Unnatural Acts

33

Herbie sat in the backseat of Dino’s car. “Okay,” he said, “what the hell happened? How’d I go from getting a blow job to the ER?”

“The girl drugged you,” Stone said. “She put more than one Ambien in your brandy glass, then she went to the ER and said she’d been raped.” Stone told him the rest of the story. “Who is Carson Cullers?”

“She’s Dink Brennan’s girlfriend,” Herbie said. He told Stone and Dino how she came to be in his apartment.

“Dink had to have sent her,” Stone said. He explained to Dino who Dink was.

They parked in Herbie’s garage and went upstairs.

“There was an ounce or so of cocaine on the coffee table,” Dino said. “My tech took it into evidence.”

“I don’t remember anything about cocaine,” Herbie said. “I never touch the stuff.”

“You were set up, pure and simple,” Stone said.

“Listen, Herbie,” Dino said, “you get some sleep. Stone and I are going to the precinct and see what the girl is saying.”

Herbie showed them out. He was starting to undress for bed when he remembered something. He got dressed again.

Stone and Dino were sitting in an observation room, watching through a one-way mirror while Viv DeCarlo questioned Carson Cullers.

“I told you, he hit me in the mouth, and he ripped off my panties and raped me.”

“Let me tell you the problems I have with your story,” Viv said. “First of all, there isn’t a mark on you anywhere, including your mouth. There was no semen inside you. Fisher was drugged with Ambien. Nobody believes you, Carson, not the doctor who examined you, not my boss, and not me. Now, you’re looking at some serious charges here, and if you want to walk away from this without doing time, you’d better start telling me the truth. Let’s take it from the top: why did you go to Herbert Fisher’s apartment?”

The door to the observation room opened, and Herbie walked in.

“I told you to go to bed,” Dino said. “Let us handle this.”

“Has she told you anything?” Herbie asked.

“Yes, a lot of lies.”

“Have you got a VCR in this joint?” Herbie asked.

“Right over there,” Dino said, “under the TV screen.”

Herbie walked over to the machine, inserted a tape into it, and pressed the play button. They all watched as a split screen came up.

“I forgot about this: Mike Freeman’s people installed cameras when they did my security system. It’s motion-activated.”

Each screen displayed a different view of the living room, so they could see two different angles. “I’ve cued it from when she arrived,” Herbie said, “and I’ve got a tape of her phone call, too.” He turned up the volume, and they watched and listened as Carson arrived. Herbie waited until she had left the apartment, then the screen went dark. A moment later it came up again as Viv DeCarlo and her partner entered the apartment.

“She’s nailed,” Dino said. “Rewind that, and we’ll show it to her.” He picked up the phone and pressed a button. In the interrogation room Viv picked up the phone. “Yes?”

“Watch the TV,” Dino said. “We’ve got the whole thing on tape.” He walked over to the equipment and fiddled with it, then the screen in the interrogation room came alive. They watched Carson’s face dissolve from anger to fear to tears.

“Time for bad cop,” Dino said. He left the room and appeared on the other side of the one-way mirror and sat down at the table.

“I’m Lieutenant Bacchetti,” he said to the woman. “I’m the detective’s boss. You’re in deep shit, young lady. We’ve got you cold on filing a false report, obstructing justice, drugging Fisher, and lying to the police. You’re going to do hard time.”

“I want a lawyer,” Carson said, and she was trembling.

“We’ll be glad to get you a lawyer,” Dino said, “and the minute he walks into this room, you’re cooked. He’ll tell you to shut up, and we’ll file the charges. Then we’ll show him the tape, and he’ll tell you to do a deal. But I’ll tell you what: you give us the truth in writing-the whole story about who put you up to this, agree to testify in court, and you can go home tonight, and your parents won’t know where you’ve been. Otherwise, you’ll sleep in a cell for a couple of nights, until your folks can post bail, and you’ll be convicted on the evidence you’ve already seen. Now what’s it going to be?”

“Can I have a drink of water?” Carson asked.

Viv went to a cooler and came back with a cupful. Carson sipped it and seemed to be thinking hard about her position.

“No charges?” she asked.

“Not if you tell us the absolute truth, sign the statement, and agree to testify. If you tell us even one lie, the deal is out the window, and your life as you know it will be over.”

Carson took a deep breath. “Dink made me do it,” she said.

“Dink who?” Viv asked.

“Dink Brennan, my boyfriend. His roommate at Yale, Parker Mosely, came to my apartment this afternoon, gave me the cocaine, and told me exactly what Dink said for me to do.”

Viv was taking notes. “And where does Parker live?”

“His parents live at 580 Park Avenue, but he went back to Yale. He lives in a dorm there.”

Dino ripped her notes from the pad and stood up. “You finish up here,” he said to Viv, “and get it all. Explain to her that her statement is being videotaped and recorded, and don’t let her leave until she signs the typed statement.”

“Yes, sir,” Viv said.

Dino left the interrogation room and went back to the observation room. Herbie took the paper from his hand and began to write. “Here’s the address and room number of his dorm,” he said, handing it back to Dino. “Tell your people they might get a disease if they touch anything in the place.”

“They’ll go in with a search warrant,” Dino said, “and I’ll bet we find drugs.”

Stone spoke up. “You know you don’t have anything on Dink yet. She didn’t get her instructions from him. You’re going to have to turn Parker, too.”

“Stone,” Herbie said, “can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

“I’ll go away,” Dino said, and left the room.

“What is it, Herb?”

“I’ve got a problem here, and so have you.”

“Marshall Brennan?”

“Exactly. He’s the firm’s client, and a very important one, and since you and I are both heavily invested with him, we don’t want to cause him any more pain than can possibly be avoided.”

“By having his son arrested and charged?”

“That’s it. Look, nobody’s been hurt here so far. She’s not going to charge me with rape, so it’s not going to make the papers and I’m not going to be fired from Woodman and Weld, and Marshall is not going to fire the firm, and my career won’t be over tomorrow.”

“You have a point,” Stone said. “How do you want to handle this?”

“Let’s do it a different way,” Herbie said, and began to explain.