by Robin James
“Mr. Sutter!” I shouted. I’d been here before. Early last year, I’d stood in my boss’s office as he pulled out a similar gun and pointed it straight at me.
No. Not again.
“Mr. Sutter,” I said. “Let me take that from you.”
“Better not do that,” he said. “You don’t want to get your fingerprints all over it.”
It was then I noticed he covered the handle of the gun with a small blue handkerchief. He turned it, pointing the barrel away from me, then lifted it. He stayed stock still as I took the gun out of his hands.
“Better hurry,” he said. “Before she comes back.”
“Where ... where did you get this?” I asked.
“She tried to bury it out behind the woodpile in the back of the house,” he said. “She doesn’t think I go back there anymore. I go where I want.”
“She,” I said. My brain was still trying to catch up with what my eyes were seeing.
“Georgie! That boy will do anything for her,” Lou said. “If Jody’s lying, it’s to save Georgie’s skin. She told me he’d be too dumb to figure out what to do with that thing. But she went too far this time. If she’d left Kevin alone ... but she didn’t. She’s gone too far this time. You understand? I should have listened. We all should have listened. Rosemary was right. My wife will be the death of us all.”
I heard Georgette Sutter’s lilting voice as she sang an old standard. Her footsteps drew closer. I slipped the wrapped pistol in my purse and took out my phone.
Sam, thank God, answered right away.
“I need you,” I said. “Get a crew out to Lou Sutter’s. And hurry!”
Georgette rounded the corner and held out my coat for me.
38
Georgette Sutter asked for two things when Sam brought her into the interrogation room. A cup of tea, and for me to sit right next to her.
“No sugar, honey,” she said to Deputy Remick. “I don’t like any of that stuff.”
I saw myself in the large, one-way mirror on the opposite wall. No make-up. My hair pulled into a ponytail. I wore a pair of leggings and an oversized cardigan. I hadn’t gone to Georgette’s expecting to be here today. I hadn’t expected any of this.
“Mrs. Sutter,” I said. “I want to reiterate; you have a right to have your own lawyer present. Do you understand that?”
“Of course I understand it,” she said. “I signed your paperwork. Let’s get on with this. I’ve got a pot roast in. Nikki’s no good in the kitchen. Lou won’t eat it if it’s too dry.”
Sam caught my eye. He knew what I was thinking, and a subtle sweeping gesture from him told me what was on his mind.
Not now. Let her keep thinking she’ll be home in time for dinner.
“Mrs. Sutter,” Sam said. He had two pads of paper in front of him. One for his own notes, one for Georgette if she was willing to put her statement in writing.
“I waive my right to an attorney,” she said. “I want to talk. It’s about time. Ask me your questions.”
She caught her own look in the mirror and smoothed an errant hair behind her ear. She wore a pink-and-white tracksuit with a flower pattern on the collar. She straightened it and adjusted her glasses. It dawned on me she relished the attention.
“Mrs. Sutter,” he said. “Your husband produced a gun and gave it to Ms. Brent today. We’re going to test it. Am I going to find your fingerprints on it?”
“I suspect you will,” she sighed. “It’s mine. Nice one, isn’t it? Smith and Wesson. M&P Shield. I’ve had it for years. Lou got that one for me for Christmas. I’ve got a permit for that. It’s sad, but I had to be able to protect myself when I was in the bait shop by myself. It made Louie feel better. Got so used to carrying it around. I kinda miss it now.”
“Mrs. Sutter,” Sam said. “It will take a day or two for our ballistics testing to come back, but that same type of weapon was used in the shootings of your family members on May 18th.”
She stared blankly at him.
“Mrs. Sutter,” he said. “If you know something about what happened that day, it’s better if you came out with it now. There won’t be any denying the science if that gun comes back as a match for the murder weapon. We’ll know. We have the bullets that came out of the gun that day. Each gun leaves unique markings when those bullets are fired. If …”
“I know all of that,” she said. “I watch CSI. I’m not an idiot.”
Sam sat back. “So what do you want to tell me?”
She pursed her lips and shook her head. “That little, soft-headed idiot. Did you find him?”
“Jody?” I asked. “You mean Jody Doehler?”
“He had one job!” she shouted. “One. I told him to do what I said. But no, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. I knew it. Knew it. The second those kids came over I knew it would be trouble.”
“What kids?” Sam asked.
“You mean Chad Carmichael and Sarah Bosch?” I asked. “They came to see you. After the murders.”
She nodded. “They wanted my forgiveness. Can you believe that? Crying their eyes out about seeing Mickey get rough with Skylar that night and not saying anything to anybody else. Came over here acting like they were trying to see if I was all right. What they really wanted was for me to tell them it was okay they didn’t do more to help her get away from that little monster.”
“And Jody overheard.” Sam filled in the blanks. “He heard them tell you about that night at the Blue Pony.”
“I knew it,” she said. “Tried to get him out of the room. Saw his wheels turning. Then he had to make up some dumb story about hearing Mickey Harvey threatening to kill poor Skylar too. You didn’t need it. I knew it was going to cause me trouble. I’ve tried with that boy. You know, my sister wrote Jody off years ago. If she’d just shown him just the tiniest bit of affection. He’s a special case. A good boy at heart. He just ... I don’t know. I guess they call it ADD or whatever the P.C. police say. He just can’t focus. You have to keep him busy. That’s the key. Give him jobs to do. You let him stay idle, he gets into trouble. That’s what I told Thomas about Kevin. Those two were a lot alike. I should have stepped in more than I did. I didn’t want to get in between a father and his son. That was a mistake. I know it now.”
“Mrs. Sutter,” Sam said. “I spoke to you the day after the shootings out at the farm. Do you remember that?”
“Of course,” she snapped. “I told you, I’m not an idiot.”
“Okay,” he said. “You told me you were at home the morning of the 18th. You told me you got up at seven and were cooking breakfast for Lou. Was that true?”
She folded her hands and rested them on the table. “You need to understand how much I did for Kevin. How much Lou did for Kevin. His own mother abandoned him. Ran off to Seattle with Nikki. He had nobody but us looking out for him. We handed him that business. Gave him a future. A purpose. He promised me he’d turn his life around.”
“You mean his drug problem,” I said.
“Well, of course, honey. What else would I mean? Karen, Thomas’s wife. Nikki’s mom. She was too permissive. Let those two kids get away with everything. Spare the rod, spoil the child. All that. Do you know how much money we spent putting that boy in fancy clinics trying to get him to kick those drugs? Thousands of dollars so he could take yoga classes and find inner peace. Fat lot of good it did. Oh, and he was a liar. Such a good one. Said he’d take care of me. We gave that business to him so he could carry it into the next generation. Not so he could sell it off to some pot dealer. That really broke my heart. He owed me. You know what we sold that place to him for? Fifty grand. It was a gift.”
“Kevin never offered to give you a piece of the sale to Verde, did he?” I asked.
“He did not,” she said. “Not that I would have touched it. That’s dirty money. Sold his soul to the devil. You know how much I’ve had to hear from people in town about that? He didn’t even ask. Didn’t say, Grandma George, what do you think about this? I would have told h
im. Would have set him straight. I made that business what it was. When I married Louie, they were only selling worms pretty much. It was my vision. I did all the legwork and the bookkeeping. Got the billboard on I-75. Put out flyers. It was my idea to expand the general store.”
Lou Sutter’s words came back to me. He said Rosemary Sutter always said she would be the death of them all. I wondered how well Lou’s brothers and their wives took to Georgette telling them all what to do with their family business. The thing was, she was right. She had turned the bait shop and general store into a lucrative Maumee County staple.
“Lies,” she said. “Lies after lies after lies, Kevin would tell. I gave him so many chances.”
“It’s part of the disease,” I said.
“Oh, spare me,” she said. “I don’t want to hear that crap. That boy never had to face the consequences of his actions. Karen, his mama, always carried his water. I knew she wasn’t the right girl for my Thomas.”
“Mrs. Sutter,” Sam said. “Tell me what happened the morning of the 18th of May. Did you go down to talk to Kevin?”
“Wanted to see if he’d lie to me again,” she said. “I saw him with Mickey Harvey over at the car wash on Baldwin street. I’m not an idiot. I know what they were doing. I know they sell drugs over there. Piece of trash, that boy. Just like his old man. Just like that whole family.”
“You’re saying you knew Mickey was selling drugs to Kevin?” I asked.
“Damn right I did,” she said. “So I had Jody drive me out there. I wasn’t going to stand for any more lies. I’d had enough. Sure enough, I saw that little thug’s car in Kevin’s driveway. Right there. Under my nose. On Sutter property. I knew why he was there. I knew what Kevin was doing.”
“What happened when you confronted Kevin?” I asked.
“Same as always happened,” she said. “He lied. He said Grandma, it was just the one time. He swore to God. Can you believe that? It’s bad enough he lied to my face.”
“What did you do next?” Sam asked.
“Told him I wasn’t going to stand for it. Told him how ashamed his father would be. I told him I wanted him off the property. Let his mother figure out what to do about him.”
“What did he do?” I asked.
“That little ... he laughed at me. Called me names I won’t repeat. He told me he did the family a favor by getting rid of the store. He had the nerve …”
She hiccupped. Tears filled her eyes. Sam was quick with a box of tissues and slid them across the table.
“He ... he said my Thomas didn’t like working at the store. That he only did it to please me. He said Thomas and Karen were planning on selling their shares and moving far away. It was a lie. I know it. My baby would have never done something like that. Kevin said Thomas hated me. Can you believe that? He said my baby boy hated his own mama.”
“You got angry,” Sam said.
She nodded. “It was so hurtful. So vile. He said my Lou was in on it. That they were all trying to figure out a way to tell me. Then Thomas had his accident. Now why would he say all those things?”
“What happened next, Mrs. Sutter?” Sam asked.
“I threw the book at him. The literal book. Thomas always kept a Bible on the table in the front hallway. You know that was his house before Kevin got it. Lou and I built it for our son. I threw it at Kevin. I’m not proud of that. Then Kevin ... he came at me. Told me it was his property, and I wasn’t welcome on it. I could see it in his eyes. He was high. Strung out. I saw the track marks on his arms and I knew. There was no helping him. He was going to kill himself, and then I’d have the shame of that on our family name. So ... I just ... I did him a favor. I put that hateful boy out of his misery.”
“So we’re clear,” I said. “You’re telling us you shot Kevin?”
“He was beyond saving,” she said. “You don’t know what he put Thomas and Karen through. Time and time again. There was no help for him. And he showed me the evil in his heart. I did what I had to do.”
Sam pressed his hand to his brow. It almost seemed like he was trying to keep his head from popping off. I could relate.
“I didn’t go over there with a plan to shoot that boy,” she said. “I keep my gun in my purse. Always. Like I said. I could never be too careful when I was in that store by myself as the years went on. Louie actually showed me how to use it. And Kevin swore a false oath to God in my presence. He profited off those vile people. He was lost to us already. I told you I saw Mickey leaving Kevin’s house. He didn’t see me. Jody parked a little ways up the hill in the bushes. I knew there was only one reason Mickey would be there. He was selling more drugs to my grandson.”
“Mickey’s cell phone,” Sam said. “We had him at Skylar’s house. But you’re saying he was really at Kevin’s.”
“I don’t know about cell phones,” she said. “Hate those things. But yes, Mickey was leaving Kevin’s right before I went in. That’s really what tore it for me. That’s when I knew Kevin had truly sold his soul to the devil.”
“So you killed him,” I whispered. I kept the rest of my thoughts unspoken. She’d killed her own grandson.
“Well,” she said. “I knew I had to get out of there. Jody was supposed to be waiting for me in the car. I started out the front door. I guess Jody heard the shot and came running. He was scared. So he came on up to make sure I was okay. Such a good boy. That’s the thing. He always wants to make sure I’m okay. Hardly leaves my side. Anyway, like I said I figured we’d better get on out of there. We started to go back to the car. That’s when that boy started running toward us.”
“Boy,” Sam said. “Do you mean Ben Watson?”
“I guess so,” she said. “Well, he maybe heard the shots too. Or maybe Jenny told him to come see what was going on. He froze. Kinda like a deer in headlights. It all happened so fast. He turned around and started running back to Chris and Jenny’s. I panicked. I’ll admit. But, well, I still had the gun, and I panicked.”
“You shot him in the back,” I said. “You. You shot Ben Watson in the back.”
“Well, he was running away from me,” she said. “Who knows what he’d have told Chris and Jenny. I just needed a minute to explain it all. That boy was going to ruin it before I could.”
“What happened next, Mrs. Sutter?” Sam asked.
“I gave the gun to Jody. I needed a minute to catch my breath, you see. I told him, well, I told him to see who was home over there. I told him to take care of it.”
“At Chris and Jenny Sutter’s?” he asked. “You’re saying you told your nephew to take care of it. To take care of the others.”
“Yes. It got kind of out of hand after that,” she said. “I should have gone with him. I was having some chest pains then. I went back to the car. Or started to. Jody went into Chris’s house. Well, I guess Jenny was in the kitchen. Jody ... I think he was trying to protect me. That’s the thing. So, I heard more shots. You know, I can’t feel too sorry for that. I swear I didn’t know Chris was doing that stuff to Nikki or the other girls before last Christmas. I kinda wish I had. He got what he deserved. And Skylar? That girl was heading down the same path as Kevin. You mark my words.”
“What did you do then?” Sam asked.
“I went to the back door. Well, at that point, I’d seen what Jody did. Jenny against the wall. Chris and Skylar in the hallway. Well, we were in it then. Jody asked me, what are we gonna do, Grandma George?”
“What did you tell him?” I asked.
“Well, I told him, in for a penny in for a pound, at that point. I saw a light on over at C.J.’s. I told Jody to go in the car and get a clip for the gun. He was empty by then. Couldn’t be too careful. For all we knew Kevin had more drug dealers on the way. So, Jody did what I said. That time anyway. I told him to see what was going on over at C.J.’s. He did. He said I’ll take care of everything, Grandma. Well, I’ll be damned. He did.”
“You’re saying Jody Doehler shot Patty Sutter and Mark O'Brien on your orders?�
� I asked.
“Well, it’s not like I told him go over there and shoot them. He just kind of took that initiative.”
My head spun. Georgette spoke about the brutal killing of seven people, as if she’d just asked Jody to take out the trash for her. With cold horror, I realized that’s exactly what she thought.
“I told him it was all gonna be okay,” she said. “Nobody’d be the wiser. And we did the family a favor. Kevin was beyond hope. I told you that. Chris? Well, I don’t need to repeat that bad business. You tell me. You know.”
She pointed a finger at Sam. “Don’t you sit there and try to tell me a bullet through the head isn’t the best thing and only way to deal with a sicko like my nephew, Chris.”
Sam slowly blinked but didn’t answer.
“I’m sorry about the others,” she said. “Especially Skylar. But I’m telling you. That girl was headed down the wrong path too. Did you check her for drugs? If Mickey got my Kevin hooked again, it was only a matter of time before she was too. Oh, and you ask Nikki. You would not believe some horrible things that girl said to my granddaughter after Nikki was brave enough to tell the truth about Chris. The least of it was calling my baby girl a liar.”
“Mrs. Sutter,” Sam said. “I’m going to need you to write down what you said to us today.”
“If you want me to,” she said. “Just, go easy on Jody. He really did think he was making a problem go away for me. He’s a good kid when he follows directions. See, that’s the thing. He didn’t do what I told him. I told him, just keep your mouth shut, Jody. Evil took hold of all of them at the bottom of that hill. Every single one. Kevin. Chris for doing what he did to my Nikki. Jenny and Skylar for calling her a liar. That lawyer friend of Patty’s was only after her money. Trust me. I told Jody, just sit tight. Evil takes care of its own. Told him, just keep your mouth shut and keep walking the path of God and everything would turn out okay for us. He couldn’t do it though. Had to blab that nonsense about hearing Mickey threaten Skylar. Kept telling me about it like I should be proud. I fixed it, Grandma George. I fixed it. He sure fixed it all right. I should have just shot him too. Oh, you’re too smart for your own good, Mara Brent.”
