'And don't forget it. So, what should I do at the jail?'
Peter stood when Gary stumbled into the room where Peter's abortive interview with Christopher Mammon had taken place. In the weak rays of dawn, Harmon's face seemed drained of color. There were dark circles under his eyes and his uncombed hair was mussed from his brief steep.
'I'm Peter Hale, Gary. I helped you out when you were arrested at the college. Do you remember me?'
Gary nodded.
'Why don't you sit down.'
Peter indicated the metal folding chair on the other side of the wooden table. Gary shuffled forward. A sour odor assailed Peter as soon as Gary drew close. It was a unique combination of fear, sweat and disinfectant that Peter had come to associate with the incarcerated. He pushed himself back from the table to widen the distance between himself and the prisoner.
'Are they treating you all right?' Peter asked.
Gary nodded. 'When can I go home?'
'I don't know, Gary. I think you'll have to stay for a while.'
'I don't like it here.'
'Yeah, well, no one likes jail.'
'Can't you get me out?'
'I'm not going to be your lawyer, Gary. Steve Mancini asked me to help out until he comes back. He's driving here from Portland, right now. He should be in Whitaker by noon and I'm sure he'll come see you.'
'Sergeant Downes said I was helping to catch the killer. He said I was a good detective. Why won't he let me go?'
'Maybe the sergeant can't let you out. You're charged with a pretty serious crime. I think you'll need a judge's permission.'
'Will Steve ask the judge to help me?'
'You bet,' Peter answered. Steve had told Peter that ball was not automatic in a murder case. If the state opposed release, there would have to be a hearing. Gary looked so pathetic that Peter did not have the heart to tell him that he might not be able to get out of 'all.
I 'I don't like jail. I'm all locked in. And I don't like the people here. They scare me. They call me names and say things about that girl. They say I'm going to die in the electric chair. They say my brain will boil and melt.'
'Gary, there is no electric chair in Oregon. Those men are teasing you. Ignore them.'
'I can't. They say it all the time. Please get me out.
You got me out when I was arrested before.'
'That was different. I just happened to be walking through the campus when you were caught. I really didn't do anything. Sergeant Downes decided not to arrest you. If you'd been charged, I wouldn't have been your lawyer.' Gary looked so sad that Peter asked, 'Have you talked to the police?' in an effort to distract him.
'Uh-huh.'
'How long did you to k to them?'
'A long time.'
'An hour? Two hours? Can you tell me the exact time?'
'It was a really long time. I got sleepy. I ate three burgers.'
'And you were talking to the cops all that time?'
Gary nodded.
'Why do the police think you killed Sandra Whiley?
Did you tell Sergeant Downes you killed her?'
'No. I just seen the girl killed.'
'You saw the murder?'
'Part with my eyes and part with my mind.'
'I'm not following you. What do you mean, you saw part of the murder with your mind?'
'I got these powers. Supernatural powers. I never knew I had 'em, but I do. Sergeant Downes showed me how to use them to see who killed Sandy. I was real tired, but I did it to help. Now I'll lose my job because I can't go to work. Mom will be so mad.'
'I'm sure someone will talk to the college about your job and your mom won't be mad. She loves you. She knows it's not your fault you can't go to work. Now, try to think about why you're locked up. What do you mean you saw Sandy killed?'
'With m' powers, I can close my eyes and see what y happened in the past.'
'You mean you make it up?'
'No, I really see it happen. Only a few people got my powers. Sergeant Downes said I had the best powers of anyone. Better even than those people on TV.'
'What did you tell Sergeant Downes you saw using your powers?'
'I seen Sandy being killed.'
'Did you see who killed her?'
Gary shook his head. 'It was dark. I couldn't see his face. But I seen him do it.'
'How much of the evening can you remember when you on't use your powers?'
Gary looked sheepish.
'I don't remember a lot of it too well. Everyone was buying me drinks because of the wedding'i'm going to ask you a serious question and I want you to try real hard to answer it.'
Gary sat up straight and concentrated so he could give Peter the right answer.
'Is it possible that you killed that girl, but you don't remember because you were drinking?'
Gary licked his lips. He looked very frightened.
'I ... I don7t think I killed her.'
'You don't think you killed her? That's not the same as being sure.'
'I ... I couldn't have killed that girl,' Gary said uncertainly.
'Then how do you know so much about the murder?
I don't buy this superpower stuff. I want you to be honest with me. Did you do it?'
Gary swallowed. He was chewing his lip and looking around the narrow room as if trying to find a way out.
I 'Gary?'
Gary's head swung back slowly toward Peter. There were tears in his eyes.
'I want to go home.'
'Try to stay on track, Gary. We were talking about the murder.'
'I don't want to talk about that no more. I didn't do nothing bad. I'm a good boy. I want Mama. I want to go home.'
At eight o'clock Sunday morning Becky O'Shay called District Attorney Earl Ridgely at home and asked him to meet her at his office. When he arrived at nine-thirty, Becky was waiting for him. Ridgely's spacious corner office looked out on Wishing Well Park and the slow meanderings of the Camas giver, but O'Shay had no interest in the scenery. She sprang to her feet as soon as her boss walked in.
'We got him,' Becky said excitedly. 'He confessed.
We have motive ...'
'Slow down, Becky. Who are you talking about?'
'The man who killed Sandra Whiley. We nailed him.'
Ridgely flushed with anger. 'Why wasn't I informed?
I was supposed to be notified if there was a break in the case.'
'We weren't certain we had the right man until early this morning. Dennis Downes and I decided against waking you at 4 A.M.'
Ridgely's anger disappeared as quickly as it had come.
Catching Whiley's killer was the important thing.
'Who is it?'
'Gary Harmon.'
'Not Jesse and Alice's boy?'
