A Criminal's Mind

DA

"Look it, here's my question. Who killed her?"

"All three are responsible for her death."

"So they all mutilated the body?"

"No."

"Then who killed her?"

I take a deep breath, but before I can say anything Ford does, "Benjamin, did. Frank and Benjamin left her body at the dump, wrapped up. But Benjamin came back a few days later. Isn't all of this in our case notes?"

"Let me stop you right there, see here's the problem. How do I prove all this?"

"What do you mean? You have three confessions on tape. You apply the right pressors to Benjamin and he will crack, tell you anything you wanna know," I shake my head.

"Then why couldn't you get the full confession out of him."

I take a deep breath, "because I didn't take part in the interrogations after that point. We have provided you an analysis, now it isn't my job to make sure everyone can understand that. It's yours. So do they have the right man for this job?"

The DA turns in his chair and Ford takes a deep breath, "how do we translate it so you can use it?"

"What you're saying is that both Benjamin and Frank killed her, right?" The DA turns to us.

"It's complicated, I know," I nod, "Benjamin knocked her out because he felt like he was rejected, which is a trigger for him in this case. He tied her up and called Frank because he didn't know what to do. Frank comes over and takes advantage of the situation, of Beverly. Benjamin doesn't stop him, he wants to see her humiliated. Frank knows that he's in trouble, so he tells Benjamin she's a slut. Which is a problem for Benjamin. So they kill her. Then they call Rose, have her come and help clean up. She sees her, that poor girl, in the bathtub and realizes she's still alive. So they stab her again. Then move the body to the dump."

"Okay." the DA nods, "okay. I can work with that, thank you."

Ford and I head out of the DA's office and to the car. When we get to the car, I almost collapse into the seat, "are you okay?" Ford looks over to me as he gets in.

"I'm fine, just drive."

"Well, good news is it went well."

"You think?"

"Sure, I mean... what don't you think he grasped?"

"Well, Holden, I wasn't exactly able to operate out of a place of non-bias judgement."

"I know," Ford nods.

"I think he seemed very intent on blaming Benjamin, but I don't know. But no matter how I feel about this case, he needs to blame all three of them."

Ford takes a deep breath, "well, certainly at the end he seemed very attentive."

"Or he saw a hurt little girl, trying to find a way to heal."

"I thought you laid it out clearly and concisely for him, just like Wendy would have."

"Just with less big words," Ford and I chuckle, "if you're right we should be fine."

"We will be," Ford smiles over to me. A few minutes pass by before Ford takes a deep breath, "if you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Ford looks over to me, "I mean, I know that day in the hall you told me, but what really happened. What's your story, Nance?"

I shake my head, "you don't wanna know."

"Yes, I do. And if not because I'm your friend then because I'm your partner."

I take a deep breath, "I was seventeen when I met him, Joel Williams. He was everything I could have wanted; Handsome, funny, smart, kind in the beginning. We dated for about a year before we moved in with either other. And of course, no one back home thought it was a good idea."

"Of course."

"But we didn't care," I shake my head, "we were in love. I ended up putting off my degree until he graduated. But as the months and semester went on he changed. He went from this sweet, devoted man to cruel and judgemental about everything. My hair was too short, my legs were too fat, my cooking was never good enough, whatever it was, it didn't matter, he found a reason to hate it. To hate me. But I didn't notice it at the time, I thought he was just stressed because of his classes and schedule. But when winter break came around, it didn't get any better." I clear my throat, "one night we were watching tv, he was drinking and I had gotten up to get something out of the kitchen. I had fractured my ankle, so I was in a boot at the time and so I bumped into the table and spilt my glass of water. It didn't get anything wet, it didn't do anything. But when I went into the kitchen to get a towel, he followed me and...." I clear my throat again, "beat me." I shake my head, "called me every name in the book and told me I was worthless. That no one was going to put up with me or love me other the him and even he barely did. I'm not proud of it, but I stayed for about four months after that. Until one night he broke a vase and when he threw me down onto the floor it cut my arm. He called the police and told them I had tried to kill myself. But of course, none of his story lined up. I left the E.R. right after he left one night and took everything I had, which was an overnight bag and my wallet and came out here. Once I got here I called my family, told them what had happened. When the police went to look for him, he was gone."

"Wow... Nance, I had no idea. I'm so sorry."