Chapter 10
They met in Ross's office for another update/strategy session. "Why does Alison act when she acted?" he asked, the frustration evident in his voice. He had no doubt his detectives were right about her, but he wasn't sure they could prove it. "What prompted her to solicit murder at this time?"
Bobby replied. "Well, she might have been worried about Dr. Conlon's need for resources."
Ross nodded. "Something like the Cleon Lewis scandal blowing back on the church."
"An adulterous Upper East Side minister? That's a headline," Alex said.
"Okay, say that's motive," Ross continued, "How does Alison pay Kevin for murder? Sex?"
Bobby thought a moment, and then answered. "Who knows how far she took it with Kevin?"
"So we have decent conjecture, but no evidence," Ross gave them a sarcastic smile.
That kind of thing used to rub Goren the wrong way. He tucked his head down a moment, and he smiled, too.
They had a roaring argument over lunch. Alex wanted to go old school, to scare her into a confession, but Bobby insisted that would never work.
"She's too smart for that!"
"Well then what do you suggest?!" Alex finally demanded.
He was quiet for a long time. He had been puzzling over this since they interrogated Carrie. "We… use her own trick… against her. She thinks we've fallen for it. We can… you know, let her keep thinking that. Find some loose ends with Carrie for her to tie up."
Alex nodded.
Alex went down to security and picked up Alison Wyler to escort her upstairs to Major Case.
"I'm glad you called me about his things," the woman said.
"You've been very cooperative. We appreciate it." Alex paused at her desk while Alison walked around Bobby, giving him a smile in greeting.
"Will this take long? The internment is this afternoon. I'd like him to be buried with his mementos."
"Yeah, we're almost done," Bobby said, getting up and walking past her, a touch of annoyance in his tone. "The only thing that, uh, we haven't found is evidence that Carrie Conlon solicited him to commit murder." Bobby picked up a small duffel bag and carried it back to Alison. "Here you go," he said, at the same time inviting her to sit in a chair at the end of the Goren/Eames desk clump.
"What about what she said to Dan on the phone?" Alison offered, more than willing to help them close their case.
Bobby slid back into his seat and Alex said, "Oh, well, Carrie claims she never made that call."
Just then, a uniformed officer escorted Carrie across the squad room and into an interview room. Alison's eyes got wide and she slowly sank into the chair she'd been offered.
"You have the phone message," Alison told them.
"It's not enough," Alex explained. "She never mentioned Kevin."
"We can see how she could easily manipulate… I mean just on her… just a purely physical level, I mean." Bobby waggled his hand in front of his chest for emphasis. "Sleeping with her was his dream."
With the glass windows in the interview rooms, Alison and Carrie had a clear view of each other. Bobby continued, "And I'm saying this, not in judgment, but we know that others shared that dream."
"No." Alison was very quiet. "Kevin wasn't taken with her. His ideal was someone quite different."
Alex pretended surprise. "My God, of course! He had feelings for you before he joined the church, back when you were his mentor."
"Not sexual feelings," she said. "Kevin was attracted to something more profound."
"Teenage boy?" Bobby had to laugh. "No, we heard that the, the boys that you mentored were in love with you."
"Please," she protested. "From those gossips in Children's Services?"
"The power over others," Bobby added. "You know," he said, snatching a book up off his desk, "I was looking through this. I noticed something that Kevin wrote at the end of his daily prayers. It was a plea. 'Heavenly Father, give me the strength to make the ultimate sacrifice for your ministry.'"
"Ultimate sacrifice?" Alex chimed in. "Well, there's a connection. What are the chances two people would come up with that phrase?" She got up and walked closer to Alison.
"Carrie Conlon described in her voice mail the murder as uh… ultimate sacrifice."
"So there's your proof," Alison told him, "Your link to Carrie."
"Yeah, it won't work." Alex sounded sad. "It's not Carrie on that voicemail." She looked right at Alison. "It's you."
Bobby retrieved the spectrography results from the pile of papers flowing out of his binder.
Alison laughed nervously. "That's absurd."
"You're a very good mimic," Bobby said, and her smile vanished. "This is a voicemail graph. That's Carrie. That's you. I mean, you didn't get everything right, uhm, tone pitch, everything was there. Except for the, uh, breath. Where you breathe when you speak. That can't be altered. It's connected to your nervous system. Do you wanna…?" he looked over at Alex and gestured with his pen-hand.
"This is Carrie," Alex said, and pushed the play button. They listened to her read the transcript from the voicemail message. "And this is you." They listened to the one that had been provided by Reverend Wyler.
"Catch the difference in the breath?" Bobby asked.
"20 words with the same graphic signature can make a voice print ID," Alex told her. "We can prove this was you."
"All you can prove is that it wasn't Carrie. I'm a trained speech therapist. I can read a voice print."
"You ready to bet your life on it?"
"You've gone to great lengths to hurt my ministry. You're not the first, and you will not succeed, either." She reached for her purse and tried to stand, but in unison, the detectives caught hold of her. Alex was at her elbow, and Bobby at the opposite shoulder. They pushed her gently down, back into the chair. Both of them stood over her now.
"You mean Carrie?" Alex asked.
"She distracted my husband from his purpose. She's trash."
"Your husband didn't see it that way." Only Bobby could pick up the shift in Alex's tone. She was disgusted with Alison, as she always got with every killer they caught.
"He was blinded by her. Once Dan saw her diminished and rightly accused, I knew he'd reject her."
"So Dr. Conlon paid the ultimate price."
"Ryan Conlon lived by exposing people. He could have turned our parishioners against us."
"Poor Kevin," said Bobby.
"He was collateral damage to your sense of greater good." The disgust was ringing clear in Eames' voice now.
"I cared about Kevin, I did. But his death rests on your conscience, not on mine. You'll never convict me in court."
"Your final judgment will." Bobby understood her now. She was deluded into believing what she was doing was for some greater good, serving God's purpose. "But it won't take place in court." He looked past Alex, where Reverend Wyler was now standing.
Alison got to her feet and stepped closer to her husband. "You know my sacrifice had no bounds," she tried to explain to him. Alex and Bobby stayed perched by her desk, watching them closely. These confrontations were often necessary in pulling confessions, but they could get violent.
"What I did was for us, for all that we built."
He shook his head. "Doesn't make it right. Do you hear yourself, Alison?"
"We brought the word of God to the most important people in the city. I preserved our good work. Tell me you understand that!"
"Yes. I understand. We're through. I don't know you. I don't want to know you." He very calmly walked away.
She grabbed his hand. "No, listen to me!" Her husband turned back. "We have to fight together. We love each other! We built something! Don't let them destroy it!"
Again, he shook his head. "I want it destroyed. All of it. I'll start over."
"Without me?"
"With God. If He'll forgive me." Dan Wyler turned and walked away, wiping tears from his eyes.
Alex stood and cuffed Alison. Once she was sent to holding, Bobby went to have Carrie released again. He and Eames met again at their desks. They sat facing each other, staring silently.
"Good work, Bobby. Good catch on that breathing thing."
He shifted and gave her a nod. "You too. You got her to talk… about the affair."
Alex rubbed her eyes. "This is the part where I'm supposed to remind myself that these are aberrants, not the rule out there. My sister gets on me all the time about that."
"It's nice to know they're not all hypocrites."
"Who, Wyler?"
"He seems sincere."
She nodded. "Mistakes and forgiveness. That's what it's supposed to be about, right. Only we don't like for the preacher to be the one making the mistakes."
Bobby shrugged. "He's a man. We're flawed."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm okay."
It took a couple of hours to get the paperwork done. After another quiet conversation, they decided to part ways for the evening. Bobby was tired, and said he needed space to let down after the case.
When he walked into his apartment, he quickly emptied his pockets. Keys and binder on the table, gun on the butcher block. He had mail. He had a letter from Molly.
Upon opening it, he saw a family picture she'd sent him, and a few snapshots. He read her very formal sounding letter.
Dear Robert,
It was nice having you at our home. I hope you can visit us soon. I'm sending you some pictures to remember me by.
Love,
Molly
Bobby carried the letter back to the table, sat down in a chair, and went through the pictures one by one. His favorite was one of he and Molly after dinner. His arm was thrown over the back of her chair, and they were both smiling.
He smiled at the memory. It felt good to have family again. He got up, then, and searched the house until he found some paper and a pen. He scrawled out a letter.
Dear Kathy,
It was very kind of you to let Molly send me the email and the picture. I received another letter from her today, with pictures of the whole family. Thank you. It means a lot to me.
Thank you, too, for allowing me into your home for a week. I realize I wasn't the warmest of guests. I keep thinking of what you told me that night, of how when you first learned of Brady's atrocities, you wondered if other people could tell. I feel that way a lot of the time, like maybe there's something in the way I walk, or talk, and I find it very hard to overcome that. It seems I felt that way much of the time I was with your family. Not with Molly, though. Or Tim. Perhaps it was their innocence that cut through those isolating feelings. I am truly grateful.
I hope that you continue to find your own resolution to all of this. I believe you're closer than you think. Please send my regards to Hank and the children. I've enclosed a personal letter to Molly, to return her kindness to me. I hope it's all right with you if I correspond with her.
Thank you again. If there's ever anything I can do for you, I hope you will let me know.
Yours,
Bobby
...
Dear Molly,
Thank you so much for the letters and pictures. I don't think I will be able to visit for a while, but I will certainly be thinking of you. You made me feel happier today.
Affectionately,
Uncle Bobby