He recognized the irony. He had been unable to convince a jury and now had to think that maybe they had seen what he had chosen to ignore, human intuition guiding their decision and trumping all the rhetoric. He had to know the truth.
He could feel regret, but he couldn’t change any of it. Where had Garrett been when those women were killed? Maybe she had an explanation for her fingerprints that would make sense. For all he knew, there was a simple explanation. St. Claire may have used it on her and she had grabbed the can. But he needed to hear that explanation, as did Ernie and Puccinelli. There was only one way to get it. They had to ask.
Jamison kept thinking about what kind of case they would have if she was involved. First she was the victim and St. Claire was the stalker. Then she wasn’t a victim, but now she was a suspect?
All the evidence he used that pointed in one direction would now have to point in another. If Garrett was involved, and as far as Jamison was concerned that wasn’t a solid conclusion yet, then they wouldn’t be able to use her testimony to prove what St. Claire did for purposes of MO. Would St. Claire have been a step ahead of them on that one too?
No defense attorney was going to let her testify to prove her own guilt. And then there would be the major stumbling block, the problems created by Detective Longworthy’s suddenly finding incriminating evidence after St. Claire’s car had been thoroughly searched by experienced forensic technicians. That was the linchpin evidence that directly linked St. Claire to the murders. To prove Garrett guilty, Jamison would have to prove that St. Claire was guilty. Even though he knew he couldn’t use the evidence Longworthy said he found, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t have to disclose that evidence if he went after Garrett. The fact that police officers may have planted evidence would adversely impact every inference a jury would be asked to draw because it would cast suspicion on every other piece of evidence. And it would take Longworthy down along with the rest of his case. The only way he could prove Garrett was involved, if in fact she was involved, would have to come from her own mouth.
Jamison looked down at his legal pad. He had been trying to diagram it out. All he had drawn was an endless series of circles. He reached for the phone. When he talked to Beth she needed to be on his turf, and he needed to have his head screwed on straight. Jamison knew what St. Claire was. What he didn’t know was what she was. Instead of calling Beth Garrett, he dialed another number.
Dr. Levy agreed to meet him at his office at the university where he taught graduate psychology students.
Jamison was waiting outside his door when Levy came walking down the hall. All he said to the younger man was, “Matt, let’s go inside and talk. I can tell you have a lot on your mind.”
Seeing Jamison’s agitation, Levy made a reflective comment. “Dr. St. Claire’s dead and in a very primitive but effective way justice has been served. Or”—Levy hesitated as he regarded Matt carefully, the right corner of his mouth lifting into an inquisitive expression—“has justice not yet been served?”
As Jamison explained the current situation and the land mines of facts and contradictions confronting him—the fingerprints and the letter—it all came out of his mouth in a torrent. That he felt confusion, anger, and disappointment was evident to the psychologist but it was also evident that no small amount of pain came from reality lapping up against expectations. It was what happened when people saw another person more clearly, as if a veil had been removed, when their emotions no longer obscured their vision.
“So,” Levy observed, “I take it Ms. Garrett may not be the victim you thought her to be?” Levy put his fingertips together and brought his hands to the tip of his nose before lowering them and looking across his desk.
“St. Claire was clearly manipulative, but then again, he may not be the only one who was manipulative. People—all of us—have a number of complex motivations for what we do. Frequently, it’s difficult to tell what the motivation really is unless the person tells you, and most of the time they won’t. It isn’t whether she is telling the truth or lying that is the issue for me.
“Matt, in my practice I’ve seen a range of female behavior and oftentimes it is as inexplicable as it is dark. Some women live out power and sadism through the actions of the men they’re involved with. And while the vast majority of women are predisposed biologically to be nurturers, that doesn’t mean that females don’t have anger or aggression issues. They simply learn to express their anger and aggression differently and often in more indirect ways. You have to realize that while most men and women wince at causing other people pain, there are some who simply enjoy inflicting pain. Whether they do it directly or more obliquely, the real question is why.” Levy paused to pour ice water into a glass. “And that is something psychologists struggle with every day.
“Women are not necessarily all that different from men, they just act out differently or by different means. We just don’t often see this kind of conduct in women, possible involvement in serial murders as opposed to being only emotionally involved with a serial murderer. Do you understand?”
Jamison nodded slowly but there was still confusion on his face. “Why in the world would she be drawn to a man like St. Claire?”
Levy cut in. “And you think human behavior is supposed to make sense? Most human behavior makes no sense if we look at it in a logical fashion. It is perhaps easier if we look at it in terms of motivation rather than logic. Why do people do dangerous things that might hurt them? For the thrill, yes? But logic should tell them that where there is a real risk of being hurt, then the action isn’t worth the potential consequence. And yet, people do it anyway, again and again.”
Levy sensed that Jamison was still resisting his conjecture. “Let me tell you a story. I had a case where a woman came to me because she was in an abusive relationship. Every Friday night she would sit in her chair in the living room waiting for her husband to come home. And every Friday night he would come home intoxicated. She would wait for him and then meet him at the door and tell him he was a miserable, worthless son of a bitch. He would respond by beating her and then go up to their bedroom and pass out. The next day he would apologize profusely and promise to do better. This happened every Friday night and only on Friday night.
“I asked her what would happen if she just sat in her chair and didn’t confront him when he came home. Her answer was that he would then simply go up to their bedroom and wouldn’t hurt her. When I asked then why didn’t she sit there in her chair instead of confronting him, her answer was that if she did that, then she would be giving him a free pass for coming home drunk. You see, Matt, logic has nothing to do with it.
“The reality is that Ms. Garrett may have been a victim or maybe she wasn’t a victim at all. There was a relationship here between her and St. Claire and it’s not news to any of us that relationships are very complicated. Men and women play out fantasy sexual submission scenes all the time. It is the difference in a real relationship between a woman who prefers to feel that she is receiving her lover, and a woman who actually wants to have sex but who isn’t comfortable with the responsibility. So her relationship always has to involve elements of dominance and, sometimes, danger.”
Jamison blurted out, “It’s not normal, dammit.”
Levy smiled. “What’s normal and what’s not? The key issue is whether it’s consensual. The biological distinction between aggression and sex is very slight.
“Think of it this way. The basis of sexuality in the animal world is not sentimental. Humans have engrafted it with sentimentality. We are not Neanderthals who hit women over the head and have our way with them, and women are not Neanderthals who accept such conduct. But the conduct is a part of our deeply buried genetic behavior. In this respect, for these two individuals, I am talking about a possible pattern of behavior in which the boundaries of sexual conduct are a matter of consent and the behavior is like a play in which both people act out a part to get the pleasure they seek.”
Jamison blinke
d rapidly. “You’re saying that Elizabeth and St. Claire may have been acting out an elaborate game? What about the trial? Why would she put him through that? What about the risk? Suppose the jury had believed her, convicted him? What about—”
Levy gently brought the unspoken issue to the surface. “I think what you really mean here is what about you? Isn’t that what you’re asking? You may have been part of that game or you might actually represent something that Elizabeth Garrett really wants her life to be, to love and be loved by a man like you. You see, Matt, regardless of how this woman presents herself to the rest of the world, inside her head she knows what she is, and that the world may not understand what she likes to do—or needs to do.”
Jamison stood and began to pace as he listened to Levy.
“She may not be able to understand her own behavior and she may actually want her life to be different. What she wants to be and what she is are not necessarily things she can control.”
Jamison shook his head. “Why would she do this? Even if logic has nothing to do with it, if Beth was involved in all of this I need to understand why. I have a professional decision to make as to how to handle her when we talk.”
Levy’s face took on a pensive expression. “I can only speculate, but there is perhaps a possible explanation. In some people there is what is commonly referred to as a borderline personality disorder. We don’t know precisely what causes it. The most recent research indicates that it is the result of events that occur before the age of five and sometimes as late as seven. Not everyone who is molested has this as a consequence, but it’s common that women who have this disorder were sexually molested.
“Many of these women have suppressed the memory of the sexual molestation or it occurred in the first three or four years of life and the person may not even remember it. Sometimes it isn’t suppressed at all and they are always aware of its presence. What we don’t know is why it has such an adverse effect on some people and not others.
“If I had to speculate, I would suspect that this Bobby Allison may have something to do with this. Why would his name come out as a person she would pick so abruptly when confronted with the letter? He was older than her, correct? Based on what you’ve said, he’s not a person you would expect would come to mind unless he’s someone who has never left her mind.
“My guess is there’s something there, probably buried very deeply. She may not even remember what happened or if she does remember, it’s unlikely that she has ever told a living soul, including her parents. Even if she doesn’t remember the details it’s likely that she is aware of a shadow at the back of her mind, and she’s frightened of it, even terrified.
“What we do know is that such an event, even though it happened years and years ago, has a very significant capacity to disrupt the way the person is wired. It can lie suppressed for years and then there can be some event, sometimes stressful, that triggers the consequence and you get acting out in all kinds of aberrant and very self-destructive ways . . .”
“What kind of aberrant ways?” Jamison asked. His voice was filled with tension, he knew, but he needed to hear it all.
“Promiscuity, infidelity, detached relationships, inability to maintain secure relationships because of self-worth issues. A predator like Alex St. Claire could easily have sensed such vulnerability. And in a very bizarre way, their individual psychological issues might be symbiotic. He would very easily feed on her vulnerability and she could very easily fall prey to his charisma to fulfill her own sexual needs or whatever subconscious sense that she has of herself. Sometimes, as difficult as it is to understand, people engage in degrading or self-destructive behavior because they feel they are worthless human beings and the behavior is consistent with that.”
Levy’s tone softened as he tried to help Jamison accommodate the reality of what he was going to do, as well as accept that his failure to see the situation clearly was much more understandable than he had allowed himself to believe.
“Matt, don’t be too hard on yourself. If I’m right, then Elizabeth Garrett is a profoundly troubled person. She’s manipulative and this will not change, at least not without years of psychotherapy, and even then it may not be successful. It is likely that she controls herself while interacting in the outside world, but make no mistake, in her mind this woman is aware that what she is inside, the combination of her feelings and fears, is very different from what she presents to the world. And the tension of this duality—of keeping what she is inside and how she presents herself to the outside world—creates terrible stress for her.”
“And for the rest of the world.” Jamison uttered the words without anger, more in weariness.
“Ah, the world? It’s likely that no one knows or will know unless there’s a triggering event,” Levy replied. “What you see is what she wants to be. What she is may remain unseen or maybe was seen only by Alex St. Claire.”
“And with him gone now . . . ? What will happen to her do you think?”
“Well, of course, that may largely depend on you,” Levy responded. “If she was a participant with St. Claire or maybe encouraged him, then the vehicle for her to act out her fantasies is now gone also. She won’t act without him and unless she finds somebody else, she’ll simply go forward.
“But, there’s also the possibility, as I suspect you hope, that she had nothing to do with what St. Claire did. She may be innocent as you think of innocence even though she played a part in his dark games. When you talk to her, you’ll see it and you’ll know what you can prove. That’s for you. I’m a psychologist, not a criminal investigator.”
Jamison stood. “Thank you, Dr. Levy. And we shall see. However,” he added as the two men shook hands, “in court, what you know and what you can prove are not always the same. Sometimes what you know is more important than what you can prove or, perhaps, even want to prove.”
Levy nodded thoughtfully, releasing one last thought. “It occurs to me that all of the victims looked alike.” Jamison stopped and leaned against the door, waiting for Levy to finish his thought.
“But the one St. Claire didn’t kill was Elizabeth Garrett. It’s possible the others were simply a substitute for her. He couldn’t bring himself to kill her because he may have in his own way felt something for her that he didn’t want to lose. By killing the others he could accomplish his fantasy without really hurting her.” Levy shrugged. “It is a burden of psychologists. We think too much sometimes and form theories that can only be answered by people who very rarely really tell us the truth.” Levy paused. “If they understand the truth at all.”
As Jamison walked out of the psychologist’s office, he tried to push what he had just heard to the back of his mind. That he hadn’t seen Elizabeth Garrett for what she was had been a mistake. But now he had to put that behind him. He had to move on to what lay ahead, where there were perils he was aware of and others he knew were still hidden.
Chapter 46
Ernie picked Beth up at her home. He had decided the simplest explanation was the best and told her earlier when he called they needed to go over more details of the shooting and that Jamison was at the office and it wouldn’t take long.
Once they were on their way, Ernie kept the conversation casual on the ride down to the sheriff’s office, letting her talk. He didn’t want to say anything that might arouse any suspicions about the real reason for the meeting.
Still, he was also angry, at himself for not picking up on what now seemed to have been so clearly in front of them all, and for O’Hara, who was hanging out to dry to protect somebody who, it now seemed, was less deserving of their protection.
And then there was Jamison. Ernie liked him, and he regretted holding back from Jamison the existence of the photographs from Garrett’s car. But his instincts and experience told him in the long run it would be better for him to decide when and how to use them. He would apologize to Jamison later.
Jamison was sitting in Puccinelli’s office when Ernie arrived with Elizab
eth. When this day was over there weren’t going to be any winners. He realized that. He had thought carefully about how to approach the questioning. He knew he was taking advantage of the rapport they had built through the trial but shook off any reservations. He needed answers no matter what the consequences. He let his hunter’s mind take control.
Every interrogation has a rhythm and you have to keep that rhythm going. You start out slowly, particularly with a woman. He also thought about the ethics of his doing the questioning. He would be exploiting the trust he had built with her, but then again he knew now that he didn’t know this woman, not really. The reality was that they had built nothing. Trust had been a one-way street, and it had been all him.
He had considered letting Ernie or Pooch do the questioning but that wouldn’t make sense to her, and he needed for her to not be cautious. He had to have a reason to talk to her, one that wouldn’t cause her to be defensive. Going over again what happened that night when she left her car by the side of the road at the cemetery would not make sense. He had weighed his options and come to the only decision that would not cause her to wonder why he was asking questions.
That would mean starting with the shooting of St. Claire. That case was open. The three men had discussed it and agreed. He would begin by asking the questions and Pooch and Ernie would interject depending on how the questioning was going.
Jamison concentrated on the subtlety of the process of interrogation, the decision when to read a suspect their Miranda rights. It wasn’t whether the person was under suspicion that triggered the ritual reading of their rights, all the legally required cautionary questions people see and hear on television that immediately transform a conversation into an interrogation in the mind of the person talking. Whether Miranda warnings were required depended on whether the person believed they were in custody and thought they had to answer questions—that and the inherent intimidation of an interrogator jabbing at them with questions and playing with their mind.
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