Love, Lies, and Murder
Page 23
March: But I don’t know what they’re doin’ with the kids. You know, I know they’re not . . .
Farris: Okay, well, they’re takin’the kids to school every morning. And it’s . . .
March: Well, that’s—I think if they do that . . .
Farris: You know, it’s, uh . . .
March: Uh, uh, you’d have to probably make it after that. They’re . . .
Farris: Oh yeah, of course. Well, see, I’m gonna tell you this real quick before we go. What I planned on doin’ is like the little joggin’ thing I was tellin’you about? Uh . . .
March: Yeah.
Farris: I was just, you know, like two times this week, uh, the wife—I’m not, I don’t even know her name. She . . .
March: Carolyn.
Farris: Okay, when, when she’s . . .
March: Carolyn. She’s the smart one.
Farris: Okay, well, I’m gonna—well, you know, she’s not too smart, because what she does when she comes back, she walks around this place. And see what I’m . . .
March: Well, she doesn’t—she thinks there is nobody gonna touch her.
Farris: Well, she’s wrong.
March: And she has a built-in protection. Now, you should know that. Perry can explain it to you.
Farris: Uh-huh.
March: It’s called the Jewish Mafia.
Farris: Yeah, well . . .
March: And she’s the queen.
Farris: Well, I’m gonna tell you that, you know, they’re dealin’ with a little bit of power theirself. And, uh . . .
March: I know, but you have to understand . . .
Farris: Yeah.
March: They are very self-secure.
Farris: Uh-huh.
March: Because they, they do—they’ve got money.
Farris: Uh-huh.
March: They use it. And they only got one thing. They want those kids.
Farris: Yeah, well.
March: They could care less about Perry.
Farris: That’s not gonna happen. They, they’re, they might’ve won this little battle, but they’re not gonna win this war. And, uh . . .
March: Well, we’re excited to work on getting the kids and we’ll start . . .
Farris: Well, that, that . . .
March: . . . by Tuesday.
Farris: Uh-huh.
March: Those (inaudible), the legalwise realization of getting my kids back is, uh, will be full-blown.
Farris: Okay, good. But, uh, but what I’m . . .
March: All right?
Farris: Okay, but what I was gonna say is that, uh, I’m just basically gonna force her in the house and, uh, I’m gonna, you know, do her there and I’m gonna wait on Mr. Lawrence to come back. And I’m actually gonna look him in the eye. You know.
March: Well, I don’t know if he—once he gets out of the house, I mean, I don’t know his schedule.
Farris: Yeah. Well, well, I don’t, I don’t know (inaudible).
March: (inaudible)
Farris: Well, see, I do know this. He’s not workin’ too much at his office. He’s stayin’ at this apartment a lot. But he does come and go. But I, you know, I’m not just . . .
March: I can’t tell you because . . .
Farris: Yeah.
March: When I knew him and when I was with, uh, with him, he—around the house, and once it’s morning, he worked at that house.
Farris: Yeah.
March: And he usually goes to Knoxville . . .
Farris: Um-hm.
March: . . . uh, once a week. Uh, to my knowledge, he’s supposed to have some lady over there.
Farris: Yeah.
March: But I never followed it up, I mean, I never . . .
Farris: Yeah, well, I’m . . .
March: It wasn’t my business.
Farris: You know, I’m not stickin’ around too much, ’cause I don’t want to get noticed out that way. But I mean . . .
March: Yeah. No, no, you’re right. We’re, we’re . . .
Farris: So far, so good.
March: Now what they’re—they got the kids in the condo with ’em?
Farris: Yeah. Yeah, the kids are stayin’there. Well, well, like, there’s, uh, I think it’s some type of community center, maybe, that they take the kids to a lot after school. And, and like . . .
March: See, I don’t—is that the Jewish Community Center?
Farris: I—maybe so. I’m, I’m, you know, I, I don’t . . .
March: Just check around. It’s near . . .
Farris: Yeah.
March: It’s near the—where their house used to be. It’s within . . .
Farris: Yeah. Well, their house . . .
March: . . . eight or ten blocks.
Farris: There’s some kinda work goin’ on there, and, uh, I know that Lawrence goes there once a day at least to, to, you know, I guess supervise what’s goin’ on. And I don’t know, I don’t know how much longer . . .
March: (inaudible)
Farris: . . . that this is gonna be goin’ on, but, you know, they . . .
March: You know, I don’t know.
Farris: He does have a pattern.
March: But keep your eye on your back.
Farris: Yes, sir.
March: Watch for the kid.
Farris: Yes, sir. Yeah.
March: Don’t—I mean, he’s a nothin’.
Farris: Uh-huh.
March: He’s gay and he’s never gonna bother you.
Farris: Yeah.
March: But he’s there.
Farris: Okay. I, well, I still haven’t seen him. I, you know, I’ve done a little bit of . . .
March: Make sure you reconnoiter, you know, the . . .
Farris: Yeah. Well, I’ve, I’ve . . .
March: . . . the opposition well.
Farris: I’ve done a little bit of checkin’ since the last time I talked to you about this guy. And, uh, you know, I haven’t been able to see a picture of him or nothin’ like that, but I do know that he works out of someplace in Washington. You know.
March: That’s the kid.
Farris: Yeah, yeah.
March: Yeah, he works for a congressman who’s gay and he’s [his] semi-lover.
Farris: (laughs)
March: You know they switch back and forth.
Farris: Yeah.
March: And I don’t know what he’s got in Nashville. It’s been a long time.
Farris: Well, you know, hopefully he won’t have (inaudible).
March: But he flits in and out. When they go to court, he’s usually . . .
Farris: Okay.
March: . . . usually with . . .
Farris: Do you have any idea of when they go to court again?
March: Well, the next court date that I know of is the seventeenth.
Farris: Of this month?
March: But you’d have to check that with—no, November.
Farris: Okay, November. I, well—this should be done by then. You know.
March: Okay, but Perry can give you more of a schedule on that, ’cause I don’t know exactly what’s goin’ on there.
Farris: Well, see, I’ve not had no contact with Perry since I’ve been out. And you know, I don’t want no direct contact with him, because I don’t want no trail leadin’me . . .
March: Okay.
Farris: . . . to him or anything like that. But, if somehow you could—you know, I—he’s told me about, you know, you and him have little codes and stuff like that. If somehow you can get me just a little bit of information from him, you know, you know that, that . . .
March: Okay, what, what—when you get your plan worked out, then you go over any information you need, I’ll see that I can get it to him.
Farris: Okay, great. Well, I’m gonna start workin’ on this ASAP, and, uh, I’ll be in contact with you.
March: Okay. And enjoy your freedom.
Farris: Yes, sir. I’ll be in contact with you early next week.
March: Okay
.
Farris: Okay, Colonel.
March: Good luck.
Farris: You too.
March: Good luck.
Farris: Okay, thank you.
Chapter 28
If Arthur March had not implicated himself in the conspiracy concocted by his son to murder the Levines in the first two telephone conversations with Farris through innuendo and direct statements, he certainly would during the course of the next three calls from the supposed hit man. Farris called him again under the same controlled conditions from the Criminal Justice Center in Nashville, on Thursday, October 20, 2005, with Postiglione and Pridemore overseeing the planned deception. After three or four rings, Arthur March answered the phone.
“Bueno,” March said.
“Hey, Colonel?” Farris responded.
“Yeah.”
“Hey, how you doin’? This is . . . Bobby.”
“Oh, hi, Bob.”
“How’s everything goin’?”
“Well, so far as I know,” Arthur trailed off. “How’s it goin’ on your end?”
“Everything’s pretty much a go here. . . . Have you talked to Perry?”
“Yeah, I talked to him day before yesterday.”
“Did you give him my message?”
“That I had talked to you? Yes.”
“Is he okay with that?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Is . . . he doin’okay?”
“He seems to be. Seems to be up a little bit better and his lawyers keep tellin’him, I think they’re giving him a lot of courage and . . .”
“Yeah.”
“They don’t have anything, so . . . it’s just a matter of whatever. . . . How’d you do at your end?”
There was buzzing, an interference of some kind on the line, that interrupted their conversation for a moment or two.
“I’ve got me an instrument,” Farris said when the telephone line cleared up. “I got me a silencer, too.”
“Okay.”
“Well, you know, the gun, it didn’t cost much,” Farris said. “The silencer cost me a little bit, but that’s okay. . . .”
“Well, by the time you get down here, I’ll be able to help you out a little financially,” Arthur said.
“Yeah, well, I’ve done a little bit more surveillance and I’m about ready to do this.”
“Okay,” Arthur replied. “Just let me know when you get to Texas or when you get someplace on the bus.”
“Oh, well . . .”
“You want a bus?”
“Well, see, I’ve checked on that, too, and, uh, like a Greyhound from Nashville to Laredo is like a hundred twenty-one bucks for the ticket. . . . Then I’d have to get on another bus from Laredo and go to Guadalajara.”
“Once you get here, I can help you,” Arthur said. “You understand?”
“Yeah . . . only thing I’m havin’ a concern with is that when I get there . . . to Laredo . . . I’m kinda nervous about crossin’that border by myself.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have any trouble,” Arthur assured him. “If you got, uh, either a passport or have a birth certificate.”
“Yeah, well . . . I’m gonna get, you know, some old bogus-ass birth certificate.”
“Okay. That’s all you need . . . and you won’t have any trouble. Just tell ’em you’re a tourist goin’ down to visit a friend in Ajijic.”
“There ain’t no way that . . . like maybe you or Carmen could meet me at the border or somethin’?” Farris asked.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, because I can’t leave Carmen alone, that’s my problem.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And I think if you just walk through . . . after you get off the bus, you just walk across the border . . . and get on the bus.”
“Just get on the bus,” Farris repeated.
“It’s no problem,” Arthur said. “They speak English, so don’t worry about it. . . . You’re gonna go to Guadalajara. Get on the evening bus so you can sleep on it overnight. . . . They’re good buses, they got johns, everything on ’em.”
“Yeah, well . . . the people I talked to at the bus station up here said it’d take like a day to get to Laredo.”
“It’s a twelve-to-fourteen-hour [bus ride] from Laredo to here.”
“Well, I’ll be comin’by myself, too.”
“All you gotta do is get here. . . . You can call me from someplace in Mexico, at a bus stop, or you can call me when you get to Guadalajara and I’ll be there at the bus station in thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes? Okay. When would be a good time to call you . . . when I get to the bus station down there? Just anytime?”
“Anytime, like now. Anytime in the evening. I’m always home.”
“I tried to call earlier, about five-thirty, maybe, and I didn’t get—”
“I was at the restaurant, but normally I would be home. I’m always home at this time.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, good luck.”
“I guess so . . . I guess everything . . .”
“Just call me . . . You can call me from the States, too, you know, and let me know . . . when you expect—and then I’ll be lookin’ for you.”
“Yeah. Well . . . there’s a couple things I want to go over with you, just to run by you . . . get your opinion about it. . . .”
“Yeah.”
“Okay . . . what I plan on doin’ is that . . . I’ve surveil-lanced everything and I pretty much know the routine. But it’s just like some days it’s the wife that . . . comes out and some days it’s Lawrence.”
“Yeah.”
“But, see, Lawrence has been goin’to his office, you know, pretty much regularly this past week—”
“Okay, and watch. . . . Keep an eye out for the kid.”
“I haven’t seen the kid at all,” Farris said.
“Well, he may be in Washington,” Arthur said.
“I’ve already got a car parked . . . and I’m gonna leave . . . the car, leave my other car—”
“So will it be next week or the week after?” Arthur asked. “Is that what you’re plannin’?”
“Yeah, I was tempted to do it earlier, today, but . . . it’s a whole lot of traffic. . . . I want to do it maybe like on a Tuesday, or a Wednesday.”
“That’s fine,” Arthur said. “That would be next Tuesday or Wednesday?”
“Yeah.”
“That’d bring you in here . . . ,” Arthur said, apparently thinking aloud as he trailed off. “And that’s fine . . . see I get my money on the first, so we’re, we’re in hallelujah land.”
“Yeah.”
The voice of an operator suddenly came on the line.
“Somebody’s on this line with us,” Arthur said.
“Huh? Hello?” Farris asked.
“I think somebody’s on this line. Did you hear that?”
“I’m gonna call you back, okay? Hello? Colonel?”
The line went dead, and Farris dialed Arthur’s number again.
“What the hell was goin’ on?” Farris asked.
“Well, we got cut off, and then you got caught up in the Mexican telephone system,” Arthur said.
“I know it sounded somethin’ like an operator,” Farris said. “I didn’t know what the hell it was in here.”
“You’ll get used to it . . . after you’re here a week or so.”
“It kinda spooked me a little bit,” Farris said.
“It’s not a bad system,” Arthur explained about the Mexican telephone company. “It’s just not good.”
“Yeah . . . it kinda spooked me for a second . . . at first . . .”
“Now, now, don’t worry about it. We were all right.”
“Okay. Well, good . . . my heart was kinda racin’, I didn’t know what to—”
“No, no, no . . . just relax,” Arthur said. “Everything else okay? Are the kids okay? Have you seen them?”
“I’ve seen ’em twice this week,” Farris said. “You know, just . .
. getting out of the car.”
“They’re still livin’ . . . in that condo?”
“Yeah, they’re livin’ in a condo.”
“At Hillmeade or someplace like that?”
“Yeah. It’s not that far from the house. . . . It’s pretty nice, actually. . . . What I was plannin’to do . . . just like I told you, I got me a silencer for my gun. But, uh, I’m . . . gonna try to catch the—hopefully, Lawrence—Lawrence will be gone to the office whenever she gets back. Sometimes she gets—”
An operator cut into the line again, and seemed to be attempting to put other calls through. Because of the interference from the operator, Arthur told Farris to call him back in three or four days.
“Okay, Colonel, I’ll talk to you.”
“And you’ll know better [by then] what you’re gonna do.”
They were cut off again, but Farris called Arthur back to finish the conversation.
“Hey, Colonel? Damn, it’s hard to hear you. I’m probably not gonna be able to use this phone again once I leave here tonight. . . . Probably the next time you hear from me, all this’ll be said and done.”
“Okay, I can hardly hear you,” Arthur said.
“Yeah, I can hardly hear you, too.”
“Give me a call tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.”
“’Cause I can’t understand you.”
“Okay,” Farris said.
“Bye.”
When the telephone call ended Farris, still in police custody, was taken back to the secret location where he was being held to await further instructions from Postiglione and Pridemore. To make the plan work, it was imperative that Perry believe that Farris was on the outside. If Perry got word from another inmate, or even a jailer, that Farris was still in jail, the game would be over.
While the telephone calls between Arthur and Farris had been going on, Perry languished in his jail cell, totally oblivious to the trap that was being set, and into which his father had leaped headfirst, from where there would be no returning. What seemed particularly amazing to many people at this point was Perry’s unconscionable eagerness in getting his seventy-eight-year-old father, who was in ill health and who, he knew, would not turn him down in his quest to commit capital offenses, involved. It seemed even more amazing that his father, a man who retired as a high-ranking officer in the military and held a Ph.D., went along with Perry’s sociopathy. Nonetheless, Perry continued meeting with his lawyers and gave the appearance that he truly believed he would win the cases against him, calling the murder case a “house of cards.” Although he expressed the fact that he was not happy about being in jail, he said that he welcomed the opportunity to clear his name.