Rage

I said, “Have you changed your mind about my talking to Rand?”

“Maybe,” he said. “My client cooperated fully the first time, didn’t he? You’ll make a point of stressing that, right?”

“I’ll do my best to be unbiased.”

“Look,” said Montez, “the motion was Weider’s idea. You know what she’s like.”

“Actually, I don’t.”

“Whatever,” he said. “You do remember Rand cooperating fully.”

“I do.”

“Good.” His voice was tight. “He’s pretty depressed.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Poor kid,” he said.

I didn’t answer.

“The reason I’m calling, Dr. Delaware, is that Weider just put in for a bifurcated hearing. Do you understand what that means?”

“She wants to split Troy’s defense from Rand’s.”

“She wants to screw me- screw Rand. I thought we were all on the same page but she’s pulling a fast one, shifting to blaming it all on my client so her little sociopath can get easy treatment. I thought you should be alerted.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m serious,” he said. “The truth is obvious.”

“What truth is that?”

“A basically good, really stupid kid got caught up with a cold, cruel murderer. I know you’ve been back to 415 City, I know everyone told you that.”

I said, “What can I do for you, Mr. Lauritz?”

“I respect your expertise and want to maintain open communication. No offense about the motion to deny you access, okay? If you really want to talk to Rand, fine. He’s remorseful. Consumed with remorse.”

I didn’t answer.

“So,” he said. “Are you going to be seeing him again?”

“I’ll give you a call.”

I didn’t.

He never followed up.

***

Three days into writing the report, I phoned Tom Laskin. “This isn’t working very well.”

“What isn’t?”

“I told you at the outset that I might not be able to come up with meaningful recommendations, and that’s what’s happened. If you want to reduce my fee, fine.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I can’t produce clear data to help you with your choice. My personal preference would be juvey certification because they’re kids and lacked adult capacity. But I’m not sure I’d sleep well if I was responsible for that decision.”

“Why not?”

“The act was horrendous and I doubt making them C.Y.A. wards for a few years will rehab them.”

“Are they still dangerous?” he said.

“Would they do something that bad again? On his own, Rand Duchay probably wouldn’t. But if he hooked up with someone dominant and violent, it’s possible.”

“Any remorse on his part?”

“He seems to have some,” I said. “Was he thinking like an adult at the time of the murder? No. Would that change in five years, or even ten? Probably not, given his intellectual level.”

“Which is?”

I quoted the test results.

Laskin whistled. “What about Turner?”

“Smarter- a lot smarter. He’s got the ability to calculate and plan. Sydney Weider’s going to claim Rand Duchay initiated the crime and her client was an innocent bystander. The forensics say that’s not true, but Rand did admit striking Kristal, and his size could work against him if you didn’t know better.”

“I’m still on the remorse issue,” said Laskin. “Turner have any?”

“He talks about sin, claims to be reading the Bible, has a couple of theology students offering moral support. But I doubt there’s any serious insight there. He denies he ever touched Kristal despite the fact that Kristal’s skin was found under his fingernails.”

“Weider sent me an impassioned request for bifurcation. Looks like just another TODDI defense.”

The Other Dude Did It.

“Going to grant the split?” I said.

“Not unless I have to. How smart is Turner?”

“Considerably above average.” I gave him those numbers, too.

He said, “No diminished capacity, there. Adult comprehension?”

“Intellectually, he can reason things out. But he’s thirteen, which is an interesting age. There’s some evidence that adolescent brains undergo changes at fourteen to fifteen that lead to fuller reasoning capacity. Even with that, you know what teens are like. Rationality takes years to settle in.”

“Sometimes it never sets in,” he said. “So you’re leaning toward juvey but you don’t want to put it in writing because of the enormity of the crime.”

“I don’t think it’s a psychological issue,” I said.

“What is it, then?”

“A judicial question. What placement would approximate justice to the greatest extent.”

“Meaning it’s my problem.”

I didn’t answer.

He said, “I know teens are stupid. The problem is if we gave teen criminals special treatment, a lot of really vicious thugs would be getting off easy. And nothing in my experience matches the viciousness of this crime. They worked that poor baby over really bad.”

“I know. But you’ve seen Turner. He looks twelve. I’m trying to picture him at Quentin or a place like that and it’s not a pretty thought.”

“Small and smart, but he murdered a two-year-old, Alex. Why the hell would a smart kid do something like that?”

“That’s another question I can’t answer,” I said. “I.Q. and moral development are separate issues. Like Walker Percy said, ‘You can get straight A’s but still flunk life.’ ”

“Who’s he?”

“A novelist and a psychiatrist.”

“Interesting combo,” he said. “So you’re telling me I’ve got a dumb kid and a bright little sociopath and they just happened to murder a two-year-old. Any other antisocial history for either of them?”

“Not for Rand. Everyone who knows Troy describes him as cunning, and some people at the project called him cruel. He’s got a history of threatening younger kids. He’s also suspected of killing stray dogs and cats, but I couldn’t find any facts to back that up, so maybe the rumor mill’s working overtime because of the murder. One woman implied he’d molested her daughter but refused to talk to me about it. Given his upbringing, I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s been abused, himself.”

I gave him a capsule of both boys’ histories, including Rand Duchay’s head injury during infancy. “If you’re looking for mitigating factors, you’ve got plenty.”

“Prisoners of biology?”

“And sociology and just plain bad luck. Neither of these two had much in the way of nurturing, Tom.”