it better than Cletus Borglan. He'd also been savvy enough not to get in over his head, when many others were mortgaging to the hilt to buy up more land, on the theory that the more they planted, the more they'd make. It had sounded good, but just didn't work.
His wife was a second-level administrator at an area education agency, had gone back to the University of Northern Iowa and obtained her MBA, and had set up their computerized farming operation. Between the two of them, they put in long hours, but with great success.
Having encountered him often over the years, I thought Cletus had a major flaw. Aside from predictability, that is. Cletus got emotional about farming. Really. Whoever had invented the slogan 'We feed the world' hadn't done Cletus any favors. It was too evocative of images of altruism. It should have been 'We sell food to the world.'
Regardless, that was a trump card. Cletus was a crusader.
George, Art, Davies, and I were at the kitchen table, with Cletus and his attorney Gunston on the other side. The whole business was being conducted here because his attorney thought it less likely that we had bugged the kitchen. Right.
We were closer to the coffee. We'd just got settled at the long table when attorney Gunston stated that this was a 'police-dominated environment.' Too many cops at the table, and we'd intimidate his client. Right out of the late '60s, but still viable. At the same time insisted that only 'the deputy' do the interview, as I was the officer with superior jurisdiction. Sure. He was trying to pick the less sophisticated officer, the one he thought would do the worst job of interviewing his client. Me. Well, maybe he'd get a surprise. Davies agreed, with the provision that he too be present.
Art wasn't happy. George seemed a bit relieved. Volont wasn't present, anyway, so it sure didn't bother him.
After a little flurry, we began again. I used the approach that had always worked best for me, especially with an opposing attorney present. I presented facts, and asked no questions. Kept either attorney from interrupting, and if Cletus wanted to say anything, the ball was in his court.
'Cletus,' I said, 'I'm just gonna tell you what I got. I'm not gonna ask any questions. I'd suggest you pipe down unless they' – and I nodded toward his defense team – 'tell you to say something. That's what you pay them for.'
I knew he'd never be able to do it, any more than I could have in his place. But, having said it, I was on pretty firm ground. I had also given my 'sincere' shot to Gunston and Blitek, hopefully taking just a tiny bit of the edge off the adversary relationship.
'So, what happened was this…' And I started out with Fred dropping the cousins off. I went through every step, fairly quickly, but concisely and in a clipped near monotone. Well, I do have to admit getting a bit dramatic when I stood and showed how the two had been executed, with one pleading that they really weren't cops, in full view of his dead brother. But it did have the right effect.
'But the suspect shot 'em both, anyway,' I said. 'In your house. In your living room. Believing they were cops when he did it.' I paused for effect. 'In cold blood. With malice. First-degree murder.'
I stopped. Silence. Cletus looked kind of sad, in fact. But not a word. Gunston was following very closely, but letting me run. He would. I represented great information, without his having to go through the discovery process. And I might make a mistake he could bring back to haunt me in court.
Blitek was another matter. 'According to the common law, a free man is supreme in his castle. And any invited guest in his castle is the same person in right as the sovereign citizen.'
Gibberish, but familiar gibberish. I now knew why Gunston hadn't been too happy with Blitek on the team.
'Yes?' I shouldn't have asked.
'Based upon that, the so-called 'warrant of arrest' which you presented to Mr. Cletus G. Borglan, freeman, is refused for cause without dishonor and without recourse to him, and need not be complied with because it is irregular, unauthorized, incomplete, and is a void process.'
'We'll make a note,' said Davies. 'I'll file it under 'bullshit.' Now, let's get on with this.'
'Under protest,' said Blitek.
'Sure,' said Davies, cheerfully.
I started up again. 'Now, when you got to the farm, you remember what you did first? No, don't answer that. I'll tell you, because I was there. You announced in front of five cops and three agents that a couple of cops had been killed.' He started to speak, but I held up my hand. 'Just a minute. Wait. Don't say anything. It's gonna get a lot better.'
I reached into the file. 'I have a statement from a witness that says you got a phone call in Florida, about the time the two brothers got murdered. Says you were all concerned, and that you left the next morning for Iowa. Because of the call.'
Cletus just was going to burst if he didn't say something. 'Bullshit!'
Well, it wasn't much of a defense. But I think it made him feel a little better. Gunston put a hand on his shoulder. 'Let him go, Cletus. He's going too far out on a limb now.'
Blitek just looked startled. I assumed it was because he so seldom dealt with evidence.
'You know, that's just what I thought.' I put on my reading glasses, and looked down at the paper I held in my hand. I looked at it for a second, and then looked at Cletus. I looked over the top of my glasses, without raising my head. 'I thought, 'There ain't no way to prove that, that's just hearsay'' I stared over the top of those little glasses for all I was worth. Timing was everything.
'Until I got this,' I said. 'With this subpoena,' I added. And I handed both documents to his real attorney, not to Cletus, not to Blitek. As Gunston looked at it, I said, 'It's your phone bill, Cletus. A phone company record of the call being placed from your farm, to your place in Florida, just minutes after the Colson brothers were killed. In black and white.'
Cletus was very pale. Gunston didn't look all that good, either. Silently, he passed the bill to his client. I thought Blitek was going to trip as he got up and stood behind Cletus, peering over his shoulder.
You could have heard a pin drop, as they say. I don't know how I ever did an interview before I got those glasses.
'You want to stop, or do you want me to give it all to you now?' I asked. Quietly. All for effect. They'd have gotten the phone bill on discovery, anyway.
Cletus looked up. 'Go ahead,' he said, in as close to a whisper as he could probably get. I looked at Gunston. He nodded. Nothing to lose, there. Besides, I think he was really curious. Blitek I ignored.
'We've been following Gabriel for years,' I said. Call it a white lie. 'We' as in 'We the People…'
That was when Cletus surprised me. He turned to the side, and threw up on the floor.
17
Nothing like heaving on the floor to bring a party up short. We made Cletus clean up his own mess. Jail rules. Got him a damp cloth for his forehead. He was all quivery for a few minutes.
'Tell me the truth, now,' said Davies to Gunston. 'You trained him to do that, right?'
Gunston wasn't particularly amused, and told us that the interview was over. We'd abused his client for the last time. We were Nazis. Truth was, he was running up his tab.
Cletus had other ideas. 'Just stay with me, here, will ya, Ray? I gotta explain here. I gotta.'
'Be careful,' said Blitek. 'Think about what you say. I can't caution you strongly enough… be careful.'
An attorney who got $25.00 an hour probably would have said it wasn't worth it. Ray Gunston, who was closer to $2,500.00 an hour, let the clock run.
Cletus did the only thing he could, as far as trying to exculpate himself. He told us that he'd been snookered in, was afraid of Gabriel, and didn't know how to get out of the matter. He also explained something that had been making me wonder ever since we did the crime scene.
'He wanted to use the computers in the house while we were gone,' he said. 'He calls it 'distributed computation,' or something.'
