A Criminal's Mind

Church

We head to the First United Methodist Church in Altoona, Ocasek assures us that Mrs. Barnwright will be there. He says she is always there on Wednesday evenings. When we get there and walk inside I turn to the boys and speak softly, "I think I should handle this."

"Why? We can all talk to her," Ford shakes his head as he tries to walk past me.

I place my hand on his chest, stopping him. "Three men and a woman, question a grieving mother in law, in a church. Sounds like the start to a bad joke. Or at least to some bad press."

"She's right," Tench nods.

"I've got this. Just set a few rows back so you guys can hear," I turn and continue into the church and up the rows before anyone can protest. I walk to the pew where Mrs. Barnwright is sitting, praying. I stand at the end of the row, until she lifts her head, "Excuse me. Mrs. Barnwright?"

"Yes?" She turns toward me.

"Hello, I'm Nancy Freemen with the FBI. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about Beverly Jean."

"Of course," she nods, gesturing to the seat next to her. "What do you want to know?"

"Would you mind if we start by talking about Benjamin?" I sit down, crossing my ankles and placing my hands in my lap.

"I always worried about Benjamin."

"He was living with you when he met Beverly Jean?"

"He was so excited to have a girlfriend."

"Did she reciprocate those feelings?"

"He said that she was crazy about him."

"I'm guessing you met her."

"Of course."

"What were they like together?"

"Well, they were... normal. She teased him a lot. He pretended not to enjoy it, but I know he did. You're young, you know how it is."

I chuckle, "yes, I do. I also know that young couples argue sometimes."

"Have you talked to Benjamin?"

I nod, "this morning."

"Is he in trouble?"

"We have to talk to everyone who knew Beverly Jean. It's a lot of ground to cover."

"I never heard them argue," Mrs. Barnwright shakes her head, "Benjamin is soft, you know."

"if you don't mind me asking, what was he like as a child?"

"He was always sensitive. But when his father ran off, he just..."

"Did he shut down? Was he still your Benjamin?"

"Well, he started to cry a lot, wet the bed. He won't leave the house."

"That must have been hard for you."

"I had to leave the kids on their own a lot. Rose helped out, but she was just so little. Those were hard years. I did a lot of praying. But then Rose met Frank and he moved in with us."

"What's Frank's last name?"

"Janderman," Mrs. Barnwright nods, "they just had a baby, you know."

"I didn't, that's wonderful. Your first grandchild?" Mrs. Barnwright looks over to me and nods, "congratulations."

"People talked about Frank back then, but I never listened to all that. I loved him from the first time I met him. I still do."

"Did Benjamin feel the same way?"

"Well, he started to go out, you know. He became friends with Frank. Frank protected him. He wouldn't let anyone near Rose. He even got Benji a job so I didn't have to work two shifts." She chuckles, "sometimes Rose said I loved him more than she did."

"When was this?"

"Well, uh... they got married at 18, so Rose must have been... 15, 16 at the time."

"Why did Frank move in?"

"Well, I don't remember. He had some problems at home with his father, as young boys do. But he got them their own place when they married."

"That's why Benjamin bought a place for Beverly Jean."

"Yeah," Mrs. Barnwright nods.

"But Benjamin lived at home until he met Beverly Jean?"

She nods and turns toward the front of the church, "it's been a strange time. We were so happy that Frank and Rose were having a baby, and then Benjamin loses his love in such a horrible way," Mrs. Barnwright begins to sob.

I glance back to the boys, "thank you so much, Mrs. Barnwright. You have a nice day."

"You too, dear. I'm sorry I wasn't much help."

"You helped plenty," I stand and walk out of the church, not stopping as I pass the boys and walking along the sidewalk to the car, stopping once I'm there.

Tench lights up a cigratte, "like mother, like son."

"You think there's a gene for crying?" Ford looks over to Tench.

"Look, Bill, I know you hate it when Holden says this, but I have a feeling about Benjamin, he knows something." I shake my head, "call it women's intuition, instincts, whatever."

"Why do you think it was him?" Tench stops by the car as well.

"You can't tell me you haven't been wondering why Beverly Jean was with him in the first place."

"Actually, I have."

Ford shrugs, "she might have liked that he was older, easy to talk to. He's sensitive."

Tench drops his shoulders, "half glazed, half cake?"

"Sure."

I scoff, "I think Beverly Jean had poor pipsqueak Benji, wrapped around her finger."

"Maybe she wanted a nice guy with a steady income who loved her."

"Whatever you say, Ocasek," I shake my head and look over to Ford.

"What's that?" Ocasek walks around the car, having heard me say his name.

Ford shrugs, "we were just saying there's not much here."

"I assured Mrs. Barnwright this was a formality."

Tench shakes his head, "it's not a formality."

"Well, I can tell her it is."

Ford looks over to Ocasek, "so where does this leave us?"

"These still Alvin."

I scoff, "you don't want it to be someone in the community. Neither of you do." I look between Ocasek and Ford, "you two are the reason Alvin didn't want to go to the police when he found Beverly Jean's body."

"Who drives all this way to come to some rust belt town?" Tench looks around, "if you're hunting for girls, you got big cities. You got freeways with hitchhikers. Why choose a place like this?"

"And how would a drifter know where the dump is?"