Mistaken Identity (23 page)

Forty-Three

At the nearby state police headquarters, uniformed troopers escorted John Kidd into the interrogation room. Lucinda and Jake watched on the video monitor as they fastened his shackles to the leg of a sturdy gray metal table bolted to the floor and his left handcuff to the bolt and hook in the concrete wall.

Little remained of the smooth-talking con man with an easy smile and sparkling eyes and an ability to charm older women from coast to coast. The events of the day had scraped the veneer away to reveal the predator that lurked beneath the surface, ready to pounce on any opportunity. He was cornered and he knew it. Keeping up his false front demanded too much energy now.

Jake nodded at Lucinda. She returned the gesture and gave him a thumbs up. Jake walked out of the control booth and down two doors to the room containing John Kidd. As Jake entered the room, the three troopers departed, leaving him alone with the suspect. Kidd slouched in the chair with his free arm on the table surface and his forehead resting on his arm. When Jake began to read the man his rights, Kidd raised his head slightly and stared at the detective through hooded eyes. When Jake finished, Lucinda walked into the room.

Turning to her, Jake said, “I read him his rights.”

“Why did you bother with that, Jake? John’s a man and a man doesn’t hide behind anyone – not even an attorney. Does he, John?”

Jake leaned back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. John raised his head and sat straighter in the chair. His focus was now on Lucinda alone. The surly expression vanished, as if a giant hand swept down across his face and wiped it away. He beamed a big smile, pulling his false front back in place. ‘Hello, ma’am. I am so glad to see you. I thought I was stuck with macho man here,” he said, poking a thumb in Jake’s direction. “Women are much more intuitive and since you all don’t tote around that testosterone-fueled attitude, you can cut through the BS so much easier.”

Lucinda laughed at him. “Spare me, Mr. Kidd. I’m not old enough for you and you’re not pretty enough for me.”

Kidd’s nostrils flared and his free hand formed a fist. The veneer cracked but he smoothed it back in place. “I’m not coming on to you, ma’am. I’m afraid my reputation is clouding your perception of me. I think if you’ll set that aside for a minute, we can both find a resolution to this situation that will work for all of us.”

“A resolution? You kidnap a boy, hold him and a farming couple hostage and you think there’s some sort of nice little compromise possible?”

“Listen, it’s really simple, ma’am. You know, I’m sure, how quirky things can get when we are dealing with affairs of the heart?” He looked at Lucinda, waiting for an answer. When he didn’t get one, he continued. “See, this is all a big misunderstanding around a lover’s quarrel.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Yeah, in fact, ma’am, all this is partly your fault.”

“My fault?”

“Yeah, you see, you told Victoria about Karen King and all. And she was really angry about that. I mean, I don’t blame you or anything. I understand how women have to stick together in the face of male trickery; but, you know, that’s why we fought. She said she was throwing me out. I couldn’t stand it. My heart was shredded. I knew if I had Freddy, she’d come talk to me. That’s all I wanted.”

“You just wanted to talk? That’s why you left body parts on her porch and sent her a ransom demand?”

“I don’t know anything about body parts but I just made the ransom request to get her attention.”

“You sure did that, Mr. Kidd. But, you see, the kidnapping thing is a federal rap. I’m not all that concerned about that – I leave that to the Feeb here. I’m just an ordinary local cop. And I’ve got this double homicide here that I was hoping we could talk about.”

“Homicide? I don’t know anything about murder.”

Jake interrupted. “Listen, Lieutenant, I’ve got a real solid abduction case here and I want to deal with the problem at hand. Why don’t you just go do some investigation and let me deal with my suspect?”

“See, ma’am, there’s the perfect example of that macho behavior I was talking about. He’s a man. He’s gotta be in charge. Personally, I prefer demonstrating my testosterone in bed – if you know what I mean,” John said with a wink.

“Are you under the mistaken impression that you can play me like one of your old lady victims, Mr. Kidd?” Lucinda asked. “Let me set you straight. For one, a real man does not prey on helpless, lonely widows. And since I’ve taken on real men and won – you don’t have a chance. Secondly, I have never been desperate enough to have a man in my bed to ever consider you as a possible candidate.” As she spoke, the change in his expression was so abrupt that Lucinda could have sworn she saw the veneer peel way.

He sneered at her, “As if any man would ever crawl into your ugly bed.”

“Excuse me, is that another example of that macho shit you were telling me about?”

“Somebody sure messed your face. I’ll bet you didn’t feel so tough then, bitch.”

Lucinda looked down at him and blinked her eyelids with slow deliberation. She turned her head to the side and said, “Later, Jake.”

“But, Lieutenant, the charge for the arrest is kidnapping …”

“Yeah, and with my help, you’ve got that wrapped up very nicely. So go on, give me a minute with my homicide suspect.”

Lucinda kept her eyes on Kidd. She didn’t look back but knew Jake was gone when she heard the click of the closing door. She smiled at the realization that the script she and Jake had prepared was playing out just as they planned.

She placed two hands on the table top and eased into the chair. She pointed to her face. “You think this looks bad, Mr. Kidd?”

“Pretty awful, you ask me. Somebody must have been pretty ticked off at you. And I’m beginning to understand why.”

She leaned forward close enough to his face that she could feel the warmth of his breath. “You think this is bad, you should see the other guy.”

Kidd laughed out loud. “You think you’re tough, don’t you, bitch?”

“My title is Lieutenant. You can use that.”

“Don’t think so, bitch.”

“My, my, my, Mr. Kidd,” Lucinda said, leaning back in her chair. “With a mouth like that, I don’t know how you managed to con all of those women.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t be modest, Mr. Kidd. We’ve tracked your trail of broken hearts and empty bank accounts all over the country. We know all your names. We know all your games. We own your sorry ass.”

“You don’t know shit.”

“We know pretty much everything. We traced you all the way back to your genius Daddy, William Blessing. And we know he’s the excuse you’re using for committing your crimes.”

“You’re crazy, bitch.”

Lucinda’s hand clutched his collar and jerked him forward before the last syllable escaped his mouth. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a twitch in his arm. “Don’t even think about it, Mr. Kidd. Assaulting an officer will get you a very long sentence even if we can’t prove the murders you committed.”

“My word against yours.”

Lucinda laughed, letting go of his collar, and gave him a sharp shove back into his chair. “I have witnesses, Mr. Kidd.”

Lucinda watched his eyes as they circled round the room. “There’s no one-way glass in here – it’s all solid walls,” John noted. “Oh, yeah, I get it. You have cops who will lie for you – swear to any story you concoct.”

“Oh, no, Mr. Kidd. Welcome to the big time. This is a state-of-the-art interrogation room with a high-tech monitoring center where they can watch and record all six rooms at one time. Lucinda turned and pointed. “See that vent high up on the wall? Look closely and you’ll see a tiny pinpoint red light behind the louvers. That’s a camera. And there are six microphones installed flush with the surface, around the room, to pick up everything you say in surround sound. And if I’m not tough enough for you, those three big, beefy troopers who brought you in, they’re standing just outside the door, itching for a chance to slam you into the floor.”

“You don’t scare me. They don’t scare me. You might be able to make the kidnapping stick but you don’t have a thing to connect me to any murders. You’ve got my record. You know what I am – a con man, a scam artist – but not one violent crime. And you go talk to those women. For a while, I made every one of them feel like a queen and they loved me – each and every one. And unless they’re lying, they’ll tell you I never raised a hand to one of them. I’m not a violent man. I’ve no history of it – the judge will laugh you out of the courtroom. You want your killer, Lieutenant, I’ll give her to you. But we’ve got to make a deal. I’m not spending the rest of my life in jail to protect anyone.”

“So, you’re willing to pin your murders on a woman? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Kidd. I guess chivalry truly is dead.”

“I’m not a violent man.”

“All of us are capable of violence; we just have to have the right motivation. We know why you targeted the people in the Sterling house but we don’t know why this time you resorted to violence. It wasn’t even the last one, so it doesn’t make sense to me. You had one more to go. So why did you go so far this time around?”

Kidd studied her but did not speak.

“C’mon, Kidd. We know you were the shooter. Nothing else makes sense. But someone helped you? Who was she? Who was your accomplice? You’re going down, but you don’t need to take the fall alone. Cooperate and you might be able to waltz away from the death penalty.”

“I want an attorney.”

“What a disappointment. I thought you were smarter than that, Mr. Kidd.”

“Screw you, bitch.”

“I don’t think so, Mr. Kidd. I’m too young for your senior citizen fetish.”

Kidd slammed his free arm down hard on the surface of the table.

Lucinda stood and walked to the door. When she opened it, she turned back and said, “I hope you didn’t hurt yourself, little man.”

Forty-Four

“Any word from the hospital?” Lucinda asked as she stepped from the interrogation room.

“Everyone is just fine. Martha has a new cast and she and Frank are on their way to their son’s house in the next county – we couldn’t take them back to the farm because the forensics techs are still gathering evidence out there. We thought you’d like to take Freddy back home, so a trooper is bringing him over here. Should arrive any minute. But, if you’d rather, we can get the trooper to transport him.”

“No, not at all. That’s perfect. Jake and I need to head back and it would be nice to have some time to talk to Freddy on the drive into the city.”

A civilian employee stepped into the back hall and informed Lucinda that Kidd was ready for transfer to her county’s jail. “And his attorney has been contacted. He will meet him there.”

Lucinda dreaded dealing with attorneys in general and assumed the one representing John Kidd would be particularly difficult. She just hoped that it wasn’t one of the lawyers she’d already annoyed.

The back door opened and a bandaged, weary but upbeat Freddy walked through the door. “Lieutenant Pierce! That sure was scary but it got really exciting at the end. I can’t wait to tell everybody at school about what I did for my summer vacation. Nobody’ll be able to call me a wimp ever again.”

Jake ruffled the young boy’s hair. “We’re all proud of you, Freddy. What you did took a lot of guts.”

“Are you the FBI guy?”

“Sure am. And you’ll be riding back home with me and the Lieutenant.”

“Do you have a cool car like the one you brought to the farmhouse?”

“I do, Freddy, but unfortunately, it’s in DC. We’re riding in the Lieutenant’s boring-mobile.”

“Hey,” Lucinda said, “it gets us where we need to go.”

“See, Freddy, women just don’t get it.”

Freddy laughed and asked, “Do you have to junk that red Camaro?”

Jake winced. “I sure hope not.”

“Let’s go, guys,” Lucinda said, putting an arm on Freddy’s back and giving him a gentle push towards the door.

Before they hit the highway, Lucinda stopped at Dairy Queen and told Freddy to order whatever he wanted. He asked for a Butterfinger Blizzard. She thought about insisting on a meal, but then decided that after what the kid had been through, he deserved anything he wanted.

While he devoured the frozen concoction, Freddy babbled away about his recent experience. His hard-won freedom put a glossy shine on his days of captivity, turning it all into a grand adventure. Then he became serious. “What makes people get that way?”

“That’s something we study at the FBI all the time, Freddy,” Jake said, “but we still don’t have a clear-cut answer. It has something to do with abuse in their early childhood, brain injuries, drug and alcohol use at a young age – and then, there seems like there must be something in their genetic make-up because you can take a bunch of people with nearly identical lives and one person grows up a psychopath, another leads a life devoted to helping others, and most of them just end up like pretty ordinary folks.”

“How come my grandma didn’t know he was a bad person?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s come to regret that, Freddy,” Lucinda said. “But she’s not the first person to be tricked by a psychopath and she won’t be the last.”

As they traveled the last few miles, Freddy grew quiet. Both Lucinda and Jake tried to bring him out again but he resisted all their attempts with monosyllabic responses.

Victoria Whitehead raced down the front steps as they pulled up front. She threw her arms around Freddy as soon as he stepped out of the car. She turned to Lucinda. “Can you please come in for a bit? I have a few questions.”

Lucinda nodded and she and Jake followed Freddy and his grandmother into the house. Victoria prepared a snack for Freddy and, at his pleading, allowed him to take it downstairs where he wanted to go to play with his Wii.

The two investigators ran down the series of events and responded to all of Victoria’s queries, assuring her that Freddy had received a thorough medical examination at the hospital. Lucinda was walking toward the stairs to say goodbye to Freddy when her cell rang. “Pierce,” she said and then listened. “You’re kidding!” She paused again. “Miracles do happen. Thanks for the call.”

“What is it?” Jake asked.

“He’s ready to give up his accomplice in the double homicide. Fear of a possible death sentence does wonders for the level of cooperation.”

After their car pulled away from the curb, Victoria yelled down to Freddy, “Get your Wii, your games and all the cable you need to hook it up and come upstairs.”

“You want me to bring my Wii upstairs?”

“Just do it, Frederick. And hurry.”

Freddy did as he was told and came up the steps. “Grandmother?”

From the second floor, she shouted down, “Set that stuff down in the foyer and get up here. You need to pack your clothes.”

“Pack my clothes? Where are we going?” Freddy asked as he mounted the stairs.

“Don’t you worry about that. Just get busy. We may never come back here so pack everything you ever want to see again.”

“Grandmother, this doesn’t make any sense. Jason or John or whatever is in jail. They’re not going to let him out. We’re safe.”

“No, we are not safe. There is more in this world to worry about than Jason’s violence. We need to leave and we need to leave right away.”

In his bedroom, Freddy found an empty suitcase open on his bed. The thought of never returning frightened him and made it difficult for him to decide what to take and what to leave behind. He filled the bag, zipped it shut and rolled it out into the hall. “Grandmother, I finished.”

“Good. Come in here and get another piece of luggage for your Wii – get the smallest one that will hold it all and grab an afghan from the family room and wrap it around the pieces so it won’t get banged up.”

Freddy grabbed an overnight bag and rolled the two pieces of luggage down the stairs. After packing away his Wii, he sat down on a chair trying to figure out what was happening and why. He finally decided that his grandmother was just freaking out and in a few days she’d realize that and then they’d come home.

Victoria emerged from her bedroom pulling two big suitcases behind her. Freddy leaped up the steps to take one of the bags downstairs while she took the other one.

“Ready, Frederick?” she asked.

Ready for what?
“Yes, ma’am.”

Victoria led him through the kitchen and into the garage. She backed the car out and stopped. “Say goodbye, Frederick. I don’t know why any of us ever moved to this godforsaken town. I, for one, will never return – not even if I’m stone-cold dead. You remember that, Frederick. As much as I loved your mother, and as much as I’d like to rest beside her for all eternity, I can never do it here. My soul would never find a moment’s peace.”