To Probe A Beating Heart

by Wren, John B

  Averell was given another shot to wake him up, taken to the central room, stripped of all his clothes, his watch, rings and glasses. He was handed an orange jump suit and placed in the cell. The cuffs and hood were removed and he was left alone for a few hours. He paced back and forth, knocking on the walls and the doors, checking for an escape route. The room was cold and he put on the jump suit and continued pacing. The team watched on a closed circuit television system as he paced, pounded on the walls and finally called out, “Whoever is out there, where am I, what is happening?”

  “He’s getting tired,” said Bart, “It won’t be long now.”

  “Good” said Adam, who had taken a nap and was ready for the first encounter. “So far, so good.” He went back to checking his notes and discussing alternative questioning strategies with the team.

  Averell paced for a few more minutes and finally sat in a corner, drew up his knees and dropped his head. He fell asleep.

  “I think he’s out,” said Andy, “How long should we give him?”

  “Let’s start with about fifteen minutes,” said Adam, “It’s now 1:15 am, so at about 1:30 we wake him up.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Adam walked into the cell wearing a dark suit and sun glasses and said, “Averell, wake up.”

  Averell raised his head and opened his eyes. Still very tired, he looked at Adam and was about to say something when Adam spoke.

  “First let me explain the rules: Rule number one, we ask the questions and you answer the questions; Rule number two, Ah, there is no number two. Just one, now, Do you know why you are here?”

  “No.”

  “Come on, Averell, you know why, you killed a little girl named Melissa.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  “Yes you did, we know you did and you are going to tell us all about it. You will also tell us about the others. Averell, we are not here to find justice. That is not possible. Justice would be for you to experience all the pain and suffering you inflicted on those girls. For all those little girls to never experience those things that you did to them. For those little girls to grow up and become mothers themselves. No, Averell, justice has passed for them and for you. What we are left with is punishment. The big question is, what punishment is fair and equitable. We know what you did, at least some of what you did, and we want you to fill in the gaps. So here’s what we are going to do. We will ask you questions and you will answer. As soon as you tell us all that we want to know, and we confirm several facts, you will be imprisoned for the rest of your natural life. It’s that simple. Now, we ask and you answer, understand?”

  Averell looked confused, “No, and what others?”

  “Didn’t you get the memo?, We ask the questions, not you. All you get to do is answer, Understand?”

  “No.”

  “You will, now, as I was saying, you killed—.”

  Averell interrupted Adam, “Who are you?”

  “Okay, we’ll be back tomorrow.” And Adam walked out of the room.

  Averell called after him, “You can’t do this to me. I know my rights. You didn’t read me my Miranda rights. You have to charge me or let me go. I want an attorney.”

  There was no answer. Time passed, but Averell had no sense of how much time elapsed. Over the next hour, nobody came in the room, nobody talked to him. He called for someone, for anyone, nobody responded. Then the small door opened and he saw a bottle of water and piece of bread.

  “Hey, this isn’t food. I want food, damn it.” He sat in the corner with his back touching two walls.

  “Are you the Rochester police or the State cops?”

  “I don’t know, maybe the FBI,” said Stelian.

  “You be quiet!”

  “Who is he talking to?,” said Bart.

  “I don’t know, let me know if does it again,” said Adam.

  Averell drank his water and ate the bread.

  The small door opened again and a plastic wash pail was put in the doorway. Averell walked over to the door and took the pail and the door closed.

  “What’s this for?”

  There was no answer. After another hour, Averell used the pail and put the bottle in it. He paced the cell for a few minutes and he sat in the corner again. After a few minutes he fell asleep. It was now 3:55 am. The team watched as he dozed for thirty minutes and Adam entered the room again. Bart came in with him and took the pail out and closed the door. It was 4:25 am Friday.

  “Wake up Averell, it’s time for you to talk to us.”

  Averell stirred he was still tired, and now a little stressed. He noticed that Adam had on a different tie and shirt and figured it was the next day.

  “Who are you?”

  “Okay Averell, we are not the police, we are not the FBI, we are from a family, a large family and we have an interest in what you have been doing for a number of years. We want you to tell us all about what you have been doing. Now are you ready to tell us about Melissa?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “We’ll be back tomorrow.” Adam walked out and closed the door.

  “Hey, I have some questions. Come back here, damn it.”

  There was no reply. Averell sat in the corner, “Why don’t they answer me?”

  “They don’t like us,” said Stelian.

  “Who are they?, What do they want from me?”

  “You know what they want. They want to know everything,” said Stelian.

  Averell called out again, “Who are you?”

  No reply.

  Averell waited, and waited. Nothing. After a few minutes, he fell asleep again. This time they let him sleep for twenty minutes. It was 4:50 am. “Averell, wake up, we have things to discuss.”

  Averell lifted his head, his eyes were reddened and watery, he had a dull headache, his voice was thick and cracking. “What time is it?”

  “We will let that one slide Averell, now, as I was saying yesterday, you took Melissa and killed her. I want to know when you took her, where you took her and what you did to her .”

  Averell’s eyes conveyed nothing. There was a blank stare. Adam raised his voice, “Damn it Averell, I asked you a question, now you answer me.”

  Averell started to speak, “I don’t, we didn’t kill.”

  “Okay Averell, I will be back tomorrow.”

  “No, wait.”

  The door closed behind Adam.

  Averell sat in the corner and repeated the name, “Melissa” and “damn it” several times. He was still tired and soon fell asleep.

  “Damn it, Melissa. Tell him about Melissa, and maybe we’ll get out of here,” said Stelian.

  “Yeah’ you’re right.”

  Bart noted that he once again was talking, but nobody was in the room with him, he was alone. Within the next twenty minutes, Averell was asleep again.

  “He said, ‘We didn’t.’,” said Bart.

  “Yeah, I caught that,” said Adam, “let’s give him fifteen minutes, I

  gotta’ change.”

  Adam walked back into the room, it was almost 5:30 Friday morning.

  “Averell, get up, now you are going to talk to me. Melissa, what did you do with her?”

  Averell was sitting up with his head up, unsuccessfully trying to wake himself up. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “Come on Averell, we know what you did, we looked at your log books and know exactly where you hid your mileage, we know you were thinking about Sarah when you killed Melissa, now, tell me everything about Melissa, I want you to say it, I want to hear your words Averell, start talking.”

  Averell looked very confused, they knew about Sarah, they knew about the log books, what else did they know, “I don’t remember.”

  “Come on Averell, you took her while she was walking home through a park and dumped her in the woods at the cemetery. Why didn’t you bury her?”

  Averell was in a place between sleep and full consciousness. Not sure what he had said over the last ‘few days’ since he was �
��arrested’, he didn’t know what to say.

  “Averell, damn it, why didn’t you bury her?”

  “Bury, no time, cops were there.”

  “So you knelt down and pretended to be there for Mrs. Garver’s

  funeral saying a prayer?”

  “Yeah, a prayer.”

  “Who was with you?”

  “With me, nobody was with me.”

  “Yesterday you said, ‘We didn’t kill her.’ who is we?”

  “I was alone, that was a mistake, it was just me.”

  “Okay Averell, now where did you take Melissa after you took her

  from the park?”

  “Park, yeah, we drove to the farm.”

  “Where is the farm, Averell?”

  “What farm? Which farm?”

  “The farm where you took Melissa.”

  “That farm is in Portage County on,” and he dozed off.

  “Averell, when we talk again, you should tell me everything that I

  want to know, and I will let you sleep, okay.”

  Averell muttered, “Okay.”

  It was now 5:35. The team allowed him a twenty minute nap this time.

  “Averell, time to wake up, we have to talk.” It was almost six in the morning.

  Averell again raised his head and tried to focus on Adam.“Good

  morning Averell, time for our daily chat, are you ready?” asked Adam.

  “No, sleepy, let me sleep.”

  “You’ve had all night to sleep, Averell, now it is time for talking. I

  want you to tell me everything about Melissa, You can start from the

  beginning.”

  “Melissa, I told you, Melissa.”

  “Tell me why you chose Melissa.”

  “Why, she was perfect, she was Sarah.”

  Bart spoke into a microphone, “Sarah, his sister, she’s in her twenties, twenty six or seven.”

  Adam’s ear piece delivered the message.

  “Sarah, you mean your sister?”

  “I hate her.”

  “Me too.”

  “Yeah, we both hate her.”

  “Averell, you and who else?”

  Averell looked at Adam and his eyes went from very tired to a hateful stare, bloodshot, but a stare, “And me,” said Averell in a firm voice.

  “And who are you?”

  “Stelian.”

  “Well Stelian, what can you tell me about Sarah?,” asked Adam.

  “We hate her, her and Ellie both.”

  Bart chimed in, “Ellie is the mother.”

  “You hate his sister and his mother?”

  “Our sister and mother, yeah both of them.”

  Again Bart chimed in, “Stelian was his name before he was adopted.”

  “When can we eat something, I’m hungry?”

  “Rule number one, Stelian, we ask, you only answer.” and Adam

  walked out of the room.

  Bart looked at Adam and said, “Is this guy not right in the head? Do we have a schizophrenic, like two guys in one head? “

  “There’s undoubtedly more to it than what we see at this point, but, yeah, it looks like you are on target, we have a double of some sort.” said Adam. “His name was Stelian Lupasco when he was born and immediately put in an orphanage, his inside friend uses Stelian as a name, is he psychotic,

  or does he just want us to think he is? I don’t know, but we are not here to analyze this guy, just get some answers. Psychotic, schizophrenic, no matter, we are not here to counsel him, just to get information, so let’s get back at it,” said Adam. “We will keep the notes and everything gets turned over to the Feds, but we are only seeking the answers discussed initially.”

  * * *

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

  I meant me, I picked her . . .

  The FBI had decided to observe Averell on a limited basis for an extended period. They assumed that each of his supposed attacks were not ‘spur of the moment’ type actions. They were planned over a period of days or weeks. The several cases that Jim McClarry had identified as fitting the profile of the specific predator, all occurred in the summer, and there was only one each year. Averell could be checked on periodically and followed closely occasionally. When the Federal agents were about to begin a programmed two week close surveillance, Averell was nowhere to be found. Jim McClarry was contacted and asked if he knew Averell’s location.

  “No, as a matter of fact we have been told to stand down and allow you guys to run with this investigation. Has he intentionally disappeared or has someone run him over with a truck?”

  As soon as he said that, he regretted it, if the Clan had done something and his tread imprinted corpse was found, Jim could be in for some difficult questioning. But that was not the case, nobody knew where he was or why he had disappeared. What the FBI did know was that Averell’s car was still at his home in Rochester, his personal belongings were not disturbed and seemed to be all present including his passport, money and wallet. Cleveland Heights police as well as the several other police departments where Averell was suspected of having been active, launched an investigation looking in the areas where each had jurisdiction and he may have been. Each turned the same result, no sign of Averell.

  Jim’s curiosity was stirred, he called Sean and said, “We have to check this out. Does the family have Averell? And if they do, what are they doing with him?”

  Sean appeared stunned, “Hell I don’t know, Jim. Maybe he went fishing, maybe he tried to do the wrong lady and lost, I just do not know. What can I tell you?”

  “Okay, Sean, let’s assume a couple of possible avenues. First, Averell changed his identity and disappeared, second, he is innocently someplace else and will turn up and third, the Clan has him.”

  “Well I think we can rule out the innocent bit, his wallet was left behind, if he did change his identity, then he is gone and we may as well forget him, not our problem and the third, the Clan, I guess I would go with that, they could have him and we wouldn’t know until they’re done with him, that is until they wanted us to know where he is.”

  “So how do we check with the Clan and find out if he is their

  guest?”

  “We don’t, it is that simple, if they have him we will know what they want us to know, and we cannot change that.”

  “So we’re stuck with nothing?”

  “That’s about it.”

  * * *

  Adam walked back into the room and Averell was asleep again. “Wake

  up Averell,” and Adam nudged him with his foot. Not a kick, but a nudge. “Come on, we have to talk.” It was now almost seven am and Averell had only about two hours of sleep in the last twenty four. He had lost all sense of time and as far as he knew, it could have been five days or more since he had been “arrested”. It was now a little after eight am.

  “Don’t kick me.”

  “I didn’t kick you, if I had you would have bounced off the wall, now wake up. We have to do this one more time. Now, from the beginning, tell me about Melissa. Tell me everything or we will do this all over again and again until you do tell me.”

  Averell looked almost dead, his voice was raspy and he was starting to cough. “You want me to say it again?”

  “Yeah, from the top.” And Adam stepped aside out of camera range. Bart told him through the earpiece when he was clear.

  Averell tried to clear his throat and started, “We were in Cleveland

  Heights again.”

  Bart and Andy looked at each other and said in unison, “Again.”

  Averell continued, “We were driving and I saw her, she was just right, not as old as I wanted, but he didn’t care.”

  “Who didn’t care?”

  “You know, Stelian. Anyway, we took her to the farm in Portage County.” He continued through the entire story.

  When he was finished Adam said, “Okay Averell, you can get some sleep now.” He walked out of the room and back to the control area. “Did we get it all?”<
br />
  “Oh yeah, and did you catch the ‘in Cleveland Heights again’ bit?” Adam smiled, “Yeah, this is looking good.” He sat down and said, “We’ll give him about twenty minutes and wake him up again.”

  “Nasty, you are just pure nasty.”

  Adam smiled again, “Yeah.” He waited about ten minutes, changed his shirt and walked back into the cell.

  “Averell, time to get up and tell me about the others,” demanded Adam.

  “I, I don’t know what to say.”

  “This is taking all together too long, Averell. I have wasted a week getting you to tell me things that I already knew. Should I be talking to Stelian instead?” asked Adam.

  “No, no I can tell you what you want,” said Averell.

  “Okay then, let’s talk about Emily, you remember Emily don’t you? She lived in Schenectady, remember her?”

  “Yeah, she was too weak.”

  “Why did you kill her?”

  “She was supposed to stay with me for some time, but she was not

  very strong.”

  “Yeah, you said that, what do you mean by not very strong?”

  “She, left too early, we didn’t have a chance to, to do anything, you know.”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  Adam stepped to one side allowing a frontal view of Averell to a camera and a little green light came on next to the lens. Averell began to talk about Emily in detail, describing the probes and his knife.

  When he finished his description, Adam allowed him to fall asleep. “Let’s wake him at nine and do the next one, Harkin, Barbara Harkin, right?”

  Bart suggested that Adam take a quick nap and keep his head clear.

  “I’ll do that, thanks Bart. ” Adam wondered what Bart’s real name was and what he did for a living. He was pretty good at this interrogation work. “Oh well, no matter, almost done,” and he dozed off.