Devil's Waltz (53 page)

D
ET
. S
TUGIS
: Your wife says she knew nothing about the box.
M
R
. J
ONES
: Of course she does. She’s lying. Really, Detective, it’s all a matter of context — seeing things in a different light, using a new lens.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Uh-huh.
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: Now what are you pulling out?
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: I think it’s obvious. This is a mask.
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: I fail to see—
M
R
. J
ONES
: No big deal. It’s from the carnival — Delta Psi’s carnival. They dressed me up as a witch. I kept the mask for a souvenir.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Kristie Kirkash kept it. You gave it to her last week and told her to keep it.
M
R
. J
ONES
: So?
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: So I think you put this on when you injected Cassie. So you’d look like a woman — the wicked witch.
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: Ridiculous.
M
R
. J
ONES
: I agree with you there, Tony.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: A souvenir, huh? Why’d you give it to Kristie?
M
R
. J
ONES
: She’s a Delta Psi. I thought the sorority would like to have it.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Considerate.
M
R
. J
ONES
: I’m their faculty adviser. What’s the big—
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: You have a thing for your students, don’t you? That’s how you met your wife, isn’t it? She was your student.
M
R
. J
ONES
: It’s not unusual — the teacher-student relationship…
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: What about it?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Often… sometimes it leads to intimacy.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: You tutor her, too? Your wife?
M
R
. J
ONES
: As a matter of fact, I did. But she was hopeless — not very bright at all.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: But you married her anyway. How come? A smart guy like you.
M
R
. J
ONES
: I was smitten — “this spring of love.”
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: You met in the spring?
M
R
. J
ONES
: It’s a quotation—
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Shakespeare?
M
R
. J
ONES
: As a matter of fact, yes. I fell deeply in love and was taken advantage of. A romantic nature. My bête noire.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: What about Karl Sobran? He take advantage of you too?
M
R
. J
ONES
: With Karl it was different — with him, ironically, I wasn’t naïve. I knew what he was, right away, but I felt I could help him channel his impulses.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: What did you know he was?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Classic antisocial sociopath. But contrary to popular belief, those types don’t lack consciences. They merely suspend them at their convenience — read Samenow. As a police officer, you really should. Where was I? Karl. Karl is very bright. I was hoping to direct his intelligence in a constructive manner.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Like murder for hire?
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: Don’t answer that.
M
R
. J
ONES
: Stop sighing, Tony. That’s ridiculous. Of course not. Did Karl actually say that?
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: How else would I know about him, Prof?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Ludicrous. But he is a sociopath — don’t forget that. Genetic liar. At worst I’m guilty of underestimating him — not realizing how truly dangerous he was. As much as I didn’t respect Dawn as a human being, I was horrified to find out she was murdered. If I’d known, I’d never have written that letter to Karl’s parole board. Never have… Oh, my God.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Never have what?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Talked idly to Karl.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: About Dawn?
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: Don’t answer that.
M
R
. J
ONES
: You’re sighing again — it’s very wearisome, Tony. Yes, about her, as well as other things. I’m afraid I must have thrown out idle comments about Dawn that Karl must have misinterpreted horribly.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: What kinds of comments?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Oh, no, I can’t believe he actually — How she was harassing me. He misunderstood. God, what a horrible misunderstanding!
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: You’re saying he misunderstood your comments and killed her on his own?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Believe me, Detective, the thought makes me sick. But it’s an inescapable conclusion.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: What exactly did you tell Sobran about Dawn?
M
R
. J
ONES
: That she was someone from my past who was bothering me.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: That’s it?
M
R
. J
ONES
: That’s it.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: There was no solicitation? To kill or hurt her?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Absolutely not.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: But there was payment, Prof. Two thousand dollars that Sobran deposited in his account the day after her murder. He had some of it in his pocket when I arrested him. He says he got it from you.
M
R
. J
ONES
: No problem. I’ve been helping Karl for a long time — so he could get on his feet, wouldn’t have to revert.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Two thousand dollars?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Sometimes I get a little loose with the purse strings. It’s an occupational hazard.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Of being a sociology professor?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Of growing up wealthy — it can be a real curse, you know. That’s why I always tried to live my life as if the money didn’t exist.
Keeping my life-style unpretentious — keeping away from all the things that have the potential to corrupt.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Like real estate deals?
M
R
. J
ONES
: My investments were for them — Cindy and the kids. I wanted them to have some kind of financial stability, because teaching school sure won’t give you that. That was before I realized what she was doing.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: By “doing,” you mean sexual behavior?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Exactly. With everything that walked in through the door. The children weren’t even mine, but I took care of them anyway. I’m a soft touch — it’s something I need to work on.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Uh-huh… Was Chad yours?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Not a chance.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: How do you know?
M
R
. J
ONES
: One look at him. He was the spitting image of a roofer we had working out on the tract. Spitting image — total clone.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Is that why you killed him?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Don’t be tedious, Detective. Chad died of sudden infant death syndrome.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: How can you be sure?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Textbook case. I read up on it — SIDS — after the little guy died. Trying to understand — to work it through. It was a horrible time for me. He wasn’t my flesh and blood, but I still loved him.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Okay, let’s move on. Your mother. Why’d you kill her?
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: I object!
M
R
. J
ONES
: You fuck—
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: See, I did some studying, too—
M
R
. J
ONES
: You fat fu—
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: I object! I most strenuously object to thi—
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: — trying to understand you, Prof. Talked to people all about your mom. You’d be amazed at how willing people are to talk once someone’s down—
M
R
. J
ONES
: You are stupid. You are psychotic and… and… egregiously stupid and ignorant. I should have known better than to bare my soul to someone like—
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: Chip—
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: One thing they all agree on was that old Mom was a hypochondriac. Healthy as a horse but convinced she was terminally ill. One person I spoke to said her bedroom was like a hospital room — that she actually had a hospital bed. With the little table? All these pills and syrups lying around. Needles too. Lots of needles. She stick herself, or get you to do it?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Oh, God…
M
R
. T
OKARIK
: Take my handkerchief, Chip.
Detective, I demand that you cease this line of questioning.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Sure. Bye.
M
R
. J
ONES
: She was the one who did the sticking! Herself and me — she hurt me! Vitamin B-12 shots twice a day. Protein shots. Antihistamine shots, even though I wasn’t allergic to anything! My bottom was her fucking pincushion! Antibiotics the minute I coughed. Tetanus shots if I got a scrape. I was the Azazel goat — cod liver oil and castor oil, and if I threw it up, I had to clean it up and take a double dosage. She could always get hold of medicine because she used to be a nurse — that’s how she met him. Army hospital, he was wounded at Anzio — big hero. She took care of him, but to me she was a sadistic maniac — you have no idea what it was like!
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Sounds like no one protected you.
M
R
. J
ONES
: No one! It was a living hell. Every day brought a new surprise. That’s why I hate surprises. Hate them. Detest them.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: You prefer everything planned out, huh?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Organization. I like organization.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Sounds like your dad let you down.
M
R
. J
ONES
: (laughs) That’s his hobby.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: So you go your own way.
M
R
. J
ONES
: Mother’s the — Necessity’s the mother of invention. (laughs) Thank you, Herr Freud.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Getting back to mom for a minute—
M
R
. J
ONES
: Let’s not.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: The way she died — Valium O.D., plastic bag over the head — guess we’ll never prove it wasn’t suicide.
M
R
. J
ONES
: That’s because it was. And that’s all I have to say about that.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Want to say anything about why you hung two pictures she painted in your house but really low to the ground? What was that, a symbolic demeaning or something?
M
R
. J
ONES
: I have nothing to say about that.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Uh-huh… yeah… So what you’re trying to tell me is, you’re the victim and this is all a big misunderstanding.
M
R
. J
ONES
: (unintelligible)
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: What?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Context, Detective. Context.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: New lens.
M
R
. J
ONES
: Exactly.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Your reading up on sudden infant death was because you were trying to understand your… Chad’s death?
M
R
. J
ONES
: Exactly.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Did you read up on Munchausen syndrome by proxy because you were trying to understand Cassie’s illnesses?
M
R
. J
ONES
: As a matter of fact, I did. Research is what I’m trained to do, Detective. All the experts seemed to be baffled by Cassie’s symptoms. I figured I’d learn what I could.
D
ET
. S
TURGIS
: Dawn Herbert said you were once pre-med.