IF I FAIL: A Jake Carrington Mystery

by Marian Lanouette

  Jake ran into the room when he heard the commotion. Looking around, he nodded to Sherman. “Very stupid, Mr. Cavilla, now you’ve added resisting arrest to the assault and murder charges.”

  Mrs. Cavilla wouldn’t give a statement. She showed signs of distress. They offered her medical assistance before they led Mark away, but she refused. They let her call her husband. Mrs. Cavilla asked Jake to speak with him.

  Jake explained to Mr. Cavilla that Mark had been arrested for the assault and murder of Shanna Wagner. The father asked to have a word with his son. Jake placed the phone to Mark’s ear.

  Mark listened, then he said, “I’m sorry, Dad. I really loved her.” Jake hung up the phone.

  Jake made sure he read Mark his rights in front of his lawyer before they left the house. The attorney told him not to say anything until they met at the station. Calvin got into his own car to follow them.

  Jake watched as Cavilla and his attorney settled into their seats. The interview room was not designed for comfort. Four hard wooden chairs were pulled up to a hard wooden table, circa nineteen thirty-six. The stark walls painted in a light putrid institutional green offered no forgiveness. Imbedded in one wall was a two way mirror—a suspect would have to have been from Mars not to know of its existence.

  “Do I need to re-read you your rights, Mr. Cavilla?”

  “Lieutenant, we’ll stipulate to the reading,” Attorney Calvin said.

  “Okay, let me just make a note of who’s present and get the housekeeping chores out of the way,” Jake said, taking a seat at the table. He had Louie take up a position behind Cavilla.

  “Mr. Cavilla, you’re aware that we found Shanna Wagner’s purse and diary in your closet?”

  “Yes.”

  “Would you like to tell us how it got there?”

  “I want to know how you knew I had it…”

  Attorney Calvin interrupted Marks reply. “Lieutenant, you haven’t stated the charges or what deals are on the table.”

  “Deals, Calvin? You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Mr. Calvin, your client had in his possession the victim’s purse and diary which places him at the crime scene. There are no deals on the table at this time, though a confession now will work in his favor. It will be up to the D.A. to deal with the both of you.” Jake wanted to get the action going so he added. “I heard you killed her because you couldn’t get it up. Is that right, Mark?”

  “You bastard.” Cavilla jumped from his chair only to be yanked back down by the chains attached to his hands and feet. Jake nodded to Louie, who moved in closer to Cavilla. Jake watched Louie place his hands on Cavilla’s shoulder, exerting pressure as a warming to Mark to stay seated.

  “Lieutenant, this interview is over.”

  “Nice try, Counselor. Sit down. Mark, answer my question.”

  “I’d like to end this interview until such time that I can speak with the D.A. personally.”

  “I’m sure you would, but that’s not going to happen, Counselor. I will have Sergeant Romanelli contact him and inform him of your request. Let me just say here that what is in your client’s favor is the fact that the crime was not premeditated.” I’m sure the D.A. can prove me wrong with the drugs, Jake thought.

  “Lieutenant, my client is not going to…”

  “I could get it up. The bitch was frigid. She made me a laughingstock at work. Why did she accept a date from me in the first place?” Mark asked. “I can’t believe she wanted that dyke over me.”

  “I don’t know, Mark, maybe she was just confused,” Jake answered.

  “Mark, don’t say another word.” Calvin put his hand on Mark’s arm.

  Inside Jake smiled when Cavilla pushed his attorney’s hand away. “Am I going to be executed?”

  “I don’t know, Mark. The charge is murder in the first degree.”

  “If I confess, do I still have to stand trial?”

  “I think you should field this question, Counselor.”

  “Mark, we need to talk before you confess,” Calvin stressed.

  “Counselor, you, and your client were given two hours to consult before this interview. What did you do with that time?”

  “I want it noted that my client is going against attorney’s advice.”

  “Mr. Cavilla, do you understand that you are under arrest for the murder and rape of Shanna Wagner?”

  “Yes.”

  “And are you going against your attorney’s advice of your own free will?” Jake said, staring directly into Cavilla’s eyes.

  “Yes. I just want it to be over with, but I don’t want to die.”

  “I’m sure Shanna Wagner didn’t want to die either.”

  “You think that bitch was so sweet. She was a lesbian.”

  “So you think her sexual preference was a valid reason to kill her?” Jake quirked his brow.

  “No, no. I want to tell what happened in my own words, not ones you put there.”

  “Mr. Cavilla, I’m going to tell you again not to speak until we are able to confer.”

  “Confer?” Cavilla laughed. “We are conferring. You’re fired.” Jake smiled inwardly. He had counted on Cavilla’s ego, and it was coming through for him.

  “Mr. Cavilla, are you asking for a different lawyer at this time?” Jake asked.

  “No, I don’t need a lawyer.”

  Just what Jake wanted to hear. All righty then, I should have this wrapped before the night is through.

  “Mr. Cavilla, I’m stressing that this is not in your best interest.”

  “I’m not stupid. I understand what I’m doing. You’re fired.”

  “Let the record note that Attorney Calvin has left the interview,” Jake said, looking up at Louie. Arrogant son of a bitch, Jake mused. “Mark, when did you first decide to kill Shanna Wagner?”

  “I’m going to tell this in my own way. It started with a conversation with Chloe after her arrest. She taunted me and wouldn’t answer any of my questions. She more or less said you were coming after me. Christ, I couldn’t believe it. A fucking year has almost gone by, why now?” He stared at Jake.

  “Evidence is why now.”

  “I covered myself pretty good. You guys should have found that damned ring last Christmas. What took you so fucking long?”

  Jake stared Cavilla down. Silence filled the room.

  Shaking his head, Cavilla continued. “Never mind, it’s not important. I read her dairy every night. And every night it made me madder. I’d kill her again if I could. I’m sure you’ll read all about it after we’re done here. But the bitch said some nasty things about me.”

  Jake interrupted him. “What bitch?”

  “Shanna Wagner.” Jake nodded for Cavilla to continue. “I called her at school and asked her if we could meet and talk. That’s all I wanted to do, talk. But Shanna said no. Didn’t bother to give me an explanation, just said no.” Cavilla stopped and took a drink of water that Louie had put on the table before the interview.

  “It was Friday night, so I went out for some drinks. The more I drank the angrier I got at her. Why couldn’t she just agree to talk? I left the bar and sat in my car for about a half hour, toking a joint. The higher I got, the more determined I was to speak with her. I drove up to Storrs to see her.”

  “Did she agree to talk to you, Mark?”

  “No, she was just leaving her dorm with some other girls, including that dyke, Meryl. They didn’t see me. So after they piled into a car, I followed them. They went to a pizza joint and met some guys. She was probably fucking them too.”

  “So she was only gay with you?”

  “No, don’t put words in my fucking mouth, man. I think she was bisexual, who knows. I didn’t want to be caught outside the pizza joint so I headed back to her dorm and waited for her.”

  “How long did you wait?”

  “Until they got back.”

  “An hour, two?” Jake pressed.

  “About an hour and a half.” />
  “I bet you were getting really pissed by then?”

  “I was, so I smoked another joint to calm my nerves.”

  “Okay, go on.”

  “See, I wanted her to give me another chance. The one time we made love was a disaster. She left crying. When she left, I thought it was my fault and she let me believe that. If she’d just spoken to me, everything would’ve been fine. We could’ve fixed it.”

  Cavilla looked at the mirrored wall. Jake didn’t know where Mark’s mind went, but he wanted the whole story now. He had not one ounce of sympathy for Cavilla. The kid killed a woman because she rejected him. Pull back Jake, he told himself. This wasn’t the time to think about Eva.

  “Mark, I want to know what happened the night Shanna died.”

  “Don’t push me, I’m getting to it. It’s all related.” Cavilla waved his hand in the air in a gesture that had Jake grinding his teeth. The little bastard thinks he’s in control here. Jake held onto his anger. He needed Cavilla to detail everything to lock him in.

  Mark’s eyes lost focus as he continued. Jake believed he was reliving the murder all over again.

  “When she got back to the dorm, Meryl kissed her good-bye and drove off. The other girls went inside. Shanna must have needed something from her car because she headed over to the parking lot. As she leaned into her car, I grabbed her from behind…”

  “You planned on raping her?” Jake asked.

  “No. No, I told you, I just wanted to talk to her. So I pushed her into my car and she started yelling at me. Jesus, you should’ve heard her. I couldn’t think. She asked if I was nuts. I told her to shut up because we were going to talk. You know what she said to me?”

  “No, I’m riveted here. What did she say?”

  “She told me she wasn’t going to talk to me today, tomorrow, or ever. The bitch. I told her she humiliated me at work and she owed me this conversation. I let her know she not only made a joke of me at work, but she broke my heart, and screwed my career. I had to find another job to make the jokes go away.

  “She said she didn’t understand. That we only had two dates and she said nothing to anyone. Shanna didn’t understand how anyone at work knew.”

  “Mark, how did they find out at work?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You didn’t tell a buddy at lunch or said something like she was a frigid bitch?” Louie asked from behind Cavilla.

  Cavilla turned to address Louie. “One of the guys at lunch said how she was hot and I might’ve mentioned it.”

  Jake pulled Cavilla’s attention back to him. “Did you tell him she was frigid, or gay?”

  “I might have mentioned bisexual.”

  “So it was you who made a joke of you, not Shanna.”

  “No…yes…no, I didn’t mean to. I was mad at her. God.” he put his head in his hands. “She was beautiful and smart. Everything I wanted in a wife. But she didn’t want me.”

  “After you got her in the car, Mark, what happened?” Jake pushed.

  “I had her by the wrist so she couldn’t leave the car and she tried prying my fingers off her. Yelling how I was bruising her. Shanna told me if I let her out of the car she wouldn’t report me. I didn’t believe her, not for one second. Christ, my head was pounding and I couldn’t think—I reached for the water bottles. I uncapped one and gave it to her. She pushed it back at me. That made me madder.”

  “Was that the bottle that had the GBH in it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You know that Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate is an illegal substance?” Jake wanted the full name of the drug Cavilla used on the record.

  “Yes.”

  “What happened when she pushed the bottle away?”

  “I jumped on top of her and forced her to drink. She spit it out on me, and before I knew it I slammed my fist into her face. It only took one punch to knock her out. When she started to come to, I forced the bottle to her mouth and poured it in. She started to choke, but she drank enough to feel the effects…” Cavilla stared into space, his eyes narrowed on a spot on the wall. “I tied her hands together.”

  “How did it affect her, Mark?”

  Jake’s patience was wearing thin. Cavilla either didn’t hear his question or was ignoring it. Jake asked a second time and waited him out.

  “Shanna didn’t react like she was supposed to. I drove her to Wilkesbury to a deadend street I knew. Instead of becoming amorous, she fought me. The drug made her really aggressive. I was able to control her easily enough because she didn’t weigh much—I stripped her down and then took the billy club from my trunk. The bitch wanted a stick. I was going to give her a stick.”

  The anger crept up Jake’s face, turning it hot, then red, as he listened to Cavilla’s account of the night Shanna died. Bastard. If they weren’t on video he’d smash the kid’s face into the concrete wall and violate him with a hard wooden stick. The ME’s report flashed back into his head, recounting the trauma Shanna had endured with that club. Yes, the bastard deserved his turn at the end of the stick. “What happened next?” Jake fought for control.

  “Even stoned she kept pushing me away, fighting me—I lost it. Minutes later, I think, it was like I came back to myself and realized what I’d done. She was dead. I keep water and soap in my trunk to wash the car, so I pulled it out, along with a tarp, and I dragged her to one of the houses being built and washed her down to get rid of any evidence. I cleaned under her nails and combed the body for any stray hairs. I wasn’t going to leave my DNA. I watch those shows.” Cavilla stopped and took another sip of his water.

  “After you did all that, what did you do next?”

  “I went to the bar to establish my alibi because I was there earlier.”

  “So instead of calling the police and an ambulance, in case she wasn’t dead, you cleaned her and dumped her in the woods?”

  “Yes.”

  Jake saw the anger he felt on Louie’s face. The room filled with a heavy silence as Jake mentally ran through the interview. He only had a few more things he needed to get on the record.

  “When did you write in her diary that it was her fault?”

  “Last night, after I spoke with Chloe. You see, it really was Shanna’s fault. All she had to do was talk to me, but no, she was too good for me.” Good, he shows no remorse, that alone will hang him, Jake thought.

  “Louie, do you have any questions for Mark?”

  “Why did you keep the ring, her purse, and her diary?”

  “I loved her. I wanted something of her with me always,” Cavilla whispered.

  “You don’t know what love is, Mark,” Louie said as he unlocked the leg chains and ushered Cavilla to the door.

  Jake watched, drained, as they left the room—a predator stopped. But he knew full well that another would be right behind him. One more victory, Eva, though hollow. If only I could stop them before they took innocent lives.

  When Louie came back from booking, Jake opened his bottom drawer, taking out his bottle of Johnny Walker Blue. He poured two glasses, handed one to Louie.

  “To closure.” Jake raised his glass in a toast.

  “To closure.” Clinking glasses before downing their drinks.

  “I better give the Wagners a call.”

  “Okay. I’ll start the report while you do that.”

  Jake called the Wagners, filling them in on the arrest. He withheld some details. He only gave them the general information he planned on releasing to the press. “I know they’re going for a psych exam, Mr. Wagner, but it should still come to trial pretty fast.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. I know we came to blows a lot this year. I’m sorry. I know you were working for Shanna, not us.”

  “I understand. I’m sorry, too. Sometimes a murder investigation steps on the innocent. Do you want to tell Chloe or do you want me to?”

  “No, I’ll do it. She needs to stay away from you.”

  “Thanks.” Jake hung up, walked to the captain’s office to update hi
m verbally.

  *

  While Shamus finished up on a phone conversation, Jake waited by his window, looking out at the downtown area. A mix of people—business, homeless, shoppers, and kids—rushed to their destinations. More kids now that UConn had a branch here. The Palace marquee announced Johnny Mathis would be there next month for only two days.

  It did his heart good when private citizens raised the money to save the Palace. He even contributed a small amount to the fund. He loved the Palace. It brought back good memories from his childhood.

  The Palace—a beautiful, grand old theater, in the tradition of the Met in New York City—had sorely needed a facelift. A group of local businessmen, along with the city, refurbished it last year, drawing in some big names. Jake hoped something this decent in the downtown area would bring people back, revitalize the rest of the area. The captain hung up and turned his attention to Jake.

  “How’d it go today?”

  “It went good, Shamus,” Jake said thoughtfully.

  “It came together fast.”

  “If you call a year fast.”

  “You know what I mean, Jake. Last week the ring turns up, this week a new witness. We both know that’s how it usually plays out. One third evidence, two thirds luck.”

  “We found her diary at Mark Cavilla’s house. The kid even wrote in it that it was her fault, what happened to her. Idiot. He also kept her purse. We’re gonna have to wait on the lab. I think we have the stick he assaulted her with also, an old fashioned billy club.”

  “Where’d he get that?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll ask when we continue to interview him tomorrow. I’m sure the court will appoint an attorney now that he fired his. I wonder if they’ll give him a psych test?”

  “They can request ten if they want, he’s still gonna stand trial. His confession should hold up. Go home, Jake, relax. You’ll be back at it tomorrow. You and Louie should go out for a drink and celebrate a job well done.”

  “Thanks, but I’ve got other plans tonight, Shamus,” Jake said with a smile.

  “Still seeing the young lady from Louie’s party?”

  “Yep.”

  “She’s hot.” Shamus smiled.