Winter House (22 page)

They stood in the dark of a small room in company with a hospital physician, who flicked on a light to illuminate Joshua Addison’s X-rays. The doctor pointed to a fault line, saying, „Definitely a concussion. That’s why he can’t tell you what happened right before he lost consciousness. Judging by the wound, it looks to me like somebody hit him very hard with a – “

„A rock?“ asked Mallory, raising a plastic bag with said rock neady pocked with red. „Like this one? We found it underneath his head.“ She smiled so hopefully, as if she cared about this man’s opinion. „Or do you think he might’ve fallen and hit his head on the rock?“

„Yes, that would do it,“ said the doctor, who was young, who had no experience in forensics – who had never met Mallory before. „Yes, an accident.“

Riker had to wonder how she made her prop so realistic. He stared at the red fluid that spotted this rock taken from a construction site across the street. It
looked
’like real blood. He could well imagine her smashing it down on the nearest living creature that came to hand – so many small dogs in this neighborhood – but he hoped it was catsup from the hospital canteen.

Mallory glanced at the clock on the wall, a signal that they had killed enough time. They rode the elevator up to Joshua Addison’s floor for a final word with the private investigator. When they entered the room, the man in the bed had a worried look about him.

„Your story doesn’t check out,“ said Riker. „We called that nursing home in Maine. According to their records, this woman’s the wrong age.“

This was actually true. The sketchy records had overestimated Nedda Winter’s age by eight years.

„And one more thing,“ said Mallory. „Your name is on the nursing home’s discharge papers. They’ve got you listed as her next of kin. And they’ve never heard of Bitty Smyth.“

„Yeah,“ said Riker, „explain that one. Are you trying to con the Winter family out of some money?“

„Hell, no. The niece asked me to make the arrangements to move her aunt to a hospice in New York State. She wanted it done quietly.“

Mallory shook the bedrail to get the man’s attention. „Did the niece try to cut you out of the deal? Is that why you were stalking that old woman in the park?“

Addison could barely get out the word „No.“

„We ‘re just going by your own statement, pal,“ said Riker. „It looks like a scam to us.“

„Then it’s the niece, Bitty Smyth. It’s her scam. All I did was find – “

„Oh, yeah, I forgot,“ said Riker. „You did what thirty thousand cops couldn’t do.
You
found Red Winter.“

„Just one snag,“ said Mallory. „It’s not her.“

Riker tossed a yellow pad on the bed. „Make out a complete statement If we don’t find any more lies, we’ll sit on the paperwork lor a lew days. But if we find out that you passed this woman off as a member of the Winter family, then all the charges are solid, including fraud. And, pal, vv< r,
^:
’ the newspapers – all ot ‘em.“

And that should neatly kill any idea of selling Nedda Winter to the tabloids. To further the impression that the detectives were bored with the improbable story of Red Winter’s return, Riker stretched out on the bed beside Addison’s. Before the private investigator had filled out half the sheet, Riker was snoring convincingly and sleeping soundly.

Half an hour passed before Mallory woke her partner, handing over the yellow sheets, one by one, as fast as she could read them. The handwritten lines of the statement were filled with every detail of the search for an old woman in the state of Maine. Joshua Addison had done hundreds of interviews looking for someone who would fit Bitty Smyth’s specific list of characteristics. For two years, the man had covered the entire state
oi
Maine.

Well, now they knew that Bitty had not been leaving town on religious missions. She had been visiting nursing homes up north. But how had the woman known that her aunt was hiding out in the state of Maine?

M
allory carried a clipboard into the interview room and walked to one end of the long table. She was ignoring the surprised polygraph examiner as she made a show of consulting her watch and writing down the time. Nedda Winter was wired into the machine by rubber tubing around bet-chest and abdomen to measure her breathing, a padded cardio cuff on her arm to keep track of her blood pressure, and metal fingertips to catch her in the act of sweating.

The polygraph examiner cleared his throat – twice – but failed to get Mallory’s attention. „Excuse me, Detective,“ he said, hardly disguising his annoyance, „I work
alone.
If you have any questions, I suggest you write them down. Then I can ask them during the – “

„I’m not here to question Miss Winter,“ said Mallory. „I’m here to evaluate
you.“
She glanced at the civilian’s polygraph equipment with a moue of distaste. „How far out of date is that machine of yours?“

The examiner only stared at her, casting about for some comeback.

„Obviously,“ said Mallory, making a note on her clipboard, „you don’t know how old your equipment is. I’m guessing at least ten years.“ She leaned down toward Nedda, showing the woman no more regard than furniture when she examined the padded arm cuff. The detective made another note on her clipboard, speaking the words aloud as her pen moved across the paper, „Still using cardio cuffs for blood-pressure readings.“ She turned back to the examiner. „We gave you a chair with stress plates. Why aren’t you hooked in?“ She tapped her pencil on the notebook, waiting on an answer, then examined the back of his machine where the wires connected. „Never mind.“ She made more notes, saying as she wrote, „Outmoded machine. No connections for stress plates.“

She removed her blazer and draped it over a chair, a clear signal that she planned to stay awhile. And now her gun was exposed in the shoulder holster, breaking all the rules of interviews and civilian etiquette. All the power and authority was weighted to her side of the room. She leaned against the back wall, just visible to the examiner’s peripheral vision and in full view of Nedda Winter. „You can start now.“

If any arguments had occurred to the examiner, he swallowed them. Reaching into his briefcase, he pulled out a deck of playing cards. Mallory rolled her eyes. And Nedda Winter smiled, vaguely amused by the show.

O
n the dark side of the mirror in a small theater of chairs tiered in rows, two men sat up front near the one-way glass. They were observing Mallory’s humiliation of the independent polygraph examiner. Charles turned to Riker. „What was all that about?“

„Mallory wants him out of the way so she can do the exam herself. Poor little guy. He’s toast.“ Riker reached over to a panel on the wall and turned off the volume. „Fun’s over. I’ve seen this next part a hundred times. Most of these idiots went to the same school for the ten-week course.“

The polygraph examiner leaned toward Nedda Winter and appeared to be speaking in a friendly fashion. In the absence of sound, Riker translated. „Right now he’s telling Nedda that he wants to put her at ease. That’s a lie. His whole job is to jack up her anxiety. If he can’t do that – if she’s not afraid of his machine – he won’t get any responses worth measuring-.“

„If Mallory keeps smirking at everything he says, it’s hardly – “

„He won’t last another five minutes. Now he’s telling Nedda what all the tools do, what they measure. She doesn’t seem too impressed. That’s because she’s taking all her cues from Mallory.“

The examiner laid four playing cards facedown on the table. Nedda selected one, lifting up a corner to see which card it was. The machine was turned on, and the man stared at the rolling paper as he spoke again, watch ing wavy lines and hard-edged spikes, jotting down small notes on the paper as it rolled by at the rate of six inches a minute.

„This is the getting-to-know-you stage,“ said Riker. „He told her to give him a negative response every time he tries to guess her card – even if he guesses right. He’s telling her he needs to gauge her physical responses when he guesses the right card and she lies to him. That’s bull. If he didii’l know which response was a lie, the polygraph wouldn’t help.“

„So he memorized the order of the cards,“ said Charles. „He already knows which one she picked. Well then, what’s the point of this exercise? If she’s following his instructions, then there’s no attempt at deception.“

„It’s a lot like voodoo. Nedda has to believe in the polygraph. When he guesses her card, that’s supposed to convince her that the machine can read her mind. But see? She’s not buying it. This test is only as good as the examiner, and Mallory made him look like a moron.“

„So it’s true what they say,“ said Charles, and by
they
he meant the Supreme Court of the United States. „A polygraph has the same chance of detecting a lie as the flip of a coin.“

„Right, but that’s not why we use it. When a cop does this test, it’s a fullblown interrogation without a lawyer. Sweet, huh?“

„But this examiner isn’t – “

„No, he’s an independent. That was the deal we did with Bitty Smyth. We picked the time and place – she picked the examiner. This guy’s only experience is interviewing applicants for low-level jobs.“ Riker leaned back and closed his eyes, saying, „Let me know when Mallory takes over. I’ll turn on the volume again.“

While Riker slept, Charles watched the tableau in front of him. The lame card trick was set aside, and they were moving on to other questions. After each response, the examiner made notations on the rolling paper. Mallory was drumming her nails on the clipboard, regarding the man as a bug. Nedda always glanced at the detective before answering a question. And now Charles intuited Mallory’s stance as a prelude to a lunge. He nudged Riker to wake him. „She’s almost ready.“

Riker’s eyes opened. „Good. Time to rock ‘n’ roll.“ He turned on the volume.

T
he examiner asked his next question. „Did you ever kill anyone?“

„You know I did,“ said Nedda Winter. „I already signed a statement to that effect.“

„Once again, if you could confine your responses
to yes
or
no.“

„Yes,“ said Nedda.

Mallory stood behind the examiner, watching over his shoulder as the paper scrolled across the top of his machine. „You’re botching it.“ She ripped the paper out. The man half rose in protest. She glared at him. „Sit down.“

And he did.

The detective made her own notations, matching up the responses with respiration and heartbeats, then tapped the different spikes on the chart each time she said, „Inconclusive, inconclusive, inconclusive.“ She turned on the examiner. „You don’t know what you’re doing.“

R
iker turned the volume off again. „That might be the last true thing you hear from that room.“ He looked back to the glass as Mallorv slapped the top of the polygraph machine. „She’s telling him his equipment is crap.“

„I think I guessed that,“ said Charles.

The examiner’s mouth had stopped flapping. He could only gawk at the detective in disbelief.

„Fortunately,“ said Riker, „she just happens to have a brand-new. ;n;r;: of-the-art polygraph parked right outside the door. Our machine doesn’t work any better, but it has more bells and whistles. So Mallory won the pissing contest. The guy’s out of the game, and he knows it. There’s no way to make a recovery now that Nedda thinks he’s a clown. But don’t feel sorry for him, Charles. He’s young. He can still find honest work.“

M
allory carried a heavy suitcase into the room and placed it on the table. She undid the snaps and opened it with a sideways glance at the civilian examiner, saying, „Now
this
is a lie detector.“ She held up a large clip of plastic and metal trailing a wire. „And this is a transducer.“ She attached it to Nedda’s thumb, treating the woman as an inanimate part of her show-and-tell exhibit. „This is what we use for cardio readings in the twenty-rirst century.“ The detective proceeded to strip Nedda of all the paraphernalia that belonged to the independent examiner, then neatly packed it away in the man’s suitcase.

She spoke to Nedda for the first time. „We can put this off for another day or get it over with now. Up to you.“

„I’m ready.“

When Mallory turned around again to face the examiner, she feigned surprise to see him. „Still here?“

The man slunk out of the room, lacking the energy to entirely close the door behind him. Mallory slammed it shut. Her voice was icy when she turned to the woman seated in the chair and said,
commanded,
„Take off your shoes.“

C
harles turned to Riker.
„Her shoes?“

„Yeah.“ The detective shrugged as he slouched lower in his chair. „Some perps use countermeasures like a tack in the shoe. It jacks up the response to a control question. Any question that raises a real sweat looks kind of pale by comparison.“

„So the response to a small anxiety disguises the larger one.“

„Now you got it.“ The detective was watching the other room as Nedda, following another order, dragged her chair across the floor. Barefoot and wired to the machine, she sat down with her back to the wall. „That chair is set up with a stress plate to catch muscle tension. That’s another trick the perps use to beat the box.“