"Does physically mean sexually?"
"She says there was some of that, but mostly she claims he used mind control, threats, and intimidation to get into her head. Kind of a mini-Manson thing: poor, vulnerable woman taken in by psychopathic Svengali. She says the night he announced he was going to get you, she didn't want any part of it. But Coburg threatened to tell her husband the two of them had been screwing for five years, and when that didn't work, he flat out said he'd kill her."
"How does she explain being so vulnerable?"
"Because she'd been abused as a kid. She says that was what drew her to Coburg- their mutual experiences. At first, their relationship was platonic. Lunch, talking about work, Coburg helping some of her clients out of legal jams, she helping him get social services for his. Eventually, it got more personal, but still no sex. Then one day, Coburg took her to his apartment, cooked lunch, had a heart to heart and told her all the shit he'd been through as a kid. She told him she had, too, and they ended up having this big emotional scene- cathartic, she called it. Then they went to bed and the whole relationship started taking another turn."
"Five years," I said. "That's when the murders began… Who does she say abused her?"
"Daddy. She's free and easy with the ugly details, but it'll be impossible to verify- both parents and her only sibling, a brother, are dead."
"Natural causes?"
"We're looking into it."
"Convenient," I said. "Everyone's a victim. I guess she could be telling the truth about being abused. First time I met her she told me violating a child's trust was the lowest, she could never work with abuse cases. Then again, she could have been toying with me- she and Coburg got off on playing games."
"Even if it's true, it doesn't change the fact that she's a psychopathic witch. Couple of goddamn psychopaths- there's your two pathologies scenario."
"The bond between them couldn't be that deep. It didn't take long for her to sell him out."
"Honor among scumbags." His drink came and he cooled his hands on the glass.
I said, "So what about Becky? What does Jean say the link was between her and Coburg?"
"She claims to have no idea what his motive was, there." He smiled. "And guess what? He didn't have one, other than making Jean happy."
"Becky was Jean's thing?"
"You bet. And that's what I'm gonna get her on. All her cooperation on the other murders isn't going to help her there, because I've got independent info on a motive: Becky and Dick Jeffers were having an affair. For six months."
"How'd you find that out?"
"From the newly talkative Ms. Adeline Potthurst. Adeline saw Becky and Dick Jeffers together, sneaking off during a Christmas party at the center. Kissing passionately, his hand up her skirt."
"Not very discreet."
"Apparently Becky and Dick weren't- he used to come by to pick up Jean and end up talking to Becky, body language all over the place. The affair was semipublic knowledge at the center- I checked it out with some of the other workers and they confirm it."
"Meaning Jean knew."
"Jean knew because Dickie told her. I had a chat with him this morning- guy's a basket case- and he admitted everything. Six months of illicit passion. Said he was planning to leave Jean for Becky, and he let Jean know it."
"How'd she react?"
"Calmly. They had a nice chat and she told him she loved him, was committed to him, please give it some thought, let's get some counseling, et cetera."
"Did they?"
"No. A month later, Becky's dead. And there's no reason for anyone to make a connection- a nut hacking her up. The way I see it, it's just like you said: Jean and Coburg searched for a nut who could be manipulated to hack her up and came up with Hewitt- both of them had ties to him."
"What was Jeffers' tie?"
"She was his therapist before transferring him to Becky- supposedly because of a heavy workload."
"She told me Becky was the only therapist he had."
"Adeline says no, Jeffers definitely treated him. And Mary Chin, Jeffers' secretary, confirms it. Twice-a-week sessions, sometimes more, for at least three or four months before Becky took over. We can't find any therapy notes- no doubt Jeffers destroyed them- but that only makes it look worse for her."
I said, "She made a point of telling me she didn't do therapy anymore- another mind game… why didn't the fact that she was working with Hewitt ever come out after Becky's murder?"
The hand went over his face. "We didn't ask, and no one volunteered. Why would they? Everyone saw it as psycho kills girl. And we killed the psycho. No one suspected a damn thing- none of the staffers at the center or Dick Jeffers. He's pretty freaked out now. Coming to grips with the monster he's been living with. Says he's willing to testify against her- whether or not he sticks with that remains to be seen."
"An affair," I said. "So goddamned mundane. Jean sleeps with Coburg for five years, but Becky gets the death penalty… typical psychopathic thinking, the ego out of controclass="underline" you hurt me, I kill you."
"Yeah," he said, drinking and licking his lips. "So tell me, specifically, how would you get a nut like Hewitt to kill?"
"I'd pick someone with strong paranoid tendencies whose fantasies got violent when he was off his medicine. Then I'd get him off his medicine, either by convincing him to stop taking it or by substituting a placebo, and try to get as much control as I could over his psyche as he deteriorated. Maybe use some age-regression techniques- hypnosis or free association, bring him back to his childhood- get him to confront the helplessness of childhood. To feel it. The pain, the rage."
"The screams," he said.
I nodded. "That's probably why they taped him. They got him to scream out his pain, played it back for him- you remember how hard it was to listen to. Can you imagine a schizophrenic dealing with that? Meanwhile, they're also teaching him about bad love, evil shrinks- indoctrinating him, telling him he's been a victim. And insinuating Becky into the delusion, as a major-league evil shrink- the purveyor of bad love. They continue to increase his paranoia by praising him for it. Convincing him he's some kind of soldier on a mission: get Becky. Then they transfer him to her. But I'll bet Jean continued to see him on the side. Prepping him, directing him. Backed up by Coburg- another authority figure for Hewitt. And the beauty of it is even if Hewitt hadn't been killed at the scene and had talked, who would have believed him? He was crazy."
"That's about the way I had it," he said. "But hearing you organize it that way helps."
"It's not hard evidence."
"I know, but the circumstantial case is building up, bit by bit. The DA's going to let Coburg's attorney know how extensively Jeffers is ratting him out, then offer a deaclass="underline" no death penalty in return for Coburg ratting on Jeffers over Becky. My bet is Coburg takes it. We'll get both of them."
"Poor Becky."
"Yeah. Guess how she and Dick got started? Jean had Becky over for dinner, supervisor-student rapport and all that. Eyes across the fried chicken, a couple of knee nudges. Next day Becky and Dick are at a motel."
"Mrs. Basille said she thought Becky had a new beau. Becky wouldn't talk about it, which led Mrs. Basille to suspect it was someone she wouldn't have approved of- what she called a loser. Becky'd gone with married men before- guys who promised to get divorced but never did. Dick was exactly her type- married and disabled."
"What does disabled have to do with it?"
"Becky had a thing for guys with problems. Wounded birds. Jeffers' missing leg meshed nicely with that."
"He's missing a leg? That's what the limp is?"
"He wears a prosthesis. Becky's dad was diabetic. Lost some of his limbs."
"Jesus." He smoked. "So maybe there is something to this psychology stuff, huh?"