by J. A. Faura
Steven nodded, “That it did. I do feel better, clearer. You were right, being with my family gave me some perspective and allowed me to focus on figuring out what my next move should be. Actually, that’s what I came to talk to you about.”
The General leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his lap, “Okay. I didn’t think you came to talk about old files. What’s on your mind?”
Steven shifted in his chair. One thing was thinking about what he needed to do, but it was quite another to actually articulate the words, to say it, especially to this man. “Well, sir, I think we both know what happened at the courthouse. I wanted to speak with you about it in a more meaningful way afterwards, but I honestly wasn’t sure what my intentions, my ultimate intentions, were.
“I want you to know, no, I need you to know, that I didn’t do what I did because of some desire for vigilante justice. I didn’t make the decision out of anger. Don’t get me wrong, when I saw the warehouse and what he’d done to my daughter, I was enraged, I wanted him dead, but you need to know that in spite of that, I really believed that I would let the court system handle it. It’s ironic, my anger and rage actually ensured that I wouldn’t make a decision until I had a chance to cool down and think about things. It’s the way I was trained and I don’t need to tell you that it sticks with you for life.”
He paused to assess the man’s reaction to what he was saying. The old man just sat there, with a focused and curious expression, but he didn’t say anything.
Steven continued, “I made the decision to shoot Riche because I felt that our system, our justice system, just wasn’t prepared for someone like Riche. Wherever he got sent, for however long he got sent there, he would never believe or think of it as punishment. Even if he got the death penalty, he would still not see it as a punishment. He would have seen it as something that we needed to do in order to be safe from him, in order to contain him and what he represented. He would have seen it as our weakness.
“I did a lot of research about this, sir, and what I have found is absolutely incredible, fascinating but also terrifying. There are a number of researchers who have dedicated their careers to studying people like Riche. These scientists have been exploring the idea that there are individuals out there who do not fit within the parameters we have set for human behavior, even sick human behavior.
“There are reams of information, but I only printed out the most pertinent data to show you. Basically, these scientists have concluded that there is another species on the planet that shares a common genus with us, but it is completely different. They interviewed thousands of people and categorized them using established scales for psychopathic and sociopathic behavior. They ruled out every mental disorder and they developed scales of their own.
“The most accomplished researcher when it comes to this field is a professor at Queens College, here in New York. Dr. Tyrone Leonard has defined this new species as Homo sapiens predaer or Homo predator. They look human and they act human, but they act the way they do as a part of pursuing their prey. They are born predators with the best camouflage known to man and with the intelligence and cunning to use it.
“After reading all of the research and speaking with Leonard, I realized that’s exactly what Riche was, a born predator with the drive and the intelligence to take nine little girls in broad daylight without leaving a trace. You’ve been hearing the news, most people believe that his last nine victims were definitely not his only victims. Authorities in some of the places he’d been have begun to put together lists of missing persons that they now believe fell prey to Riche.
“Art, I know how this must sound to you. I know it sounds crazy, but what I saw in that warehouse, the care and thought that he put into it, is like nothing I’ve ever come across, and you know what I’ve come across.”
The General was nodding. Steven didn’t usually address him by his first name, only doing it in very intense and critical situations.
He looked at Steven, not in judgment or with skepticism, but with something closer to impatience. “Why would I think it sounds crazy? I’ve seen the pictures and I’ve heard the details. Hell, even before this, before Riche, I’ve pondered many times how it is that someone can do some of the things we’ve seen, and I know I’m not the only one. For decades people have speculated about what makes someone like Ted Bundy or Dennis Rader tick. People make offhand remarks here and there about how these things are monsters, not possibly human. They say those things and get a chill up their spine, but they never stop to think, really think, about what creates these monsters.
“So now that this tragedy touched you and your family, you decided to go through the looking glass and find out what these things really are. You found what you were looking for and you made a decision that needed to be made based on the best information you could get. Why would I think any of that is crazy?”
Steven’s shoulders relaxed and he was surprised to find out just how tense he had been when he first walked into that office. He realized that the General was his first audience, the first person to hear his ideas and his reasons for doing what he’d done, and if he hadn’t believed Steven or just thought he was crazy, Steven’s hopes that the world might believe him would be very slim.
He got the files from his briefcase and slid them across the old man’s desk, “Here’s all the research I’ve done. There are some of my notes from my own conversations with the experts in there as well.”
The General took the files, put his reading glasses on and skimmed through them. “Christ, I need a new pair of reading glasses. I swear I think I’m going blind.”
After a couple of minutes of leafing through the material, he looked up over his glasses and asked Steven the hardest question, “So, now what? I know you also didn’t come here just to give me these files. What are you planning to do next?”
Steven shifted in his chair again. This was exactly the reason he had come here, to let his boss in on what his plan was. The old man hadn’t shown even the slightest surprise or incredulity at what Steven had shared with him so far, but then again he hadn’t told him everything yet.
“You’re right, that’s not why I came here. I came here because you have been more than generous with my family and me and I wanted you to be the first one to know. I also hoped that you might have some advice for me, that you might let me know if you think I’m crazy.”
The General went back to just sitting with his hands on his desk and looking straight at Steven, “Well, you’re right about one thing, I will absolutely tell you if I think you’re crazy. You know that I don’t like to be bullshitted and I don’t like to bullshit others, so I’m all ears.”
Steven went on, “I’ve known even from the beginning, from the time I made the decision to shoot Riche, that I would eventually turn myself in. Maybe I should have done it right away, but honestly I didn’t really know if that would be the smart thing to do. I was operating on adrenaline and training and I felt hazy, like I used to feel when we ran ops with no sleep for days.
“Anyway, I wanted to make sure that I hadn’t done it out of anger and revenge. I wanted to understand the reason I did it and I wanted to make sure that it would be worth it, that everything I knew my family had and would be going through would have a higher purpose.”
Steven paused and leaned forward in his chair, “When I talked with Leonard, the scientist I told you about, I was amazed that nobody knew about his work, none of what I’d read was anywhere to be found in the public consciousness. It seemed like the world would or should know about it by now, like there would be headlines everywhere, but there weren’t. To find out about his work, about the science of it, you have to do a lot of research in a lot of obscure places and I couldn’t understand why.
“After talking to him, I realized that I really shouldn’t have been surprised by the lack of interest. He told me about other scientific discoveries, stuff that’s been found recently too, not years and years ago. Amazing stu
ff, General, growing human eggs from embryonic stem cells, discovering the God particle, things that will literally change humanity and I hadn’t heard about any of it. We keep an ear to the ground because of what we do, so I think we’re better informed about news events than most and I hadn’t heard about any of it. Once I understood that, it made sense that nobody would have heard about the discoveries he has made.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think the best thing I can do now is to bring attention to them, to the science and what it means, I mean really means, day to day, how they can destroy a life in the blink of an eye.”
Steven paused again to get a sense of where the old man was. He went from looking directly at Steven to looking out the window of his office, obviously thinking about what he’d just heard. Steven knew the man and knew he wouldn’t say anything unless he was certain about what he was saying, and he’d just heard his best and most senior executive tell him that he believed there is another species on the planet higher on the food chain than human beings. It was understandable that he’d take his time before responding.
When he finally looked back at Steven, his demeanor had changed. He was not simply listening to him saying what he had to say, but ready to take an active role in whatever Steven was planning.
“You started this conversation by telling me that you knew you’d be turning yourself in, and now you’re telling me that you intend to bring attention to this science, so I am assuming that you’re about to tell me how it is you are going to do both. I think I have an idea of what you’re planning to do, so let’s hear it.”
Steven couldn’t help but smile, the man knew him too well, “You’re right, that’s exactly what I’m planning on doing. To be honest with you, I made things way more complicated than they needed to be. I was overthinking everything.”
The General nodded, “Happens sometimes, especially when you’re operating on adrenaline and coffee.”
Steven went on, “Once I had a chance to take a step back and think about everything, it was almost ridiculously obvious. If I turn myself in, the question of who shot Riche and how he was shot would obviously be answered.
“I read the statute for murder and when you think about it, most people charged with murder defend themselves by arguing that they didn’t do it, that it wasn’t them who killed anyone. When it is obvious it was them that killed, they argue that it was an accident, that they didn’t mean to kill anyone. In my case, none of that is in question. I did it and I intended on doing it, planned it in fact. When I turn myself in, it will be clear who did it and how I did it.”
The General was nodding in understanding, “So the only thing in question will be why you did it. I’m certainly not a lawyer and I don’t understand how these things work, but I would think that in that case, when it’s clear that you did it, how you did it and that you intended to do it, the only way to mount a defense would be to argue insanity or some other condition that drove you to do what you did.”
Steven shook his head emphatically, “That’s what you’d think, but that’s where this science, what I found, makes all the difference.”
The General now had an expression of genuine puzzlement on his face, “I don’t think I follow you, son. I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”
Steven leaned forward in his chair, clearly energized with what he had to share with the man, “The charge of murder, the way it is written, says that in order to be convicted of murder the prosecution has to prove that whoever is being charged killed another human being and that they did it with malice and premeditation.
“We just went over the fact that who did it and how won’t be in question and neither will the issue of premeditation. I planned to do it and I intend on saying precisely that, that I intended on doing it.”
Steven paused to see if the old man was getting what he was trying to say. At first he still looked completely lost, but Steven could see the gears turning.
He was working through the problem, and Steven could see he almost had it, but it kept eluding him. “I don’t see it, I don’t see how you’d defend yourself without arguing some sort of temporary insanity.”
Steven leaned closer and proceeded to work him through it, “Okay so the law says that to be convicted a human being had to have killed another human being with malice and premeditation, right? And we just went over the fact that who did it and how are not in question, nor is whether it was premeditated. That leaves one single element that is in question.”
The General looked at Steven, still with that quizzical look on his face, and then it hit like a ton of bricks. His eyes flew wide open and he slapped the table with the palm of his hand, “He wasn’t human! You’re planning on arguing that you can’t be convicted because the son of a bitch wasn’t human! I’ll be goddamned!”
Steven let him take it all in before saying anything.
He was shaking his head in amazement when all of a sudden he thought of something, “Is that even allowed, Steven? I mean, are you allowed to bring into question whether someone was a member of the human species?”
Steven answered the question, now hearing it asked he was struck by how farfetched it truly sounded, but he’d known he would be asked that question sooner or later. “I don’t know for sure, but from a legal standpoint I don’t see why not. I have found science, solid, credible science, that supports the idea that there is a separate species from humans on the face of the earth. The man I shot was almost certainly a part of that species, so I think it’s a valid argument. Whether a judge or more likely a jury buys it is quite another story.
“And the reality is that it won’t matter whether I can prove he was one of these things, as long as I can prove that he could have been, I’d be in good shape. In this country, you don’t have to prove that you’re innocent, you just have to bring doubt about your guilt. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work.”
The General, now back behind his desk, replied, “I know, but has anybody ever made that argument in court? Doesn’t the law basically assume the fact that if someone is killed, they were human?”
Steven, now back to pacing, answered, “No, to answer your question, nobody has made the argument before, but I don’t know if a similar set of circumstances has ever come up. When I was thinking about this, I wondered the same thing. I wondered if anyone had ever had the same set of circumstances and I couldn’t find anything, but what I did find was scores of cases where a judge or a family makes the determination that someone is no longer human and they pull the plug on them.”
The old man looked lost, “I don’t get it. What does that have to do with what you are arguing?”
Steven sat across from him, “Think about it. There is a human, let’s say, that because of an aneurysm or some other brain injury they are brain dead. Let’s say that they remain that way for years and after all that time their family makes the decision to pull the plug. They would go to court and make an argument to allow them to pull the plug on their family member. After listening to the doctors and their opinion, the court would grant the request. The family would then pull all life-sustaining measures and the person would eventually die.
“So, in that case, the court would make the decision to end the life of what we know was a human being, but legally their life can be ended because of that legal determination, but it is still homicide.”
The General was still not getting it, “I understand, Steven, but that’s different. In that case, the person would be brain dead. They would just be a collection of organs and they would not be the person their family knew and loved.”
Steven exclaimed, “Exactly! In that case, the court would make the determination that the individual was no longer human. Whatever it was that made them human was contained in their brain. It wasn’t the fact that they had arms and legs and a head, it was something else and that something else was gone.
“Look, I’m not saying it’s the same thing or anything like what I am
proposing, I’m just pointing out that the law does make such determinations. My argument is simply that Riche’s behavior, his atrocities, the care he took, everything indicates that he was something not human.
“I have found the science that points to the fact that he was something other than human or at the very least that he could have been something other than human.
“Trust me, I know this isn’t going to be easy, and to be honest I don’t even know if I’ll be able to find a lawyer that will help me with it, but I’m going to try.”
The General was nodding, he might not have understood everything that Steven was trying to explain to him, but he knew that Steven was headed into the eye of a storm and he knew he was going to need help doing it. “Remember the card I gave you, Max Zeidler, give him a call. If anybody can make this fly, it’ll be him.”
Steven nodded, “I was planning on heading to his office from here. I just wanted to make sure you heard it from me first, and I wanted to make sure that you knew it wasn’t some sort of stunt, that you knew I thought this through.”
The old man got up as Steven was getting ready to leave. “You don’t have to worry about that. In all the time that I’ve known you, I’ve never known you to make rash decisions. I hope this all works out the way you want, son. It’s going to be a heavy price to pay, no matter how it goes.”
Steven shook his hand, “I know, sir, I know how much you’ve done for me and I will never forget it. I know one thing, whatever ends up happening, this science, this threat will be known to the world. Whatever happens to me, once it’s out, I will have accomplished my goal.”
The General now took on a concerned tone and look, “Wait a minute, are you saying you don’t care what happens to you? That you’re willing to give yourself up to get this science out there?”