Courting Death

by Elleby Harper

  HC: I want to cut off his sodding knob so he can never use it again!

  WD: How would you do that, Harley? How would you go about making that happen?

  The silence stretched so long, Isla wondered if the recording had ended. In the background she could hear footfalls outside the interview room, the low tones of people talking as they progressed along the corridor. Somewhere a phone rang. Then Harley’s voice spluttered into the room.

  HC: I would use the sharp knife in the kitchen that mum uses to cut the meat. She says it’s a boning knife.

  WD: And when would you do this?

  HC: On Monday night. Monday nights mum goes to the local pub for her trivia quiz. She never misses. Not even when my nana died. The night of the funeral she went out. So that’s safe. She won’t be in the house. Dad likes to play games with me then. He’s got the house to himself. He expects me to come to him in his office.

  WD: What would you say to him when you attack him, Harley?

  HC: I would tell him that he was a monster and how much I hated him. Then I would cut off his knob and stuff it in his mouth. See how he likes the taste of it!

  WD: Don’t you think your father would fight you, Harley?

  HC: Maybe. Maybe I’ll sneak up on him instead. I’ll get the knife from the kitchen when he calls my name, expecting me to come to him. I’ll hide the knife behind my back when I approach him. He’ll let me get close and then, before he expects it I’ll stick the knife in his guts! Yes, that’s what I’ll do.

  WD: How does that feel, Harley? How does it feel not to live in the shadow of your father any longer?

  HC: It feels good. I feel relieved. I feel…peaceful. (Sobbing).

  Isla blew out a deep breath as Bex clicked off the recording. She hadn’t even realized she had been holding it in.

  “Harley has described, almost word for word, what he did at the murder scene. This constitutes pre-meditation. The murder wasn’t spur of the moment, it was planned. There are several more sessions in which he covers the same ground with Harley, with Harley repeating what he’ll do to his father over and over again. The one variable that isn’t covered is what he’d do if his mother comes home unexpectedly. He seems to have buried the memory of her murder, perhaps because it didn’t fit in with his plans. Presenting these taped sessions in court is only going to strengthen the evidence against him, just as Dr. Downer warned,” Bex said.

  “But the murders could have been prevented if Downer had spoken to the police!” Isla snapped.

  “Damn straight he should’ve called the police!” Bex responded. “Confidentiality be damned! If Downer had spoken out he may have prevented a double homicide. He had an obligation to public welfare which he ignored. We’ll be calling Dr. Downer in for questioning as to why he didn’t contact any government authorities about the abuse Harley revealed or his intentions towards his father.”

  Isla paced up and down the short length of the room. Harley Carroll may have wielded the knife, but William Downer had stood on the sidelines and perpetuated the crime. If she hadn’t pushed to reopen the investigation, Downer’s role would have stayed undetected. Now her mission was to do everything she could to make sure he paid his fair share of the price, along with Harley.

  Chapter 24

  Monday 18 December

  Idris and Reuben went to bring in William Downer for questioning. Bex played the last few sessions for Eli and Quinn, who hadn’t heard them before.

  “You’re thinking this stacks up as evidence for pre-meditation?” Eli cradled a mug in his hands. “Keep calm and call a policeman” was lettered on one side. He sipped noisily.

  Quinn sat back in his chair, frowning.

  “There’s something off about these sessions. Listen to the beginning where Downer sounds like he’s baiting Harley. Downer says ‘Do you want him to stop? But he’s not going to stop, is he?’ He asks the question, but puts the answer in Harley’s mind. It’s designed to agitate Harley. Then he asks that leading question, ‘What do you think will stop him?’ Doesn’t really leave Harley any options, does he?”

  Bex replayed the session. Quinn stopped it at one point.

  WD: What do you think will stop him, Harley?

  HC: Hurting him?

  WD: Do you think hurting him will make him stop? How do you feel about that, Harley? How do you feel if hurting him will make him stop his activities with you and the other kids?

  HC: (Panting): Good. Good, because I want him to stop. Even if that means hurting him.

  WD: What do you mean by hurting him, Harley?

  HC: (sobbing). I want to…I really (sobbing) I want to hurt him back for all the times he’s hurt me.

  WD: In what way? In what way would you hurt your father? How far would you go, Harley?

  “Downer’s egging Harley on, encouraging him to think about how he’d attack his father. He’s virtually forcing Harley to think about this as a real, viable alternative to his pain. He asks ‘how and when would you hurt your father?’ And then he gives him the reward: reminds him how good he’ll feel afterwards not to have his father abusing him any more.”

  “You’re right,” Bex concurred. “It almost sounds like Downer’s actually making suggestions for how Harley should act. His questions lead in that direction.”

  “And all this is done under hypnosis, right?” Eli said. “Is it possible to lodge a suggestion in a hypnotized mind and have the person carry out the action?”

  “That’s what hypnotists on stage do all the time isn’t it? They put a suggestion in someone’s head—act like a chicken for example—then snap their fingers and the subject acts like a chicken right on cue,” Quinn answered.

  “I don’t think it’s that simple!” Bex protested. “You can’t force someone to do something against their will under hypnosis.”

  Quinn shrugged. “Maybe it wasn’t against Harley’s will. Maybe he’d been fantasizing about killing his dad for a while. God knows, his life with daddy sounds crap. What if the good doctor’s suggestions fell in with what Harley really wanted, deep down? Maybe it was enough to break down any inhibitions he had and he followed through on his fantasies?”

  Eli shook his head.

  “Treading on thin ice with that supposition, mate. Hypnosis is dodgy at the best of times. The police code specifically prevents us using any information obtained under hypnosis. It’s simply not considered reliable. ‘Confabulation’ is the technical term. There’s got to be independent evidence to support the information.”

  “But what Harley describes in the sessions is actually backed up by forensics. Keith Carroll was murdered exactly as Harley planned,” Bex pointed out. “It’s the use of hypnosis as a defense that won’t hold up in court. I can’t think of a successful case since the nineteenth century when a defendant has claimed they were forced into action by a hypnotic suggestion. It’s accepted expert opinion that people can’t be hypnotized into doing something they wouldn’t do of their own volition, so Downer can’t be held accountable for forcing Harley into action.”

  “Then we look for motive. What’s William Downer’s motive for encouraging Harley’s murderous fantasies?”

  “Good point, Quinn. It might be useful to examine his background.”

  Eli slurped his tea. “What if the good doctor gets all his clients to commit crimes under hypnosis? Remember that case a few years ago, caught on camera, when a London shopkeeper was hypnotized in his store and held motionless while the hypnotizer stole hundreds of pounds of takings? So it’s not as though hypnosis has never been used for criminal intent.”

  “It’s a wild supposition, Eli, but see if you can get a list of his past patients to match up with any past crimes. When Dr. Downer’s brought in, you two can talk to him and see what he has to say for himself. I’m going home on time for a change.”

  “Got a date, Boss?” Eli asked, failing to hide his curiosity. Bex was always the last to leave the office.

  “You could say that,” Bex said, thinking of her m
other waiting at home so they could commemorate Zane’s passing. She looked straight at Quinn. “You’re in charge while I’m out of the office.” He was her second in command and she was making sure he knew his place in the team’s pecking order. It was a stance she should have taken right from the start.

  He acknowledged her words with a mock salute.

  “You’ve got big boots to fill in her absence, mate,” Eli chided as Bex disappeared out the door.

  Quinn nodded at Eli, docketing the information that Eli backed Bex over him. In fact he had sussed out that Bex had the steadfast loyalty of both Eli and Reuben. He pegged Idris to be sitting on the fence in his opinion of Bex, but he had no illusions he would be able to sway Idris’s support his way. The two of them rarely saw eye to eye. That left him on the outside with his gripes about Bex.

  Normally being the lone wolf was where he preferred to be. Making friends out of his police colleagues or trying to work out the bleeding-hearts dynamics of a team wasn’t for him. But the Yank had stripped him of this freedom when she kicked his arse in their arm wrestle. He remembered her titanium-colored eyes cutting through his bluster as she called him out.

  If he was honest with himself he had to admit her victory had dented his ego and he was still gobsmacked that his superior strength hadn’t won out. Although it pissed the hell out of him, he couldn’t deny she’d earned the right to issue her ultimatum: Toe the line or transfer out. He couldn’t discount that she was just power tripping over the whole situation, but he had to respect she was a ballsy bird because she hadn’t been afraid to put herself on the line either. Yeah, she was smart and tough in what she had accomplished. Superior officers in the past had faltered trying to reel him into line. With his reputation he wouldn’t be welcomed in any CID the length and breadth of the city.

  So what was the alternative? Making a fresh start as Bex’s sidekick? Why did she even want him in the team after the havoc he’d caused her?

  He couldn’t figure her out. By his reckoning she should have fallen flat on her face any number of times as she navigated her way through the minefield of British law and order. His biggest gripe was that her methods were arse over tits to him, yet they had delivered the goods when solving their most difficult crimes.

  “I’m going to get another cuppa, so I’ll leave you to do that background check on Downer.” Eli pushed himself away from the desk with a nod in Quinn’s direction.

  With a jolt Quinn snapped out of his reverie. There was no point trying to work Bex out and no point crying over spilled milk. He had made his bed when he accepted her wager and for the time being he had to live with it and see if he could become a team player.

  * * *

  “We’ve listened to the recordings of your sessions with Harley, Dr. Downer. The last time you were interviewed, you said it wasn’t in the public interest to come forward to the police. Yet your sessions with Harley make you culpable for not reporting child abuse or your suspicions that a homicide was to be committed.”

  Quinn stood beside the interview table, glowering down at William Downer. He was the perfect subject to take his frustrations out on. Seated at the table, Eli worked the recording equipment. Through the two-way mirror he knew that Reuben and Idris were monitoring their interview.

  If William Downer felt intimidated by being brought into the station for questioning, he hid it behind a façade of calm. His hands remained still on the tabletop and he didn’t blink too rapidly. The bright lights shining overhead polished Downer’s hair to a silver-gray finish like newly minted five pound coins as he stared steadily into Quinn’s glaring eyes.

  “If you’re saying that I ignored public interest then you haven’t listened thoroughly to the recordings. When Harley wasn’t hypnotized he never said he was abused. In fact he got angry and shut down whenever I pressed him about what he disclosed under hypnosis. The only time he spoke about the abuse is while he was hypnotized.” His body curved forward to emphasize the words. “I’m surprised that you, as detectives, don’t realize that information obtained under hypnosis should always be treated with extreme caution. The courts will consider it unreliable and inadmissible if you choose to use it as part of your criminal proceedings.

  “I say this so that you realize it was impossible for me to determine if Harley’s accusations against his father were a fabrication of his imagination or based on truth. It was quite possible that Harley was making spurious comments because of a deteriorating relationship with his father. Psychologically speaking, this could be Harley’s subconscious way of legitimizing the bad feelings he harbored towards his father. In the absence of any corroborating evidence to the contrary, I chose to accept that Harley was actually making up these stories.”

  Downer concluded his lecture with a smug smile. Quinn’s fists twitched with the urge to wipe it off his face.

  “I believe the technical term for what you’re talking about is confabulation,” Quinn sniped, borrowing Eli’s words. “Don’t try to teach your grandmother how to suck eggs, chum. Of course we know what constitutes acceptable evidence in court. As for not reporting Harley’s abuse to the authorities, that’s just bollocks! If you didn’t have the ability to determine if Harley was telling the truth, then forward the information to someone who could investigate the situation!”

  Quinn’s eyes locked on Downer. He regarded him as if he were a flesh-eating maggot.

  “What kind of sadist leaves a kid to suffer in Keith Carroll’s perverted hands? Did you get your kicks listening to Harley’s sad, sick confessions?”

  Downer jerked back as Quinn’s words lashed him.

  “How dare you speak to me like that! Like I’m some sort of sick pervert or the same kind of monster that–” He broke off his sentence. His face closed into a scowl. “I see what you’re doing. You’re trying to make me angry so I’ll say something unguarded that you can use to distort my meaning. I’m telling you, Detective, that I dealt with Harley according to the proper code of conduct.

  “It’s a difficult process earning the trust of a young and troubled teen. If I handed Harley over to the police based solely on his testimony under hypnosis, it could have further exacerbated his relationship with his father. It would have alienated Harley from me and he would never have returned to therapy.”

  Quinn felt his emotions boil to the surface. He jammed his fists into his pockets to resist using them. His staccato steps pounded over the cheap vinyl flooring as he paced between the table and the opposite wall.

  This case was a perfect example of Isla’s dictum that the law wasn’t black and white, as Quinn preferred. Filtered by Downer’s spouting technicalities it was becoming fifty shades of dirty gray dishwater hues. Downer was guilty of abusing Harley’s trust and worse. He had done nothing concrete to help Harley out of an abusive situation. Instead he had actively encouraged Harley’s sense of injustice that Quinn had no doubt had lead to a double homicide.

  “People under hypnosis often tell convincingly detailed stories, that can later to be found to be total lies. So, you see, I couldn’t take what Harley told me as the truth.”

  Downer spread his hands as though he was a magician who had just finished a trick. The trick was, Quinn thought, that Downer was going to slide out of any responsibility for what had happened to the Carroll family.

  “Not so fast, chum,” Quinn snarled. “What about the sessions where you talk to Harley about inflicting injuries on Keith Carroll. I would call those brainwashing sessions.” Quinn allowed his belligerence full rein. Arms akimbo he stood close to Downer, crowding him back against the wall, hoping to rattle Downer’s composure. The interview was only being audio-taped so none of this would show up.

  Breath chugged noisily through Downer’s pinched nose.

  “Brain washing?” He turned the words into a sneer. “That’s a strong term and usually involves actions other than hypnosis. I don’t think you’ll find that definition holds up in court. What will you accuse me of next? Indoctrinating Harley into
a cult?”

  “Then, please explain for us, Dr. Downer, what you wanted to accomplish in those sessions?” Eli butted in.

  Quinn’s gaze never left Downer who turned his worried eyes eagerly towards Eli.

  “What I wanted to achieve in those sessions was to get Harley to overcome his distaste for his father by talking him through his violent emotions to a peaceful resolution. I was trying to bring some relief into his life.”

  A harsh laugh broke from Quinn.

  “If that’s the case then you’re not a very good doctor, are you?”

  Air hissed between Downer’s clenched teeth. Pushing back his chair he rose to his feet.

  “I don’t think I should be talking to you any more without a lawyer present. I want to go now.”

  Quinn cracked his knuckles. The sound took on a menacing tone in the quiet room.

  Downer said, “Are you arresting me?” Anxiety made his voice querulous.

  “No, Dr. Downer, we’re not formally charging you,” Eli reassured him, ignoring Quinn’s lowering look in his direction. “You’re free to go. But please keep yourself available as we may have more questions for you later.”

  Quinn flashed a nasty smile at Downer. “That’s right, mate, don’t leave town.”

  Chapter 25

  Monday 18 December

  “It’s late. Are you coming to bed, Isla?” Quinn stood in the doorway. A pair of pajama bottoms clung to his narrow hips. Isla liked the heating up high so it was like a tropical night in their apartment.

  She sat at her IKEA birchwood desk, in front of her desktop computer, two legal files beside her, their pages filled with her strong, black scrawl.

  “Not yet,” she said, pausing to rub fingertips against her temples. “I can’t get rid of the feeling that I’m letting Harley down. He was just a kid, an abused kid, trying to find his way out of an impossible situation when he killed his father. Downer preyed on him, ratcheted up his feelings to an unbearable level so he really had no choice. How do I explain that in court?