A Criminal's Mind

Lisa

We head back into the interview room and Devier begins to tell us about his work, "most people would call it a cherry picker, but the industry term would be a boom lift or a boom truck."

"What's the highest you've been?" I tilt my head a bit.

"About 50 feet."

"In a tree?"

"That's right."

"But you're in a harness, right?"

"Well, of course, at that height. But sometimes you gotta get out to get them faraway limbs."

"Don't look down, huh?" I chuckle softly.

"No, that don't bother me no more."

"You saw Lisa waving to you a couple times?"

"Must not have been too far up to see that," Ford clears his throat.

Devier shrugs, "I'm not too sure."

"She ever talk to you?"

"No, but I already told you that."

"Hmm.. okay."

"Why?"

Ford sighs, "we have one person, said she saw the two of you talking."

"Well, I thought I was your star witness."

"Only one watching the streets," Ford corrects, "listens, you're a good-looking guy. Did she just come up to you, being friendly?"

I shrug, "she sees you up there everyday, sweating away in the hot sun. Could she have maybe offered you a soda?"

Devier thinks for a minute before he nods, "she could've come up and talked to me."

"Can you remember?" Ford shrugs.

"I guess."

"It's coming back to you."

"Just that... she could've talked to me."

"What did she say?" I place my elbows back on the table.

"I don't know."

Ford tilts his head a bit, "you don't?"

"No."

"No idea at all? You weren't listening?"

"I can't recall."

"She ask you about your work, your day, where you live?"

"Something like that."

"Small talk," I nod.

"Sure."

"I bet she thought you were a handsome cuss."

Devier chuckles, "I don't know."

"You think she was pretty?"

"We've already established she looked at least 14," Ford shrugs and leans back.

"I guess, I thought so," Devier shrugs.

"You thought what?"

"That she was cute."

"She was precocious, too," Ford nods. "Didn't mind that you were older. She probably kind of liked it."

"Yeah, I kind of thought she was into me."

Ford stands and walks around my chair, "when your job ended and you weren't on that street, you still think about her?"

"No."

"You ever go back by the house, see if she wanted to talk some more?" Ford begins to walk in front of the evidence, "I mean, she started things, right?"

"Kind of."

"What about this jacket?" Ford picks up Lisa's uniform jacket, which is covering the rock that they had recovered from the crime scene and walks over to the table, "you ever see her wear this?" He lays it down on the table, "here, take a closer look." Ford starting up the recorder again, without Devier noticing.

Devier almost zones out on the rock and I look up to Ford, my attitude changing, "when you picked her up from the bus, was she wearing this jacket?" Devier doesn't respond, other than a shift of his head toward me, "there was a lot of blood at the crime scene."

"We haven't revealed too many details, but Lisa's skull was crushed. That blood goes everywhere."

"In crimes involving blunt force trauma, it's almost impossible for the attacker to avoid getting his victim's blood on him." I nod, "see the scalp has thousands of capillaries."

"Blood sprays everywhere, like a fine mist. It gets in your hair, up your nose."

I nod, "that's the worst."

"I'd be amazed if you didn't get any on you."

I shake my head, "he's washed since then."

"What's under your fingernails, Gene?"

"It's just dirt, Holden."

"We should take a sample."

"He scrubbed his nails by now."

"Is it in your ears?" Ford nods, "I bet it is. When was the last time you cleaned your ears?"

"You want to take a sample?"

"Can we do that?" Ford looks over to Chambers.

Chambers nods, "I can arrange that."

"You've gone quiet," Ford looks back to Devier, who is in what can be best described as a state of shock.

"When we accuse somebody of murder, if they haven't done it, they won't shut up." I chuckle, "they protest their innocence."

"Oh, God, yeah." Ford nods, "it's all 'how dare you? Fuck you. I know my rights.' Things like that."

"A guilty guy will always calm up, start listening intently, which is what you're doing."

"If a guilty guy yells to make you think he's innocent, you can always tell the difference."

"Sure can," I shrug, "why do you keep looking at that rock, Gene? An innocent man would have to guess it's significance." I take a deep breath, "it's what was used to kill Lisa, wasn't it?"

Ford shrugs, "when things got out of hand. You didn't mean to, right?"

"She came up to you, she seemed friendly, and then everything went sideways. The question for us isn't, 'did you do it?' We know that you did it. The question for us is... 'Why?' We think we know why and we understand."

"All you have to do is tell us if we're right."