Blood Relatives (17 page)

CARELLA
: Could someone get her a blanket, please? Go ahead, Patricia.

PATRICIA
:
Freeze
to death in here.

CARELLA
: What’d you say when she asked you why you’d read the diary?

PATRICIA
: Oh, what
could
I say, use your head. Could I tell her I knew all about her and my darling brother, knew from when I’d come home from the library and heard them in the bedroom, you can hear
every
thing in that house. They didn’t know I was home, the television was on, I guess the noise of the television drowned out my coming in—but it didn’t drown out what they were doing in that bedroom, oh no. Forcing her to get on her knees, and telling her to take it, and her
doing
it, God, the
noises
she made! I hated her from that minute, I wanted to kill her right then, I
would
have killed her if I had the nerve. But I was afraid he’d turn on
me,
you see, I was afraid he’d force
me
to do the same thing, because…well…he’s always
loved me, you see, I know he loves me more than Muriel, so he probably
would
have forced me to do the same thing. So I ran outside again, and then I rang the doorbell and pretended I’d forgotten my key—
Is
someone getting a blanket?

CARELLA
: Yes, Patricia.

PATRICIA
: Because it really
is
freezing in here, you know.

CARELLA
: She wanted to know why you’d read the diary—

PATRICIA
: Yes, and I told her I’d read it because I’d heard them in Andy’s room, and I couldn’t believe what I’d heard, so I read the diary to find out if it was true, and it
was
true. Do you deny it? I said. Do you deny it? And she said, No, I don’t deny it, and that was when I took the knife out of my bag and stabbed her. I don’t know how many times I stabbed her. I finally ripped her pantyhose around the crotch and stuck the knife inside her. Then I just stood there in the hall, she was lying on the floor, I said, Muriel, what’s the matter with you? and I realized she was dead, I knew I had killed her. So I ripped my own dress with the knife, and cut the palms of my hands to make it seem somebody had tried to kill
me,
too, and I cut my own cheek, and then I ran out of the building and threw the knife down the sewer and went to the station house.

CARELLA
: Why did you describe the killer as a man with dark hair and blue eyes?

PATRICIA
: I don’t know. I guess it was…well, I really don’t know. I guess because of what I read in the diary. About what was happening with her and the man at the bank. I guess I got confused there. I guess…I guess I figured she’d do the same thing
with him that she’d already done with Andy, yes, maybe that was it. She probably
would
have done the same thing, don’t you think? If somebody hadn’t killed her? Don’t you think?

CARELLA
: Why did you later tell us—?

PATRICIA
: Don’t you think?

CARELLA
: I really don’t know, Patricia.

PATRICIA
: Oh, yes. It was in her diary. She said so herself. She said she felt like a wild animal.

CARELLA
: Patricia, you came to us later and said your brother had killed her. Why did you do that?

PATRICIA
: Because, you see, I didn’t think he was…you see, I thought
she
was the one who’d…who’d
done
all this, throwing herself at him, you know. And I thought if I killed her, well, if
somebody
killed her, why, then she’d be punished for what she’d done, and my brother wouldn’t have to bother with her any more, everything would be all right again. Because, you see, I
knew
he loved me more than he loved her, no matter
what
I heard him saying that day in his room, and no matter what she wrote in her diary. I mean, I’m his
sister,
he’s got to love his sister more than he does his cousin, isn’t that right? He’s just
got
to.

CARELLA
: What made you cnoindente your mind?

PATRICIA
: I cnoindented my mind, that’s right.

CARELLA
: Yes, you accused him of murdering her. You said he’d killed her.

PATRICIA
: Yes.

CARELLA
: Why?

PATRICIA
: Because he jumped on the coffin. He said he loved her.

Immediately following the interrogation, Patricia Lowery’s attorney asked that she be moved to the psychiatric ward of Buena Vista Hospital for observation pending arraignment. He and the assistant district attorney batted around the technicalities of this for several minutes, and it was finally agreed that justice could as easily be served in a locked cell at the hospital as in one of the holding cells in the basement of the 87th Precinct. The ambulance arrived some ten minutes after they phoned for it. Carella took the handcuffs from Patricia’s wrists, and one of the ambulance attendants helped her into a straitjacket, and then signed a release stating he had taken the prisoner into custody. The attendants led her out of the office then, and down the corridor to the elevator. Attorney Hudd asked if anyone would care for a drink, and the detectives and the assistant district attorney declined, and Hudd said he guessed it was time to close shop for the night. He checked out the burglar-alarm system, activated it, and then stepped quickly into the corridor in the thirty seconds of delaytime allotted to him. On the sidewalk outside, he said good night to the other men and began walking toward the garage where he customarily parked his car.

“Nuttier’n a fruitcake, that girl,” the assistant DA said. “Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why Hudd agreed to let her talk. Anybody reading that transcript’ll know in a minute she’s crazy.”

Carella said nothing.

“Probably won’t even get to stand trial, she’s that far gone. All your work down the drain,” he said. He shook hands with both detectives then, and started off up the street.

“Think I’ll walk over to Augusta’s,” Kling said.

“Okay,” Carella said. “See you in the morning, huh?”

“Yeah,” Kling said.

Carella watched as he walked off. He turned then, and began walking in the opposite direction, toward the subway kiosk
two blocks away. As he walked he kept thinking of the moment Patricia Lowery had thrown back her head and begun screaming.

It started raining just as he went down the steps into the subway.

Photograph © Dragica Hunter