices could be obtained for our benefit. Lester said that we should walk outside and find a secluded spot to deal out the cash and I readily agreed. We located an ideal area and he opened the briefcase to show me that it contained lots of bills. He had already taken his share of the money and said that there was twenty two hundred and fifty dollars in fifties, twenties and tens for me. Lester cautioned me about spending money very fast and indiscriminately since it would bring attention to us. People might think something was odd about little boys having lots of cash. I told him that all of us would be very prudent in our habits, took the briefcase, thanked him and said we would be in touch when there was something to discuss. After we parted, I joined the boys by the mall entrance and all of us headed for my house with a tremendous bounce in our steps. We were probably the richest eight year olds in the country. When we got to my house, I locked the front door and unloaded the bills onto my bed where they made quite an impressive pil
e. Our eyes were wide open as we made several attempts to count the money before finally getting it right. The amount was just as Lester had said and after dividing it into three piles, the boys put their shares in school bags and I hid mine under the bed for the time being. I told them what Lester had said about spending recklessly and they agreed to watch their step. After they left, I began to think about a better place to keep my stash since it was now getting to be a sizable chunk. Oh well, these kinds of problems I could live with anytime.

  CHAPTER THREE

  In a few weeks, I would be nine years old and it seemed that my thinking was getting better. I had a problem with Lester’s complete willingness to split the money evenly and wondered if he received a lot more money for the jewelry than was stated. He just seemed to be too cooperative with us and probably would find it very easy to take advantage of young boys who really did all the work. However, I didn’t know what to do about it and didn’t want to mention the matter to him lest he take offense and refuse to help again. I suppose that having a large cache of money was all that a young man could expect under these circumstances. I had never really expected much on my birthdays since there was never much extra money for these ordinary celebrations. My mother would usually have a birthday cake and a few little gifts and I would act very appreciative for the items that were mostly useless to me. This year I wanted to buy something really nice for myself but how could I do it without arousing suspicions? A hundred dollar gift is not something that people usually give to me and I had to convince my mother that the expensive item came from a legitimate source. I thought about saying that the gift came from Lester and concocted some excuse for his generosity. I would tell my mother a story of how we met by accident and became friends. If she thought that Lester was doing real well, then a gift from him would not be out of line. It isn’t like I received lots of gifts from people and my mother might be happy that someone liked me so much. I wanted to buy a really fancy cell phone from which my allies could be reached quickly but the plan needed an adult’s signature. I decided to call Lester and see if he would help me and to my delight, he agreed to put his name on the cell phone plan contract. All I had to do was meet him at the phone store with the money and let him do the rest. Now I could have something really cool for my birthday.

  I had so much money that committing another break in was not on my mind and wouldn’t have been an option until Lester brought it up. After he had signed for a two year phone plan and gave me a great looking phone, a serious discussion came up between us. Lester said that the money was so good from my robbery that the jobs shouldn’t stop. He thought that my plans were so well crafted that the chance of ever getting caught was minimal. Going on, he stated that the people who bought the goods last time were really interested in more of the same and would pay top dollar to us. Lester mentioned that he wished it was possible to join us but an adult would certainly arouse suspicion from anyone in the area who happened to see a man with three boys lurking about. It started to dawn on me that my work could become a great source of income for him and his only interest was in making as much money as possible without caring for the safety of three juveniles. It’s not that I was against doing more burglaries but I wanted to make sure that the lion’s share of the money did not go to Lester. I told him that the others would have to be told and the matter discussed between us. He didn’t look too happy with my response but quickly regained his composure and told me to get back to him soon. This was turning into a problem that would not be easily solved.

  My mother accepted the story about Lester buying me a birthday gift and said nothing more about it to me. Now I had a nice phone which was immediately used to call Bart and Cal at their houses to arrange a meeting after eating our suppers. We met in a park just as twilight was darkening and I started telling them about my concerns with Lester and his ideas. They didn’t seem to care if he was cheating us as long as they got plenty of cash from our efforts. I suppose that it was an uphill struggle to make them feel that we were getting shortchanged and after a while, the matter was dropped. They made it clear to me that more jobs were the way to go since it had all been so easy. I couldn’t argue with that reasoning. While we were sitting on a bench, Cal brought out a baggy of green stuff which I knew was marijuana and said that we should try it and get high. I had never tried pot before or anything else because of the fear of losing control of my actions. I hesitated but the other two kept insisting that we all do it and after watching them smoke a joint, tried it also. For a few minutes, nothing was happening and then an explosion in my head occurred that gave me a fright for a few seconds until a pleasant feeling took over. We watched each other and started talking but that soon turned into uncontrollable laughter and I found myself having fun. We smoked more and continued acting silly until stomach pangs made me aware of how hungry I felt. We walked over to a burger place and ordered the usual except that it tasted better than ever before. I thought that this was a tremendous experience and very adult but care had to be taken that my mind remained sharp for all of my activities.

  With Cal’s help, I bought my own bag of marijuana and kept it in one of my chest drawers where it wouldn’t be noticed easily. The more I smoked over the next few weeks, the better my mood was and any resistance to working with Lester became weaker and weaker. It now seemed to be a good time for planning another break in and making everybody happy. The next day at school, I notified the boys that it was time to get back to work and make another bundle of cash. They were all for it and were eager to scout the areas for a prosperous target that could mean a big payday. I wanted to be sure that we stayed away from the prior areas and found a neighborhood that was suitable and distant. It would mean riding the busses for longer periods of time and risking someone identifying us but if we got on and off the busses at different stops or even took different busses, it would minimize our risk. I had to work out a foolproof plan that could get us to the target and back to our area quickly. It was quite a feat for a nine year old but I knew it could be done and when completed successfully, would be a feather in my cap. I looked at a map of bus lines in the phone directory and spent hours figuring out routes and transfers. Now we had to pick out a neighborhood in a swanky area and coordinate all of the factors. We knew where the better areas were and had to spend long hours riding busses to see how they looked. Then, we needed to narrow down the houses to one that looked as if it contained what we wanted. The entire operation was not going to be an easy task but I figured that the more difficult the job, the bigger the rewards. I hoped that’s how it actually worked out and at this moment, it sounded good.

  I phoned Lester to let him know that we were planning to strike soon and his responses were very pleasing. He wanted to know where and when but there was no way I would let him in our plans. I still didn’t fully trust him and kept his involvement with us at arms’ length. The three of us spent the next few days discussing our next job and spending long hours traveling to and from destinations. Many of the areas looked promising and picking out one to zero in on would not be easy. After much debate and frustration during which time all of us lost our tempers at different moments, we compromised on an area and set our minds to choosing a target. The neighborhood was extremely quiet and far removed from heavily traveled streets. The houses were large and set about fifty feet apart from each other which would provide us with a good deal of cover when walking to the rear. Many of the buildings had ground floor windows and driveways without cars in them so occupants did not seem to be at home in the afternoons of our visits. We had walked through the area separately and then discussed the possibilities a few times before finally deciding on the best house to gain entry. It didn’t seem to be too difficult a job and we hoped to make a nice haul of cash and items from our work. The bus lines had been checked out and we knew where the stops were within a ten block radius of our target. All that remained was picking out a day and doing the deed.

  We had always found that the middle of the week was bes
t for our venture although there was no particular reason for thinking so. It had seemed to work in the past and I didn’t want to change routines that had been good to us. We decided to commit the break in on a Thursday at the usual time of about three and just hoped that the street would be as quiet then as it had been when we inspected the area. For the next two days, my mind raced over our plans and looked for any possible obstacle that my thoughts were capable of generating. After going round and round with it, I couldn’t find any problem that would block us other than a large dog or someone at home. Since we had not heard dogs barking at any time, I discounted that snag and should someone answer when the bell was rung, then we would move on. Lester had phoned to see how the plans were progressing but I gave him no details. He was beginning to show some impatience with me and probably wanted to know everything about the robbery. I was always able to put him off with excuses about our ages making this kind of planning slow to come about. Finally, Thursday arrived and we met across the street from our school before classes were let out. We needed more time for travel and could deal with the truancy later.

  We took a bus toward the neighborhood and each of us got off at a different stop to avoid any appearance of togetherness. After the job was done, each of us would walk to a different bus route stop and arrive at our destination separately. We met one block from the target and looked over the area carefully. Nothing seemed to be unusual and we slowly proceeded to move toward the house. Cal went to the front door and rang the bell several times until he was satisfied that no one would answer. Then Bart and I walked across the street and we made our way to the rear. This time, I asked Cal to keep watch in case someone should arrive at the house and while he was not happy with the assignment, took a position near the front of the house. The house was very large and well hidden by many enormous bushes. Four windows were on the ground floor and all we had to do was find an open one before risking any further action. The first two would not budge but the third one gave a little and we were able to pry it open. Climbing through provided entry into a large kitchen area and we immediately went about searching for cash and items. Bart stayed on the ground floor and I went upstairs to where the bedrooms were. I did my usually procedure of opening all the drawers and scooping out whatever looked valuable. There was some cash and jewelry but not as much as I hoped for. I went through every single drawer and even looked under beds but couldn’t find much else. Feeling a little disappointed, I walked down to see how Bart was making out and he was waiting for me by the stairs with what looked like a very plump school bag. Once we were satisfied with our search and could see no more reason to remain, it was time to make our exit. We quickly went around to the front to show Cal that we were leaving when the words “stop, right there” pierced through me like a knife. Surrounding us were three police cars and six officers with guns drawn. I could see that Cal was already in one of the cars which explained why we were not warned. The police quickly put us in their cars after taking our bags away and frisking our bodies. They didn’t put handcuffs on us but gave out a warning about trying to run away. I didn’t see any chance of that happening and at the moment I was so shocked and scared, that thinking of ways to escape was out of the question. On the way to the police station, one officer mentioned that we had been caught by a silent burglar alarm. That was one aspect I hadn’t thought of due to my inexperience with complicated crimes. The unthinkable had finally happened and now I was facing a dismal future.