could narrow the field, a name like Freddy Weintraub, the felonious accountant, muddied the view.
“What’s the likelihood that the killer is someone you’ve never even considered, someone whose name has never come into this yet? An unknown, a complete ringer?” David asked, directing his inquiry to Mike.
“Better than even, Doc. You know how low the clearance rate on homicides is if you don’t break ‘em in the first forty-eight, seventy-two hours? It’s abysmal. We’re starting with guys who knew her and may have had a reason to do her in God knows how many freaks we never heard of who hated her. And then there’s the simple fact that celebrities are fair game for more whack jobs than there are jail cells. Sometimes they just heckle and harass, other times they go for the gold.”
“So these aren’t the only people to consider?”
“Nope. Just the first wave. Still a lot to do on these guys. If Segal’s lawyer were smart and really wanted to give his client a shot, he’d tell us how and when his man left the island. There must be some way to prove that.
The ferry’s not much help. I’ve checked airport records by name and came up empty. But there’s a couple of guys who paid cash on the P.M. Cape Air flight. If he used an alias and no credit card, just ‘cause he didn’t want to get caught cheating on Alex, we might be able to clear him. Either he doesn’t have that kind of alibi ’cause he was still on the scene when Iz was shot, or he’s a horse’s ass.”
“Or the lawyer’s waiting for Mr. Green before he does any heavy lifting,” Maureen added as a possibility.
“Mr. Green?” David looked puzzled.
“Mean’s Jed hasn’t paid him yet. Sometimes, the defense attorney wants a big bundle of green bills up front, before tey he lifts a finger.
Wants to keep the client on the hook a little ion longer, then the guy’s really grateful when he’s cleared,” I explained to David. as “If he’s cleared,” Mike threw in, as a warning to me. je No question that Jed was still Chapman’s number-one he suspect. st “Those letters mean anything to you, Doc? Did Alex tell ie you about the poem Isabella had copied into that script we found when we packed up her belongings? That also had ”Dr. C.“ written next to it.”
“No, I don’t think you mentioned that, Alex.”
At this point I couldn’t remember whether I had or not.
“It was a few lines out of a Pope poem, David. The passage Iz had transcribed included the lines ”Is it, in Heaven, a crime to love too well?“ It looked like she thought this ”Dr. C.“ had been the poet. I guess that’s Cordelia Jeffers. Maybe it’s got more to do with this than we thought.”
David tried to take us through his reasoning.
“Start with the fact that there is no psychiatrist named Cordelia Jeffers. I expect that no such person even exists, that it’s a name assumed for the purposes of this particular correspondence.”
Why?“ Chapman liked to get right to the point.
“I don’t know why, at the moment. But it’s clear that the writer knew that Isabella was going to Martha’s Vineyard, and it’s even more clear that Isabella was not the source of that information.” He quoted back to us from the first paragraph, in which Jeffers commented on Isabella’s trip, which she learned about quite indirectly.
“It’s also obvious that she knew Isabella was going with a man shall we assume Jed? which is far more than you knew, Alex.”
“So if we want to know more about Dr. C, we’re looking for someone who knew both Isabella and Jed, is that what you’re telling us?” Mike asked.
“For openers, yes.”
“I thought I was the common denominator there,” I was quick to acknowledge. “Perhaps there were one or two Hollywood acquaintances they had in common, but I was certain that there was no real link independent of me, except for friends of mine like Nina and her husband. Even Nina confirmed that she thinks this liaison only began a few weeks ago, when they ran into each other on the Concorde.“
“And the pretext for Isabella calling on Jed?” David asked me again.
“The fact that her accountant had been stealing her blind.
Jed gave her the name of his man when we all had dinner together, and later on I urged him to follow up and make sure she was in good hands.“
“Yeah, but by the time she invited Jed to the Vineyard, the week before last, she had a new stalker, didn’t she?”
Mike went on.
“Did you tell David that Jed had been stalked when he ran for office? That’s one of the reasons he told you he was so sympathetic to Lascar.”
“What was that all about, Alex?”
“I hardly know what to believe at this point, guys. When we first met, in June, one of the things Jed talked about when he heard I was a prosecutor was the time he’d been harassed. His version of the facts was that he shook hands with a young woman in a receiving line when he was running for the Senate and he couldn’t get rid of her after that. Phone calls, letters, showed up everywhere he went, got on airplanes with him. Finally he had to go to the police to put an end to it.”
David addressed me in his soft, professional tone.
“Did Jed sleep with her, Alex? Did they have an affair?”
“For what it’s worth, he denied they ever did. Of course, I wouldn’t trust him from here to the kitchen now, but the first night I met him, when he told me the story, he had no reason to lie to me. st ”In fact, he made quite a point of telling me that it played r a big role in his divorce. The stalker actually called and spoke to Jed’s wife. Tried to convince her that they had been having an affair which didn’t take much for his wife to believe. I’m so confused by him now I don’t know what to believe anymore.“
“Do you know any more about this than you’ve just told me?”
“No, David. I don’t. It’s sort of like what happens to doctors. Every time you go to a cocktail party, people complain to you about their aches and pains and hope for a free diagnosis. Well, for me, it’s the high crimes and misdemeanors they all unload on me. I listened to Jed’s story, but he thought the situation had ended when he moved to New York and neither one of us dwelt on it.
I guess it had a certain resonance for Isabella.“
“Alex‘ David was in his most sincere mode now ”Alex, would you mind if I talked to Jed about this a bit more?
Perhaps something Isabella confided in him, because of his history with a similar problem, perhaps that will shed some light on these strange letters.“
Of course I minded. Mike leaped in over me.
“Hey, that’s a great idea. His lawyer won’t let him talk to us, but if you call him, as Coop’s friend, I bet he’ll be hungry to talk to you. He’s screaming to get her back, Doc. That’s a great angle to work with him.”
“How do you feel about it, Alex?”
“What difference does that make?” I could feel a good pout coming on.
Maureen came to my defense. She could see I was flagging and knew that I didn’t want Jed to get his toe back in the door.
“Do what you gotta do, guys, but don’t put Alex in the middle of it, okay? Cut her a break, will you?
Where do you think this exercise in futility will get you?“
“I’m not proposing that there’s any direct connection between Isabella’s killer and Jed’s problem, but it would certainly be interesting if they discussed the phenomenon with each other. He can tell us that, of course. Very interesting.”
Riveting. Ask him if they ever bothered to talk about me, while you’re at it.
David tried to draw me back into the conversation.
“Alex, I’m sure you’ve come across this in some of your stalking cases. Obsessional love, delusional disorders it’s in all the forensic psych literature. Quite fascinating material. Do you detectives ever work with the DSM?” “I’ve seen the book in Alex’s office. Can’t say I’ve ever used it,” Maureen replied. Chapman just shook his head.
“It’s the forensic psych bible,” I explained. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, weighty scientific tomes that detailed and outlined the elements and criteria for a mind-boggling array of psychiatric disorders, which guided doctors and lawyers through all the odd routes of affirmative defenses and excuses for criminal conduct.
