Are You Nuts?

by Mark Richard Zubro

  “I don’t know,” Kurt said. “I think that’s what’s been missing in you guys’ relationship. Metaphysical angst about your sexuality. I think you’d be a lot more popular, get on more talk shows. Coming out, going back into the closet, having a revolving door on the closet. It has a ring to it. Popular culture likes their gay people depressed or dying. You guys aren’t dying, are you?”

  “No.”

  “Then go with depressed.”

  “You don’t think it’s serious?”

  “I think he loves you deeply. He knows who he is. He was in pain. Like he said, it was a low moment. He doesn’t hate himself. Was he as affectionate as ever?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, it was an momentary aberration. He’s the most celebrated gay figure in America and you’re right in there with him. Be happy. Be strong. You’ll both be fine.”

  “I wish I had your confidence. Did you see the propaganda Seth put out about the election?”

  Kurt laughed. “I’ve done a good job. I’m sure he’s embarrassed about putting out something that stupid.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that. “Is the election still going to happen?”

  “I think so.”

  “We can’t let him win.”

  “Why not?”

  “What if he wrecks everything you’ve fought to build?”

  “I’m not going to have another heart attack for them. Let him fight the battles for a while. Let him see what it’s like to bat your head against a wall and have nothing happen.”

  “I guess. Do you know Belutha and Lydia well enough to talk to? Maybe you could go with me to question them.”

  “No thanks. I care for Meg, but I don’t want to be involved in this. I’m glad I was two thousand miles away.”

  I felt deflated. I was grasping for any kind of help and here was a good friend bailing out on me. I wasn’t about to beg either.

  I said, “Didn’t you tell me Jerome was in favor of gay rights?”

  “I don’t remember saying that. I don’t know if he was or not.”

  I knew he’d told me. I wouldn’t have misunderstood something like that. I was even more discouraged. At that moment I saw Todd coming down the hall. He was in his funereal best, although when brighter light caught his outfit, I thought his suit might be deep, midnight blue instead of actually black.

  Todd and Kurt knew each other slightly. We chatted briefly and then Todd said, “I need to speak to Tom about Meg’s case. Will you excuse us?”

  Kurt gave a friendly wave and walked off.

  Todd and I entered my classroom.

  He said, “Tell me exactly everything that you did when you entered this classroom today.” He took a yellow legal pad and a fountain pen out of his briefcase. He took notes while I talked.

  When I finished that, he said, “Now, tell me everything you can remember doing in here since the murder.”

  This was tougher, but I did my best.

  At the end I asked, “How much trouble am I in?”

  “Did you kill him?”

  “No.”

  “Not as much as if you had plonked him.”

  “That’s not terribly comforting.”

  “How well do you know this Frank Murphy?”

  “We’re friends.”

  “We’ll call him. You’ll probably have to deal with the other detectives, but starting with him will be better.”

  Todd stayed in possession of the room. I called Frank. He was at the station. I explained the problem.

  All he said was, “I’m on my way.”

  He arrived no more than a few minutes later. I introduced Todd.

  “Called your lawyer first?” Frank asked.

  “Wouldn’t you?” I replied.

  “Where’s the thing?”

  I pointed.

  With the tip of a pencil he moved enough books and materials to ascertain something was there.

  “Don’t touch anything.” He ushered us into the hallway. He pulled out a portable phone and called the station. He talked to the detectives in charge of the case and to the lab technicians.

  “This is a mess,” Frank said. “I don’t enjoy having friends of mine mixed up in murder.”

  Edwina came down the hall. “Why are you all here?” she asked.

  Todd took over the explanation. “We believe we have discovered a significant clue that applies to the recent murder investigation.”

  Frank said, “The police are gathering information. We’ll share whatever we can with school district personnel. We’re waiting for the crime-scene technicians to get here.”

  “Crime scene?” Edwina said. “What crime? Has there been another killing? Why wasn’t I notified?”

  I said, “Nobody else is dead.”

  “If the police are to be called, I should be notified.” Edwina talked administrative babble and Todd replied in lawyer babble for several minutes.

  When they finished, I asked, “Can we get some kind of security guard down here?”

  Edwina said, “Security firms have been discussed. I have no idea when a decision will be made about hiring and expenditures. We’ve had to cut back.”

  “Can’t we at least get one of those community service custodians to be on duty here keeping watch? We’d have a chance of catching whoever did this.”

  “They’re supposed to be working.”

  “Seems to me they’re mostly snarling. What would it hurt to post one of them discreetly down the hall?”

  “I suppose I could check into it.” She left.

  Two more detectives in standard-issue rumpled suits approached us. Maybe if I was lucky, I could get the rumpled-suit concession at the next street fair or opening of the next mall. Business would certainly be steady.

  The detectives were Leonard Rosewald and Baxter Dickinson. They were both about five feet ten. Each took off his jacket in the heat, and both wore starched white shirts. They expressed no desire to enter the classroom. Thankfully, they were professionals. Always wait for the crime lab. Even I knew that.

  I gave a statement with Todd standing next to me. All my lawyer had said was, “Tell the story exactly about what has happened in your classroom today.”

  I followed his direction precisely. I said nothing about my outside activities: questioning people and checking the library. I included the parts about the little oddities culminating in the message on the computer.

  When the cops started to go over it with me again, Todd said, “Once is enough.” They stopped.

  Having a lawyer on retainer can sometimes be a very pleasant thing.

  The crime lab people arrived. We stayed out in the hall while they went over everything. At one point they wanted my fingerprints. Todd told me it was okay to comply. Their investigation took them several long, boring hours. For the last fifteen minutes, I sat with Todd and Frank in the English office sipping soda. Frank expressed mild interest in my summer activities, but he seemed mostly cool and distant. His answers to my questions about his family were short and uninformative.

  Eventually the two detectives came back. Rosewald said, “The only obvious prints on the book are yours.”

  So, I had touched it before the books fell. Not good. “Nobody else’s?” I asked.

  “Yours were the only ones.”

  “Isn’t that kind of odd? It’s a well-used book. There should be many more.”

  “There aren’t any others.”

  “Is it Jerome’s blood?”

  “We don’t know yet. We presume it is. Can we go over your story again?”

  “No,” Todd said. “He gave you his statement. It was clear and it is all he knows.”

  We all stared at each other for several moments. All three detectives retired to a room down the hall.

  I asked, “Can you tell me anything about what Meg said while you took her home?”

  “I know you’re hurt by what she said, and I wish I could tell you something positive.”

  “Attorney-client confidentiality?”r />
  “Except for giving me directions, she didn’t say a word. You know I don’t pry or push. She’s been through enough right now. Just wait. Right now we need to worry about you.”

  “Am I going to be arrested?”

  “The first thing I want to know is if that is Jerome’s blood or not. That will be the first test.”

  Georgette brought down a message from Scott. She leaned down and whispered. “I stayed late when I saw the police arrive. Are you all right?”

  “I hope so,” I murmured back.

  “I’ve got to go home.”

  “It’s okay.”

  She patted my arm encouragingly and left.

  I called Scott and told him what was happening.

  “Are you in danger?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You didn’t tell me about all that strange stuff in your classroom.”

  “With you being back and the murder, it didn’t really seem important until today. It was just pranks before, or possibly forgetfulness. The computer message and the bloody book are real and significant and something that has to be taken care of.”

  “Do you want me to come down there?”

  “I’ll let you know.”

  “I’m glad Todd’s there.”

  “Me too.”

  Half an hour later Frank, the other two detectives, and I sat in the long-since-deserted English office. It had been impossible to disguise the presence of the cops in the school. No doubt word was winging through River’s Edge of this latest twist in the murder case. I was not happy that I was in the middle of it.

  Dickinson broke the news. “It was Jerome Blenkinsop’s blood.”

  The cops all looked at me. I gazed at Todd. A cold shudder ran up my spine.

  “You want to tell us something?” Baxter said.

  “He’s given his statement,” Todd said.

  I was disappointed that Frank just sat there. I’d hoped for a little more backing. My expectations of friends’ behavior were not coming true today.

  “Where were you the night of the murder?” Baxter asked.

  Todd nodded slightly.

  “I was at home reading.”

  “You have any proof for that?”

  “I got a call from my lover about ten o’clock.”

  “We’re you on the phone all night?”

  Todd said, “I’m sure the phone records will give you the exact times. We’ll provide those if you wish.”

  I didn’t really wish, but I was not about to contradict my lawyer.

  Carolyn Blackburn walked in. “Excuse me for interrupting. I had left for the day and gone directly out to do some shopping. I came as soon as I checked my phone messages.”

  The police gave her the scantiest of details about what had been found.

  Carolyn said, “This makes the murder investigation more complicated, doesn’t it?”

  The detectives agreed.

  “Now what happens?” Carolyn asked.

  Frank suggested he and the two other detectives meet in the hall for a conference.

  After they left the room, Carolyn took a seat. “Doesn’t this just beat all?”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. I thought about snarling, but why take my frustration out on her? I gave her more details than the cops had.

  “I had three calls from board members on my answering machine. Lydia’s was the nastiest. She said she was on her way to the school. I didn’t see her, but since I’d been forewarned, I didn’t come through the central office.”

  “I’d like to talk to her,” I said. “Just her and me. She knew Jerome better than anybody. I suspect Jerome was holding out on his people here about the election. I believe Lydia would have information.”

  “Do you think she’ll talk to you?” Carolyn said.

  “I have questions to ask that I don’t think the police are going to ask. If I’m free to talk to people, I want to.” I turned to Todd. “Are they going to arrest me?”

  “I doubt it. The presence of only your fingerprints and the absence of any others makes it more difficult for them.”

  “Maybe they think I tried to wipe it clean and simply missed some.”

  “Plus they’d have to prove some nefarious connection with you and Jerome. They can’t simply arrest all those people who don’t have an alibi for that night.”

  Frank came back into the room. He looked at me. “You’re free to go. If I was a tough cop in a movie, I’d snarl something about you not leaving town.”

  Everybody loves a snarl.

  “What do you think?” I asked.

  Frank shook his head. “This is a delicate business.”

  Carolyn interrupted, “I don’t want to be present for any kind of legal discussion or anything remotely like it. Can I speak with the detectives who were here? I want to know if we can have our school back.”

  “Yeah,” Frank said.

  She left.

  “I’m not investigating,” Frank said, “but I am a cop. I can be a little more open here for old times’ sake. Obviously we have lots of new questions, which is in your favor and maybe even Meg’s.”

  “I’ve asked myself a million of them.”

  “The key from our point of view is that if this is the murder weapon, then what have we got in the evidence lockup?”

  “Is it still there?”

  “Yes. It’s been checked. It’s the unanswered questions that make the case difficult and at the moment impossible to arrest you.”

  “Will they free Meg?”

  “I don’t know. We need to figure out a number of things. Like, if you and Meg were coconspirators, why leave fingerprints on one weapon, but not the other? Or why not wipe both clean? Or did you simply miss a spot? If you wiped your fingerprints off, why is the blood still there? Why hide one book but not the other? Better yet, why put this one in your room? Storage? Why is it still there? Forgetfulness? Why wait and call the police on yourself several days later? I suggested some of these things to them.”

  “Thanks.” I felt better that he was working for me a little.

  “Don’t thank me. I’m being a good cop. I don’t pretend to understand this. I don’t think you killed anybody, Tom, but don’t let your friendship with Meg blind you. She is a good suspect, but this case has certainly turned bizarre.”

  “But I haven’t done anything.”

  “What have you uncovered? I can tell the other detectives after you tell me.”

  The question chilled me. Right then I wasn’t prepared to trust too many old friends. This had been too much a cop question, a possible trick question, a cop offer. The kind the dumbest suspects fall for on NYPD Blue. I didn’t like it that he asked. It was almost like a betrayal. He became more cop than friend at that moment.

  “Frank, I think I need to discuss the whole situation with Todd before I say anything.”

  “I just went to bat for your butt.”

  I wasn’t prepared to explain to him how I really felt. Todd spoke up. “Detective, we are fully cooperating. Tom and I need to talk.” He said no more, but the conversation with Frank was obviously at an end. He left.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  “I go home after having earned another chunk of the retainer you and Scott pay me.”

  “What can I tell Frank?”

  “You haven’t interfered in a police investigation. You’ve been cooperative, but you don’t need to talk to them. I wouldn’t trust Frank very much.”

  “He’s a friend, or I thought he was.”

  “You seem to be coming up short in the friend category this afternoon.”

  I thought of Kurt. “People don’t want to be connected with murder.”

  “Frank’s a cop. If you find out anything, call me. I strongly suggest a great deal of discretion if you talk to people. I suggest even more strongly you let the police handle the case.”

  “I didn’t kill anybody. I don’t think Meg did. I need to find the killer before I get accused.”

  �
�Then realize you will have to talk to the police if you take an active role. I don’t think they can make a case against you, but let’s err on the side of safety.”

  I couldn’t remember how many times Todd had told me this last. I like a nice conservative, cautious lawyer.

  I entered the corridor. All the cops were gone. I stopped in my room and picked up my suit, gym bag, and briefcase. The room was not a shambles. As far as I could tell, the police had removed only the one book.

  I was depressed. Frank, a cold and distant cop. Kurt, backing off from helping. Meg, openly hostile.

  I had work to do to keep myself from becoming a suspect of some kind, or even thought of as an accomplice.

  Carolyn poked her head in my room, then entered. “Lydia Marquez is in the school office. She said she wants to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “I’m not sure. I presume it has something to do with the murder. She wouldn’t tell me. I’m only the superintendent.”

  “I’ll bring my lawyer with me.”

  “That’s up to you,” Carolyn said. “I’m going to go home. There are several park district functions going on in the building so you can just leave by any exit. The custodians will be cleaning until late.”

  Todd and I walked down the corridor together. He still wore his coat and tie. He never seemed to sweat. Maybe he was secretly dead and simply hadn’t told the rest of us. I explained about Lydia.

  “Talk to her if you want. Why don’t I wait out in the hall just in case you want me? Give her a chance. See what she has to say.”

  10

  Lydia was in her tent jeans, but had added a tent blouse over her mounds of flesh.

  We sat in Edwina’s office. Lydia rested her bulk in the comfy leather chair behind the desk.

  Lydia said, “There’s all kinds of rumors running through town.”

  I nodded.

  “Will you tell me what happened?” she asked.

  “If you wanted information, why didn’t you just ask Carolyn?”

  “Carolyn is an employee like you. You’re the one who is directly involved.”

  “Is this a hostile conversation or any kind of investigation? My lawyer is right outside.”

  “No, no. That’s not necessary.”

  “Mrs. Marquez, I don’t mean to be rude, but what is this all about?”