Monday, October 14, 2013
It´s morning, and I smile to find myself entwined in Paula´s naked body. This time it´s my turn to get up and fix us some coffee. It´s seven o´clock and it promises to be a rough day, I´m not looking forward to having to deal with Samantha´s sad gaze.
I have to procure a judicial order and it´s quite possible that she´ll end up in jail if she refuses to cooperate.
Paula comes into the kitchen minutes later wearing her faded jeans and oversized sweatshirt. She looks sort of haggard and I offer her a cup. She nods and sips in silence as I watch her closely.
“Will you be going in to the agency today?” She asks seriously.
“I have to stop by to get a judicial order first.”
“Is Samantha in custody?”
“Not yet. Not until I question her and I hope she´s willing to talk. I was at her apartment on Saturday and she kicked me out.”
“I see... it must have been hard for her to lose her child in such a ghastly way,” she whispers, “but I refuse to believe that it could have been Josh. Josh was good, Paul. He might have been sick, maybe he inherited his mother´s schizophrenia, but I just can´t see him taking the life of a child. His own child.”
“Have you ever heard the story of the wolf, Paula?” She looks at me questioningly.
“An old Indian,” I begin to explain, “was talking to his grandson and told him: «I feel as if I had two wolves fighting inside my heart. One of the wolves is furious, violent and vengeful. The other is full of love and compassion. » So the grandson asks: «Tell me, grandfather, which of the two wolves will win the battle in your heart?» And the grandfather answers him: «The one I choose to feed. » We all have a good and a bad wolf inside us, Paula. We can´t know, or even guess, what the people around us are capable of doing.”
Crestfallen, Paula finishes her coffee and leaves the apartment without saying a word.
Two hours later I arrive at DIC with a judicial order for Samantha. Stuart is with me and he has been badgering me for over an hour about why I didn´t take him with me when I went to question Samantha on Saturday.
“If it turns out that Samantha murdered Parker, it will have been me who cracked the case, boss.” He says threateningly. “I don´t know where your head has been this whole week Tischmann, but it has been I who discovered a bunch of things you let slide.”
I feel greatly tempted to punch him in the face and smash him against a wall. But he is right. I don´t know where my head has been since I walked in on my wife and found her with another man. Since I met Paula.
Softly, followed by Stuart, I open the door to Samantha´s office. She is talking on the phone, and hangs up as soon as she sees us. She ignores Stuart, but directs a hateful look at me that I had been expecting.
“I have a judicial order.” I tell her. “Are you going to answer my questions now, or am I going to have to take you down to the precinct by force?
“Do what you have to do.” She replies rolling her eyes and shrugging. I look at her hands. There are no traces of cuts or scratches that might have been caused by glass shards from the shattered partition, which by the way has been quickly replaced.
“Mrs. Hemsley, why didn´t you tell us you had a child by Josh Parker?” Asks Stuart.
“Don´t call me Mrs., God damn it!” She screams infuriated, rising from her comfortable leather chair. “You see this girl? Do you see her?” She asks violently, showing us the picture on her desk. It´s evident that Samantha has seen better days. Days when her figure was slim and desirable, when her skin was velvet soft, irresistible. “This girl is dead! And you idiotic policemen have no idea who did it.”
“Do you think it might have been Mr. Parker?” I ask serenely. That´s the question I wanted to get at. She shakes her head, then nods. She whimpers, staring longingly at the picture. “That´s why nine years later you decided to kill him.” It was not a question but an assertion. She raises her gaze from the picture. Looking at me, terrified.
“Me? Kill Josh? Do you really think that?”
Paula enters the scene. She has put some makeup on, she looks stunning once again after ridding herself of the worn jeans and the green sweatshirt. She is wearing an elegant black skirt and a white blouse with a plunging neckline. She stares fixedly at Samantha, almost threateningly. She points her finger at her and starts speaking angrily.
“You Samantha. It was you. I saw you.” She says confidently, as she approaches her.
“What are you saying, Paula? Of course I didn´t do it!”
Samantha laughs nervously. Stuart and I watch them, as if in a tennis match.
“Josh tried to molest me. I was so scared and bewildered that I couldn´t remember ´till this morning everything that really happened. I saw you as I was about to get into the elevator. And as I was going down, I heard the crash of breaking glass. No one else was in the office, only you. You killed Josh.” I believe her, but Stuart seems doubtful.
“Please come down to the station with us Samantha.” I say, looking at Paula.
“Am I under arrest?”
“Yes.” Says Stuart as he pulls his handcuffs from his belt.
Paula walks out the entrance of the agency with us. As we exit, we are surprised by a crowd of reporters and TV cameras all over the place. They flock around us, asking questions as we take the director of the prestigious DIC prisoner.
We guide Samantha into the back of a car. Some of the reporters stand before the cameras, speaking elegantly about the unraveling of the murder of the famous idea-man, Josh Parker. Paula turns to me and smiles. She seems satisfied about what she did, happy at having remembered and having helped us solve the case.
“Thanks.” I tell her.
“This deserves at least a dinner, right?” She asks, even though she knows the cameras are pointing at her.
“I will call you later.”
I take the wheel and peek through the rearview mirror, assessing Samantha. She is terrified, nothing is left of the powerful, assertive woman that I met nearly a week ago. She doesn´t seem to understand what´s going on. To tell the truth, we don´t have much evidence, save a tortuous past, a relationship that had been kept hidden for unknown reasons, and the forceful testimony provided by Paula.
Stuart doesn´t seem sure. I too have misgivings.