A Death in Canaan (8 page)

K:

Right. She had two broken legs.

P:

She
did?
I didn't know her legs were broken.

K:

Just above the knees. So it looks like she had to be hit with something. I broke my leg playing football, but that's a different situation. I'm sure your mother doesn't play football.

P:

Could she have fallen out of the top bunk? But I still don't think she'd break both legs. I've fallen out, and I never got hurt except bruises.

K:

If I ask you on the polygraph: Do you know how your mother's legs were broken?

P:

No.

K:

The only way you would know would be if you were there and saw this happen.

P:

Right.

K:

You said before, Pete, that you didn't talk to your mother other than the yell as you came in. If I ask you on the polygraph: Last night, did you talk to your mother when you came home? Carry on a conversation?

P:

No.

K:

If I ask you on the polygraph: Do you know how your mother's clothes got wet?

P:

No.

K:

You gave a statement to the police last night. Is the statement you made the truth?

P:

Yes.

K:

Now, whoever did this, there's no doubt, deliberately hurt your mother. You say she talked about suicide. She certainly couldn't …

P:

Break both legs, then commit suicide.

K:

Right. Right. So, if I ask you this question on the polygraph: Did you ever deliberately hurt someone in your life?

P:

No.

K:

From what the fellows say, you got along fairly well with your mother, right?

P:

We had arguments. We'd swear up and down at one another.

K:

This is a normal thing. I argue with my wife. Everybody gets into arguments. But I don't know if you're involved in what happened there last night or not. That's why you're here. If I could read your brain, I'd be a millionaire, and I wouldn't be sitting here. That's why I have this. It reads your brain for me.

P:

Does that actually read my brain?

K:

Definitely. Definitely. And if you've told me the truth, this is what your brain is going to tell me.

P:

Will this stand up to protect me?

K:

Right. Right.

P:

Good. That's the reason I came to take it. For protection.

K:

Last year I talked to a colored boy here, twenty-one years old, who four other colored people accused of committing a murder. They said they seen him come down the street, pull a gun out of his belt, and popped this other colored guy. These people picked him out of a lineup. Individually they said, that's him. They gave sworn statements. He sat right where you're sitting now, and when I finished testing him, I got the New Haven police, and I said, you got the wrong guy. Two months later I talked to the actual man who committed the crime. He sat right where you're sitting now. That's how the polygraph works. If you're honest with me, that's all we need, OK?

P:

Let's go.

K:

We don't rush here, Pete. We take our time. We have no place to go. Now, to get back to the questions. If you committed this thing last night, if you hurt your mother, it would be a rather shameful thing, right?

P:

Right.

K:

You've never done anything that you're really ashamed of, have you?

P:

Can you guarantee this won't go out of this room?

K:

Absolutely. Right here. You and I.

P:

I got involved with a homosexual. I was afraid of the guy, because he was a brown belt in Judo.

K:

Did he commit an act on you, or did he make you commit an act on him?

P:

Neither, really. Nothing really happened. But he tried.

K:

You're afraid someone's going to say you're a homosexual?

P:

Right. And if you check my background, if you saw the girls I go out with, it's ridiculous.

K:

No problem. I think everybody is approached at least once by a homosexual. That's not shameful.

P:

Well, it's something I was really ashamed of.

K:

All right. All right. Let me put it this way: Besides what we have just talked about, have you done anything else you're really ashamed of?

P:

I don't know whether I told you that I smoked pot. Not all the time. Every three months, something like that. I'm not ashamed of that, except the shamefulness that I lied to my mom, saying I didn't.

K:

What I'm interested in is if you're lying to me about last night, that would be shameful, wouldn't it?

P:

Yeah. But it would be ridiculous for me to come down and volunteer for this test if I was lying.

K:

Let me say something, Pete. I've had people here who have committed serious things. As serious as this. They needed help. It wasn't a vicious thing they did. They just couldn't help themselves. I've had people actually come in here and take this test because they knew they were guilty but they didn't know how to tell somebody. They were looking for help. Maybe you're looking for somebody to help you.

P:

What do you mean?

K:

Say you did this thing last night. Say you hurt your mother. Maybe you want the polygraph to help you.

P:

If I had any doubts, I would see a doctor.

K:

Well, if I feel there's something wrong, this is what we would do for you. Get a doctor. A lot of times, people don't know they need help. And the test says they need help. It's amazing but true.

P:

Right.

K:

Now, I'll ask you some real easy questions on the test. Were you born in the United States? Do you live in Connecticut? Are you wearing a brown shirt? Is your first name Peter?

P:

Yes.

K:

I'm going to go across the hall and make one phone call. I want to write these up on a form so I can read them intelligently. Then we'll go through them two or three times on the polygraph. If you broke an arm and you went to a doctor, he wouldn't take one X ray. He would take several before he set your arm. I do the same thing with the questions. I compare one to the other. Now, is there anything you want to ask me?

P:

I just want to understand how it works.

K:

It works on your heart. That's your conscience. All we're trying to do is arrive at the truth. And the truth will be on that tape.

K:

You were born in the United States?

P:

Yes.

K:

Right now do you live in Connecticut?

P:

Yes.

K:

Last night do you know for sure how your mother got hurt?

P:

No.

K:

Are you wearing a brown shirt?

P:

Yes.

K:

Last night did
you
hurt your mother?

P:

No.

K:

Did you ever deliberately hurt someone in your life?

P:

No.

K:

Is your first name Peter?

P:

Yes.

K:

Do you know how your mother's legs were broken?

P:

No.

K:

Last night did you talk to your mother when you came home?

P:

No.

K:

Do you know how your mother's clothes got wet?

P:

No.

K:

Besides what we've talked about, have you done anything else you're ashamed of?

P:

No.

K:

Is the statement you made to the police the truth?

P:

Yes.

K:

Sit quietly for ten seconds.

P:

All done?

K:

Yes.

P:

How'd I do?

K:

You're very cooperative, let me put it that way.

P:

What do you mean?

K:

Well, that was just a warm-up, to show you you're not going to get electrocuted.

P:

How does it look?

K:

What do you mean?

P:

Does it look like I was lying to you?

K:

That wouldn't be fair for me to say. You're nervous. Did any of these questions bother you?

P:

Well, whether I harmed my mother or not.

K:

Why?

P:

Well, that question … they told me up at the barracks yesterday that—how some people don't realize—all of a sudden, fly off the handle for a split second …

K:

Right.

P:

… and it leaves a blank spot in their memory.

K:

Right. This will help bring it out.

P:

Well, I thought about that last night, and I thought and I thought and I thought, and I said no, I couldn't have done it, I couldn't have done it, you know. And now, when you ask me the question …

K:

Peter, let me say this one thing.

P:

… that's what I think of.

K:

If you did it, this is probably how it could have happened.

P:

What do you mean?

K:

Bango, just like this. All right?

P:

Right.

K:

Just looking at you, Peter, you don't look like a violent person to me at all.

P:

I'm not.

K:

I've met a hell of a lot of people in my life. Now, if you did it, it was a split-second thing that you did. You lost your head. Who knows why? Maybe you and your mother had an argument, and one thing led to another, and she attacked you.
I
don't know. It could have been an accident with her last night, right?

P:

Right.

K:

I want you to review for me those questions. I want to make sure you're paying attention.

P:

You asked me what color my shirt was. You asked me if I harmed my mother. You asked me if I had anything to be ashamed of. You asked me—let's see, I haven't been to bed in almost thirty hours. I can't remember anything else.

K:

Didn't you get any sleep this morning?

P:

I got a little. A couple hours. Maybe it was more than I realize.

K:

Now, I'm going to have Jack come in and make you lie. If he can pick out where you are deliberately lying, then we know we are getting proper recordings from you. Regardless of how simple a lie, your body rebels. If you don't rebel to the simple little lie, we'll just say, today is not Pete's day to take a polygraph test.

P:

It's the best time to give it to me, after a crisis, isn't it?

K:

We'll see.