by Bob Mayer
Luckily, the defense didn't have much to ask Chase. They had the defendant's prints all over the stolen car, which happened to be found in the defendant's garage. The defense attorney's tactic seemed to be the less said the better. The Assistant DA seemed confident enough with that evidence to pursue the case, which probably meant a plea bargain, was coming soon.
Done, Chase went in search of nourishment. The cafeteria there was lousy, but it was close. He grabbed a bear claw and a cup of coffee. As he was paying, he spotted a familiar face sitting at a table in the corner and made his way over.
"What brings you here, doctor?"
Gavin didn't seem particularly thrilled to see him. "Detective Chase. How have you been?"
"Not too bad," Chase lied. He’d been more depressed than normal, which meant almost suicidal, during the drive back from DIA and while in the courtroom. Cardena’s story about what had happened in Afghanistan weighed heavily on his mind. He wasn’t sure exactly yet what it meant about Colonel Rivers, but it meant a lot to Chase about the state of mankind.
Chase was not only depressed, but also on edge, because Cardena’s information also meant that both Vladislav and Colonel Rivers were probably close by. But battling through the depression and edge, he was also pissed.
He figured one of the two had sent Muscles and Baldie and also one of the two was responsible for cutting Astral’s head off and had been waiting to bump him off. To Chase the latter seemed more like Vladislav’s work, but how had he known about Chase? The only thing he could think of was his actions at the Barnes’ house. Which further confused Chase because it seemed like both Vladislav and Rivers had been at that house before he got there. Vladislav was working on the baby, Rivers shooting everyone. Unless, of course, Vladislav used an AK. He was Russian, after all. But Cardena had said he preferred using an M-203, which was 5.56mm. Or were the two working together? Had Rivers blown a gasket and decided to sell out? That didn’t seem likely but who knew what 35 years in uniform in the shit-holes of the world had done to Rivers.
And then there was Jim York. Despite Porter and the DA’s confidence, Chase just didn’t see the postman slicing Rachel Stevens’ throat with a garrote—or any other weapon for that matter.
To get his mind off his dark and confusing thoughts, Chase pointed at the file Gavin had on the table. "Are you testifying as an expert witness?"
Gavin’s bitter laugh caught Chase off guard. "I suppose you could say that. My divorce is final today and we go before the judge to get him to sign it."
That clicked. "Sorry to hear that."
Gavin shrugged. "We don't have any kids so it isn't too bad. We agreed on pretty much everything."
"Yeah, but it's still bad." Chase changed the subject. "We arrested Jim York for Rachel Stevens’ murder."
Gavin didn't seem too interested. "I saw it in the paper."
"He says he didn’t do it. His appointed lawyer is already talking about a diminished capacity defense. Saying he’s a nut job, even while claiming that he’s innocent. Covering all the bases."
Gavin was withdrawn, in his own little place of pain. Chase didn’t have much sympathy for him after having listened to Cardena. Everything was perspective. Chase was sure every person who had lived in that village in Afghanistan would have given anything to be sitting in this cafeteria right now.
"Do you buy that stuff?" Chase asked. Pieces of last night were coming back to him and he remembered saying something to Porter about Jeffrey Stevens.
"What ‘stuff’, detective?"
"Diminished capacity making it less wrong, at least that's the way it appears to me, to kill someone?"
"Yes, I do." Gavin stood to go. He wasn't exactly a fount of information or friendliness as he walked out.
Chase finished his meager lunch and headed to the office. He drove absent-mindedly, alternating in his head between trying to remember what he had talked to Porter about at the Wagon Wheel last night and what Cardena had told him at the airport.
Chase turned onto 2d Avenue without really thinking about it. This was the third time in the last couple of days he'd done that. He looked up at Sylvie's apartment as he parked. The shades were drawn and he imagined her cuddled up in her big bed, resting. He'd thought long and hard the about how to approach this. He'd settled on simply letting his actions speak and see how she reacted. He took the copy of the signed divorce settlement, flowers, along with the short note of apology and climbed the stairs to her door. He figured she was sleeping. She might even have someone in there with her, having already buried Chase into her past. He placed the three items at the door and retreated to his Jeep.
As Chase turned into the parking lot for headquarters, he began to have a feeling in the deep recesses of his stomach. He'd had it before. Chase spent the rest of the morning and the early afternoon doing paperwork. At 2:45, he slipped out and headed for CU.
* * * * *
Gavin wasn't back yet to his office, which was just as well with Chase. A graduate assistant was sitting in the small anteroom, typing away at the computer and she eyed Chase warily as he pulled out his badge and introduced himself.
"I'd like to see Professor Gavin's papers from his Theory of Psychotherapy course this semester."
Chase could tell she didn't want to give him the papers. The student was torn between the authority of the academic world and the legal. "I just need to look at something that the professor has already shown me," he added. "I won't take anything."
That was all the push she needed and she handed over the file for the class. She watched him as he thumbed through and pulled out York's papers.
York's TELL ME ABOUT YOU yielded little of interest. His answers, unlike Rachel’s were typed.
NAME: JAMES YORK
MY HOME TOWN IS: BOULDER, CO
THE THING I LIKE MOST ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SO FAR IS: THE CLASSES.
THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I'M HAVING RIGHT NOW IS: WORKING FULL TIME AND GOING TO SCHOOL.
I CAME TO CU BECAUSE: I WANT TO HAVE A BETTER JOB.
MY FAVORITE HOBBIES ARE: STUDYING. READING.
THE NUMBER ONE THING I HOPE TO GET FROM THIS PROGRAM IS: A BETTER PAYING JOB.
WHAT OTHER QUESTIONS SHOULD I HAVE ASKED YOU: NONE.
WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO TELL ABOUT YOURSELF: NOTHING.
The student looked past Chase and he turned. Gavin was standing there, staring at Chase. He couldn't tell if Gavin was happy about his divorce or not. He didn't look thrilled to see Chase. He had a twelve pack of beer in his hand. The simple man’s therapy.
"Not exactly the world's most outgoing personality is he?" Gavin commented as he noted the paper in Chase’s hand. The graduate student escaped, shutting the door behind her.
"What did you think when you read this?"
Gavin gave the ghost of a smile. "I thought he was sucking up, especially the part about studying as a hobby."
"He had the career thing in common with Rachel," Chase noted.
"May I ask why you're looking at this?" Gavin put the beer in the fridge, pulling one out. He offered another to Chase, who declined.
"You asked me whether I thought facts or personalities were more important," Chase answered. "A lot of people seem to have decided the facts in this case, but I'm a little interested in the personalities now."
Gavin moved past Chase and sat behind his desk. "Any specific reason?"
"Curiosity."
"Perhaps I should take that back from you and require that you get a court order to read them. Considering the fact that the York case is open, at least that's what the news said last night, I don't think you have a legitimate reason to be here."
"I just told you," Chase said easily, "curiosity. This isn't in an official capacity."
Gavin shook his head. "York was a strange man, but I never really thought he was capable of murder. Obviously, I was wrong."
"Goes to show you can't really judge a book by its cover." Chase felt stupid as soon as he said it.
Gavin shrugged. "I suppose. I certainly had a high attrition rate in that class. Makes me wonder sometimes if this entire semester wasn't cursed in some way. What with my divorce, and Rachel Stevens, and now York."
Chase returned to something the professor had just said. "You mentioned a moment ago that York was a strange man. What did you mean by that?"
Gavin started playing with his can of beer. "Maybe strange isn't the right word. He made me uncomfortable so that's probably why I found him strange. I pride myself on understanding the human psyche and it's not often I allow someone like York to affect me. Of course now I understand why, given that he was just accused of murder."
"Maybe you recognized on some level that he was dangerous."
"I suppose."
"Did you guess he was a nutcase?"
Gavin didn't look very pleased with Chase’s terminology. "From what I read in the newspaper, the defense’s psychologist is claiming York is an atypical psychotic. That means that he was in the throes of a psychotic episode when he killed Rachel Stevens—if he did kill her, which they’re denying. The psychologist is setting this up to try to see if York can avoid standing trial."
"That doesn't make sense. It seems too convenient to me."
Gavin slid effortlessly into a lecture mode. "If Jim York killed Rachel it was because she threatened the very sanity we are speaking of. When he was around her, he became anxious and afraid that she was going to destroy him. He became psychotic when he committed the act of murder, not before.
"Once she was dead and no longer a threat, he lost his anxiety. His psychosis dissipated and he returned to reality. You might say York murdered his way to mental health, if he did murder."
It all sounded like a bunch of bullshit to Chase. "That doesn't do Rachel Stevens much good, does it?"
"I'm afraid not. She might have run into the one man who couldn't allow her to live the way she was. Bad luck really."
Something was pestering Chase. Gavin seemed to think it was all so rational. Maybe that's what bothered Chase. People just didn’t go around snuffing everyone that made them anxious. Or else there’d be a lot less people in the world. There were still loose ends to the case.
Chase looked at the papers in his hand. There was another page filled out by York. The paper was THE NEED AUCTION BID CARD. York's number one priority bid was for Guaranteed Lifelong Financial Income.
Chase mentioned it to Gavin. "This doesn't sound too crazy to me,” he commented. "You'd think God would have fit in there somewhere up near number one if you’ve seen the guy’s place. I had the impression the two were on a first name basis. This sounds like a very practical man."
Gavin ran his hand through his thinning hair. "You have to understand the nature of that survey. Students rank order their needs and then we correlate their priorities with Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
"That need that York ranked number one is on Maslow's second level: Safety. A person at that level wants security and freedom from anxiety and chaos. That fits in very well with his psychosis."
Chase tried to follow that. "So basically he had a need to get rid of Rachel Stevens because she was a threat in his mind. But now he's in jail. So much for the need for security."
Gavin leaned back in his chair and smiled. "The security need is more a desire for structure and order. I'd say you couldn't get much more structured than prison. York's in the perfect place for him."
The professor had a point, Chase allowed. "You mentioned York maybe murdering his way to sanity." Gavin nodded and Chase continued, groping for words. "But it seems he went out of his way to make Rachel a threat. He had to follow her to the club to find out where she was going. Then he had to check the mail to find out what was going on in that place. He also checked on her life to find out she was married."
"But she entered his life and upset its balance by asking him to take notes for her," Gavin countered.
Chase could tell the professor was tired of this conversation and wanted him out, but that feeling in his stomach was still there. It could have been the result of the jarring airport conversation, but Chase didn’t want to let go of Rachel Stevens yet. "Yeah. I suppose. It's just hard for me to understand. I guess I like clear cut motives and this one is too confusing."
"That's probably why you had so much trouble with this case," Gavin observed.
"I had so much trouble with this case not only because I couldn't get a motive, but also because York did a good job killing her—if he did. We were damn lucky to get that partial plate. Without it, we might never have caught him." Chase could tell Gavin was clearly done with the conversation, but Chase didn’t care. “Do you think York killed Rachel Stevens?”
Gavin put the stapler down and leaned back in his chair. Chase was prepared for some long psychological bullshit answer.
“No.”
Chase waited, but Gavin didn’t say anything else. “Why not?” Chase finally prompted.
Gavin shrugged. “I just don’t see him doing it. I think he was infatuated with her, but not to the point of homicide. I mean, maybe, if he approached her and she rudely rebuffed him, it’s possible he could have reacted in a rage, but I just don’t see it.”
Chase hadn’t seen much capability for rage in York, but then again he’d seen some unexpected reactions from people in combat. But the crime just didn’t look like something that had been done in a rage. The site was too clean, the wound too neat. The lack of physical evidence indicated--
Something struck Chase then. Something he should have seen weeks ago. He realized it was a combination of sitting there in Gavin's office along with his conversation with Porter the previous night. "What if York wasn't crazy when he killed her, if he did?"
Gavin shook his head. "Psychotic is the proper term."
Chase wasn't sure where he was going, but he was excited in a positive way for the first time in quite a while. "Can you fake an atypical psychosis?"
Gavin blinked and was silent for a few moments. "I suppose you could if you really knew what you were doing. But it would be very, very hard. Almost impossible even for someone who is trained in the field."
Synapses were clicking in Chase’s brain. "York was in a master’s program in psychology wasn't he? Would he have learned enough to be able to pull it off? To convince his lawyer and the shrink he’s seen?"
"No." Gavin seemed sure of it. "In fact, the court psychologists are trained to look for that sort of thing." Gavin took the folder out of Chase’s hand. "Now if you don't mind, I have some drowning of sorrow to do."
“Let me ask you something else.”
“Really--” Gavin began but Chase waved his hand.
“Not about York or Stevens.” Seeing that Gavin was willing to listen, if barely, Chase continued. “Could someone give up all the values they’d maintained for almost sixty years of their life and operate in a cold, calculated manner going against those values?”
Gavin frowned, so Chase amplified his question.
“His lawyer’s shrink is saying York acted out of a psychosis-- a temporary one. But could someone have a permanent psychosis? A permanent change from an honorable, ethical, person to someone who would do anything to pursue a goal, no matter what laws were broken, no matter who was killed?”
Gavin rubbed his chin. “I suppose. But whatever caused that change would have to be incredibly dramatic. It’s very, very hard for people to change their natures.”
Two massacred villages, at the beginning and end of a career, seemed pretty drastic to Chase. He thanked the professor for his time and headed out. He headed back to the office, his mind racing.
* * * * *
Chase was on a roll and Porter just listened as he lay out his York-possibly-not-crazy theory.
"He's had graduate level courses in psychological disorders and evaluation. Hell, he's been given all of the tests in the classroom that the damn shrink gave him in jail. And he got A's in all those classes."
Porter looked puzzled. "But if he wasn't suffering f
rom psychosis or acting out of rage why did he kill Rachel?" Porter waved a hand dismissing the whole affair. "Besides it doesn't matter does it? York's been arrested and it’s in the DA’s hands now."
“If York killed her,” Chase said, “he did a really clean job of it for someone in a rage or being a nut job.”
“If?”
“I don’t think York did it.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then stick with the known.” Porter sighed. “If he's not crazy he had to have had a real motive. And perhaps it was premeditated for some reason if he did such a good job."
Porter kept bringing it all back to the same issue that had stymied the investigation from the start. Chase bounced it back to him. Hell, he wasn't supposed to be the only one doing all the thinking. "What's the most common motive for premeditated murder?"
"Money in one form or another." Porter's face lit up. "York found out what she what she was doing three weeks before he killed her. What would you-- given that you're not the noble and honest person I know you to be--" he added with just a touch of irony-- "do with that information if you had it?"
"Blackmail." Chase tried realigning all the pieces of the puzzle to fit that angle.
Porter was nodding. "Yeah. That makes sense. Stevens certainly made enough money."
Chase shook his head. "But the whole point would be to keep the information from her husband."
"I'd say both Rachel and the good doctor had plenty of reasons to keep what she was doing quiet."
"But then Stevens would have known what she was doing before she died. And then why would York kill her?"
Porter was getting excited. "Blackmail isn't the only way to get money. What if York killed her because Stevens paid him to do it?"
Chase shook his head. "That's a big jump from crazed killer to paid killer. We never came up with any evidence that indicated Stevens had anything to do with it."
"True, but we never really considered him because we knew he didn't kill her himself. And besides, we didn't have a good motive for him then. That was before we knew about the swingers' club. We've had this all screwed up, getting the information bit by bit.”
