by Ron Finch
“This was not an easy situation to deal with,” answered Chief Petrovic. “Henny McCann is quite a wealthy woman and she hired Fred Donaldson to serve as her lawyer.”
The judge interjected, “I have not had Mr. Donaldson in my courtroom before, but from everything I have heard he’s an excellent defense attorney and usually gets his way. This may not be easy.”
“Mr. Donaldson and I have had a couple of discussions,” said Chief Petrovic. “Our last meeting went better than I anticipated. He knows Dr. Khryscoff very well and respects him. We both agreed to invite Dr. Khryscoff to our last meeting, but the doctor declined to attend. Instead, he wrote a letter stating his opinion, which he gave Donaldson to present to me at our meeting. I would appreciate it if you would read Dr. Khryscoff’s letter.”
Chief Petrovic handed the letter to the judge.
Judge Bernard took the letter and read it carefully. “What did you and Donaldson think of the letter?” he said when he had finished.
“Much to our mutual surprise, we both agreed that it presented a reasonable solution to a difficult problem,” responded the chief.
“I feel much better now than I did ten minutes ago, when you first mentioned Donaldson’s name,” said Judge Bernard. “Just sit and relax for a few moments. I’m going to fetch our local prosecuting attorney, Howard Wainwright. He needs to be here for the last part of this meeting.”
Wainwright appeared five minutes later and sat down beside Chief Petrovic, in front of the judge’s desk. The judge asked the chief to repeat his story, but to use a condensed version, adding that he would present any other necessary details to Wainwright later. When Chief Petrovic had finished, the judge asked Wainwright to read the letter from Dr. Khryscoff, which the prosecuting attorney did very carefully.
When he’d finished, the judge asked Wainwright if he had any questions. He did. The judge and Chief Petrovic answered the questions as well as they could.
Judge Bernard then said, “Here’s how I see this case unfolding: We will use Dr. Khryscoff’s recommendations as the basis for the resolution of the murder case. I want a plea bargain whereby Henny McCann pleads guilty to murder but the court agrees that there are extenuating circumstances due to diminished mental capacity. There will be no sentence of execution for murder; rather, Henny McCann’s sentence will result in incarceration in a secure psychiatric hospital for the remainder of her life, or until she is determined to be cured by the hospital staff. If she is pronounced cured, she will be eligible to apply for probation. Further, there will be a full inquest into the deaths of the Featherstones.
“This plea bargain is contingent upon the accused Henny McCann providing as much cooperation as she possibly can in answering questions surrounding the deaths of the Featherstones and the disappearance of Nancy Featherstone.
“Mr. Wainwright, I will have the plea bargain written out for you,” said Judge Bernard. “Once you have it in your hands, I want you to have a meeting with Mr. Donaldson. If there are any concerns or questions from Mr. Donaldson, please let me know. Minor changes you can make as you see fit.”
Wednesday, April 26th
WEDNESDAY AT LUNCH time I dropped over to the Chaseford General Hospital to have a brief visit with Georgie. She had a one-hour lunch break starting at 12:30, and as our wedding was little more than a month away, we had some details to discuss. I also wanted to tell her about my phone call to Dr. Khryscoff the previous night.
It was a beautiful April day. Winter was almost forgotten. Greenery was starting to appear everywhere. Georgie and I sat on the rear steps of the hospital.
“What’s new?” I said.
“My mother and I are almost frantic over these wedding preparations,” and Georgie.
We chatted about wedding preparations, what guests would be coming, and our friends and relatives for a few minutes. As that part of our conversation wound down, I said, “Remember I called Dr. Khryscoff last Thursday night about setting up an appointment to see him? He called me back this morning. It turns out he’ll be in town late this afternoon. He’s doing another assessment of Henny McCann tomorrow, so he decided to come to town today and stay overnight at the Chaseford Arms. He volunteered to see me this evening if it’s convenient for me. I asked if he’d like to come to my place. I told him it wasn’t fancy. I also mentioned that you’d like to be there. Can you come over tonight?”
“Joel, that sounds great,” said Georgie. “I’m a little nervous about you confiding in someone else, but you seem to be confident he’s a good man. Someone we can trust. I think we should play the ‘guess that card’ game sometime during the evening.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I replied. “I don’t know Dr. Khryscoff well enough to even guess how he might feel about that type of demonstration. It almost seems like showing off.”
“I think it’s more like proof of your ability,” said Georgie. “He might be quite intrigued by the demonstration.” We were by ourselves, so Georgie gave me a kiss and said, “I have to get back to the nursing station. I’ll be at your place by 6:45 tonight.”
PROMPTLY AT SEVEN THERE was a knock on the door.
I opened it. “Welcome to my fancy abode,” I said. “This is my fiancée, Georgie Harkness.”
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Georgie,” said Dr. Khryscoff. “You are a beautiful young woman and Joel is a lucky young man.”
Georgie blushed but recovered quickly. “I keep telling him that,” she said. We all laughed and with the laughter immediately felt comfortable with one another.
“I offer you my only comfortable chair, Doctor. Would you like a small glass of red wine?” I handed the bottle to Dr. Khryscoff so he could examine the label.
“Oh, this is a very good wine,” said the doctor. “I would be delighted to have some.”
I poured the wine and we seated ourselves around my small table. There was just enough room for our wine glasses and Dr. Khryscoff’s notebook.
“From your brief comments the other day, Joel, I think you have a story to tell me,” said the doctor.
“You could say that.”
I told the doctor about the lightning strike and about my encounter with Walter. Then I told him about Louise Carter and about Walter’s role in helping me save Cst. Herman’s life. I did not tell him Gwen Cumming’s name. During the entire time that I spoke, Dr. Khryscoff did not interrupt me once.
When I’d finished, he looked at me and said, “You don’t look crazy.”
He saw the expression on my face and roared with laughter.
“I’m teasing you, Joel,” he said. “Implausible as this story may sound to many people, I believe you. The human mind is a strange entity. We still don’t know how it works or what it’s capable of. I have dealt with a lot of people who have had strange experiences. Most of those experiences are due to hallucination, but I think some extremely sensitive people do have experiences that most people have no understanding of. And of course, you know the unknown is a frightening thing, so these events are sometimes dismissed as the creations of an unhealthy mind.”
I relaxed and smiled back at the doctor. “Thank you,” I said.
“I’d like Joel to do a demonstration for you, Doctor. If he’s agreeable and if you are interested.”
Dr. Khryscoff gave Georgie an inquisitive look. “Tell me what the demonstration involves.”
Georgie explained the game. I got up and went around to the other side of the wall of goods, out of sight of both Georgie and Dr. Khryscoff. I had a pad of paper and a pencil with me so that I could record the identities of the cards that Dr. Khryscoff would draw from the deck. The doctor remained on the other side of the wall at the table with his notebook and pen and a deck of cards. We had agreed to a trial of ten cards.
Dr. Khryscoff began to draw cards. After I had recorded my guess for the tenth card, I walked back around the wall to the room where Georgie and Dr. Khryscoff were sitting and joined them at the table. The doctor had his list tucked in his shirt
pocket. I handed him my list. He looked at it, but his expression didn’t give anything away.
He handed me his list. When I looked at it, I was somewhat disappointed as I had only scored seven out of ten.
“Scoring seven out of ten is certainly far above random guessing,” I said. “But I’m disappointed. I thought I would do better.”
“I’m not disappointed,” said the doctor. “I’m amazed. Joel, you were correct on all seven of the cards I concentrated on. The one card I didn’t look at you got wrong. The remaining two cards I looked at but didn’t concentrate on. It’s still surprising. One of the cards was the three of clubs. You wrote down two of clubs. The other card was the jack of diamonds. You wrote down jack of hearts. Your ability is certainly amazing. I have never seen anything like it. But I have never talked to anyone like you before. I’ve talked to charlatans, to magicians, and to other sleight-of-hand artists. None of the ones I have met have this kind of ability.”
I sat there dumbfounded. I knew I had a talent but now I knew it was special. It felt good to have a renowned psychiatrist tell me he believed in me. For the first time, I felt confident in my ability.
“I think he’s speechless,” said Georgie. “Doctor, can you show me how you made him speechless? I may want to be able to do this at some point after we’re married.”
We all laughed.
“Thank you very much, Doctor,” I said. “It’s wonderful to know that other people have some faith in your ability.”
“I think it’s important that I also tell you this, Dr. Khryscoff,” said Georgie. “Joel’s ability extends beyond identifying cards. He and I have also discovered that, depending on the situation, Joel can almost read someone’s mind if they are highly wrought. He can also quite accurately predict what they may physically do next.”
“I’m not totally surprised by that,” said the doctor. “From what you said earlier, Joel, you and Walter believe that when a person is concentrating or under duress their brain sends or broadcasts a weak electromagnetic signal. I’m not ready to believe that. I’m not even certain we have the scientific know-how to measure that signal. But we do know that there are obvious physical signals or body language that a person in distress exhibits. That’s another possible explanation for mind-reading, though certainly not for guessing cards correctly.”
“I know Joel won’t ask,” said Georgie, “but I will. Can Joel attend your interview with Henny McCann? I think he could be helpful.”
There was a long pause. I looked down, embarrassed. I was surprised that Georgie would ask that question.
Georgie looked at Dr. Khryscoff and then at me. The doctor sipped some red wine, taking his time, giving the question his full attention.
I was surprised that the question was receiving any attention at all.
After thirty seconds or so, Dr. Khryscoff looked at me and said, “That proposal has some interesting possibilities. I am willing to consider it. But there are some things we need to deal with.
“The first hurdle would be getting Chief Petrovic’s permission for you to attend the interview. I’m certain you don’t want him aware of what you’ve just told me about your ability. So there needs to be a reason for you to be present. The reason I’ll give him is that I would like someone in the room with me as a safety precaution. I have met all his constables and they are all fine and competent policeman, but I feel most comfortable with you.
“The second hurdle would be getting the permission of Henny McCann. I will talk to her prior to the interview and I think she will be okay with you being there.
“There is one important condition: you will not be able to say anything, or even make any noticeable gesture, unless I request you to. I know this would be impossible for Georgie, but I think you can do it.”
When Georgie heard this, she frowned and then giggled.
Dr. Khryscoff continued, “I’ll talk to Chief Petrovic first thing tomorrow morning. Then I’ll talk to Henny. But I think you can plan on being there with me for Henny’s interview.”
Thursday, April 27th
CHIEF PETROVIC CALLED his constables together for brief meeting first thing Thursday morning. He informed the constables that late yesterday he had received a call from Henny McCann’s lawyer, Fred Donaldson. Mr. Donaldson had told the chief that if he was appointed power of attorney for Henny McCann, he would recommend accepting the terms of the plea bargain.
Mr. Donaldson further explained that Henny McCann did not believe she was guilty of any crime. Consequently, given the opportunity, she would have entered a plea of innocent. Because she was not of sound mind, that was not a realistic plea. A lot depended on Dr. Khryscoff’s formal assessment interview of Henny this afternoon.
Chief Petrovic told the group that Dr. Khryscoff had requested that a constable also be present with him at Henny McCann’s interview for security reasons. The chief added that Cst. Joel Franklin would be taking on that duty.
DR. KHRYSCOFF AND I were using the supply room again for Henny’s interview. The supply room was next door to the Chief’s office, but on a different hall than Henny McCann’s cell. With the large window and the curtains open, the room was almost pleasant.
Cst. Smith brought Henny to the interview room and remained until she was seated. She seemed quite calm and tentatively smiled at Dr. Khryscoff and me.
Dr. Khryscoff introduced me and asked Henny, “Where would you like Joel to sit?”
“Yes, I know Joel,” she said. “He’s welcome to sit at the table with us.”
“You seem calm today, Henny,” said the doctor.
“Yes,” said Henny. “I think it’s the medication. It keeps me calm but it makes me feel like I’m isolated from everybody. It’s almost like there’s an invisible wall between me and everything else.”
“Are you well enough for the interview?” asked the doctor.
“Yes, I’m glad to get out of my cell,” she replied. “I almost hope it’s a long interview.”
“We do have a little business to take care of before we start,” said Dr. Khryscoff. “While you are in jail, we need to appoint someone as your power of attorney so that your business matters can be looked after. For example, you may have bills that have to be paid on your property in Springfield, Illinois; your lawyer will need to be paid; and you might have legal matters to attend to. Do you have any living relatives that could be appointed to do that job?”
“I have no living relatives that I’m aware of,” said Henny. “I was married to Dr. Frank McCann for almost four years, but he’s deceased and we had no children. I have no idea who I would appoint.”
“In cases like this, I always recommend you appoint your lawyer, unless you have a reason not to,” said Dr. Khryscoff.
“That makes perfect sense to me,” said Henny.
“Just one moment, please,” said the doctor. “I’ll write down that you wish to grant your lawyer power of attorney. Then I want you to read my note, and, if you’re in agreement, sign it.”
Dr. Khryscoff wrote a quick note and passed it to Henny. Henny signed the paper and gave it back to the doctor. Dr. Khryscoff had me witness his signature then he folded the paper in half and put it in the back of his notebook.
“Henny, do you know why you are locked up in jail in Chaseford?” Dr. Khryscoff asked.
“I’ve been told but I don’t believe it,” Henny responded. “The police say they have signed affidavits stating that I’m Nancy Featherstone. That’s not true. I’m Henny McCann. All my identification says I’m Henny McCann.
“They say Nancy Featherstone is under suspicion for murdering her parents. I remember the Featherstones. They were very good to me. I don’t remember much about Nancy. Her parents told me she was seldom at the farm. I don’t recall ever meeting her.”
Henny was starting to get agitated, but at this point she was still in control of herself. This was much different than in her previous interviews. The medication was helping her to remain calm. Dr. Khryscoff was watching her c
arefully.
“I need to get out of here,” she said, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“I only have a couple more questions,” said Dr. Khryscoff. “Then you’ll be free to leave, Henny.”
Henny nodded uncertainly.
“Are you sure you haven’t met Nancy Featherstone?” asked the doctor. “She is a dangerous person. She’s totally untrustworthy. I think she’s evil”. The doctor said these sentences without leaving a pause between them for comments.
Henny’s eyes suddenly looked a little different to me. I could see rage. But there was no screaming yet.
“I’ll ask you again,” said Dr. Khryscoff. “Do you know Nancy?”
The woman across the table said, “You stupid fool! I am Nancy!”
“I’m sorry, Nancy. I mistook you for someone else,” said the doctor. “Do you know the young gentlemen beside me?”
“I know him,” Henny – who was now Nancy – responded. “He’s one of the local constables. I don’t like any of them. He’s one of the guys that came into the interview room when I tried to bite the chief’s ear off.”
“His name is Joel Franklin,” said Dr. Khryscoff. “I’m going to let him ask you some questions. Will you answer them?”
“If I feel like it,” Nancy answered.
“Do you remember your mother and father?” I asked.
“I can’t forget them,” Nancy growled. “They didn’t protect me. Everyone who met them thought they were kind and generous people. But when I needed them, they wouldn’t listen to me. They wanted almost nothing to do with me. They sent me away to schools and camps whenever they could. If I wanted to do something, they would try to prevent me from doing it.
