Blindman’s Bluff

THIRTY-NINE

THE UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS were dozens of pages long. Marge handed them to Decker and said, “These were taken off the audio portion of the tape by the computerized voice recognition system. Then Lee programmed the system to put whoever was talking in front of the statement.

There are lots of mistakes, but I think you can grab the gist of the interview.”

Decker skimmed through the paper. “What’s happening with Martin Cruces?”

“Messing and Pratt are still working on him.”

“How long have they been going?”

“About seven hours. We all figured as long as you’re here, maybe your title would make an impression on him.”

“Seven hours and he hasn’t asked for a lawyer?”

“Not yet,” Marge said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed, giving him just enough hope to think that he can weasel out of the forensics. The noose is going to tighten. Because at the end of the transcripts, Joe named names.”

Oliver let out a big yawn. “We’ll get him eventually.”

“Have you two gotten any sleep?”

“Not yet.”

“Want to go home?”

“Not on your life,” Oliver said. Marge seconded the sentiment.

Decker stifled an oncoming yawn. “Okay. Just let me review this to bring me up to speed. Then I’ll deal with Cruces.”

“Sounds good,” Oliver said. “Want some coffee? We’ve been living on caffeine.”

“That would be great.”

A few moments later, mug in hand, Decker went into his office, closed the door, and buried his attention in a stack of papers. There were tons of typos, but his brain was mostly able to correct them. The first two-thirds of the interview was Oliver and Marge cajoling Pine into confession, using everything from sympathy to lies.

In the last fifth of the interview, things got interesting. Although the dry printed words lacked emotion, maybe that was better. It was only Decker’s eyes and the text.

SCOTT OLIVER: Start from the beginning, Joe. How’d you get involved in the murders?

JOE PINE: It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.

MARGE DUNN: So how was it supposed to happen?

JOE PINE: No one was supposed to get hurt. It was supposed to be a robbery.

MARGE DUNN: How’d you get involved in the robbery?

JOE PINE: It was Martin Cruces. He had the plan.

MARGE DUNN: The plan to do what?

JOE PINE: You know. To get the money. Martin planned it for a long time.

SCOTT OLIVER: How long had Martin Cruces been planning this robbery?

JOE PINE: A long time.

SCOTT OLIVER: Weeks? Months?

JOE PINE: Maybe six months.

MARGE DUNN: That is a long time.

The same speaker in a row must indicate a pause, Decker decided.

MARGE DUNN: You mentioned money. That he planned it to get money. What kind of money? Cash? Jewelry? Valuables?

JOE PINE: Martin said that the old man kept a giganto wad of cash in a safe. I never seen the safe, but Martin said there was a safe so why should I think he was lying?

MARGE DUNN: Did you find the safe?

JOE PINE: No, things messed up pretty quickly.

MARGE DUNN: Did you take anything from the house?

JOE PINE: We found a little cash and rings and shit, but we didn’t have time. Cruces wanted us to bury Denny so we took what we seen around and got out.

SCOTT OLIVER: If it was a robbery, why kill anyone? And why take the time to bury Denny? You already had other dead bodies. Why not just get to the safe and split?

JOE PINE: Now that the old man and old lady was dead, it was gonna be a problem. Cruces said they’d come checking every guard. He said that if we buried Denny and no one could find him, it would look like Denny did it and ran away.

SCOTT OLIVER: Then what about Rondo Martin?

JOE PINE: Cruces said that he’d take care of him, personally.

SCOTT OLIVER: Joe, it looked like the burial site was planned in advance. It looks to our eye like the murder was planned from the beginning.

JOE PINE: It was supposed to be a robbery, but things messed up real quick.

SCOTT OLIVER: Joe, you had a place all picked out-the horse grave.

JOE PINE: Cruces said get rid of the body. I started digging, but the soil was like concrete, man. Then I thought of the dead horses. I figured it would be easier to dig up a grave than start from nothin’.

MARGE DUNN: But you buried the body way below the horses. That took time, Joe. How’d you have that much time?

JOE PINE: I guess I worked fast. Things were fuzzy that night.

Decker stopped and analyzed the words. Their line of questioning was excellent. It was clear that this had been a carefully planned execution by the use of the horse grave. They were just trying to get Pine to admit it. Decker continued to read.

MARGE DUNN: If I had planned to murder Denny and Rondo, I would plan to murder everyone around to eliminate witnesses, including Guy, Gilliam, and Gil Kaffey.

JOE PINE: Yeah, well as soon as Rondo bolted, that’s what Cruces decided to do. Just whack everybody. But that wasn’t the original plan. It was supposed to be a robbery and that’s why we had the guns. To scare the old man and convince him that we were serious. That’s why the son had to be there. That’s why the old lady had to be there. With guns to their heads, the old man would be more like…cooperative. No one was supposed to get hurt. That’s why we had a lot of people. To show that we were serious and to make sure no one got hurt.

SCOTT OLIVER: But people still got murdered, even if you didn’t plan it that way.

JOE PINE: I wouldna done it if I thought people would get hurt. It was supposed to be a robbery.

(Decker felt his eyes roll into the back of his head.)

MARGE DUNN: How many people were involved in the plan?

JOE PINE: I think there were six.

JOE PINE: Yeah, six.

SCOTT OLIVER: Why six?

JOE PINE: One for Denny, one for Rondo, one for the wife, one for the son, and two on the old man.

MARGE DUNN: We need names.

MARGE DUNN: Joe, if you want someone to help you out, you’ve got to help us out. Cooperation is your best friend right now. Cooperation is your only friend.

(But Pine still was hesitant to rat out the others. So Scott tried a different tactic.)

SCOTT OLIVER: You had six people: one for Denny, one for Rondo, one for the wife, one for the son, and two for the old man.

JOE PINE: Yes, sir.

SCOTT OLIVER: What about the maid?

JOE PINE: See, that’s how things got fucked up. She wasn’t supposed to be there. She was supposed to be at church. We knew how to get into the house through the maid’s quarters because we knew that shit. Or Martin knew that shit. I dunno. Anyway, we were supposed to go through the maid’s bedroom. But we didn’t know that there was another one. She started screaming and then it all went south.

MARGE DUNN: What happened?

JOE PINE: Gordo tried to knock her out, but that didn’t work. ’Cause the bitch kept on screaming. So Martin just plugged her.

MARGE DUNN: Joe, we need the names.

MARGE DUNN: Joe, if you don’t help us, how can we possibly help you?

SCOTT OLIVER: It’s survival, man. Either you roll on them or they’ll roll on you.

SCOTT OLIVER: You seem like a decent guy. I know you never meant to hurt anyone. Why should you take all the blame when there were others involved?

MARGE DUNN: Start out with just a name. Gordo. Gordo who?

JOE PINE: Gordo Cruces.

MARGE DUNN: See how easy that was. Gordo Cruces. Is Gordo Cruces a relative of Martin Cruces?

JOE PINE: I think he’s a cousin. Martin’s got a lot of cousins.

SCOTT OLIVER: So we have Martin, Gordo, and you. Give us another name.

JOE PINE: You know about Esteban Cruz. You arrested him.

That wasn’t quite true. The police merely stopped him. But why quibble.

JOE PINE: Cruz had two simple jobs and didn’t do either one. That’s what happens when you get your family involved. So Martin…he calls me up and tells me to get my ass back from Mexico, even though he sent me to Mexico in the first place.

MARGE DUNN: Why did he send you away?

JOE PINE: Well, he didn’t exactly send me away. I just kinda left. But Martin knew where to find me. He calls me up and says if I don’t take care of that crazy gringo, he’s gonna take care of me and not in a good way.

JOE PINE: I shoulda never come back.

MARGE DUNN: What gringo?

JOE PINE: You know who I mean. The court guy in the condo. I didn’t hurt him.

MARGE DUNN: Okay, now we’ve got four names. Just two more to go.

JOE PINE: Cruces also got Miguel Mendoza and Julio Davis from the Bodega 12th, know what I’m saying.

MARGE DUNN: Julio Davis is missing. Any chance he skipped with you to Mexico?

JOE PINE: What do I get if I tell you where he is?

MARGE DUNN: I don’t know. I have to talk to people.

JOE PINE: Well, when you do, get back to me.

MARGE DUNN: What about Alejandro Brand?

JOE PINE: Brand is an idiot…a motherfucker juicehead. His big mouth fucked me up. When Brand told Cruces that the gringo heard him talking in the courthouse, Cruces told Esteban to take care of the gringo and Brand.

MARGE DUNN: He told Esteban to murder his cousin.

JOE PINE: Blood is only so thick, you know what I’m saying.

SCOTT OLIVER: So what happened?

JOE PINE: What happened was Brand got hisself arrested before Esteban could whack him. Then before he could get to the gringo, the idiot was stopped by the cops.

SCOTT OLIVER: Which idiot?

JOE PINE: Esteban Cruz.

SCOTT OLIVER: How is Martin Cruces related to Esteban Cruz and Alejandro Brand?

JOE PINE: I think they’re all cousins or something.

MARGE DUNN: Who chose the people to do the murders?

JOE PINE: Robbery not murder. And Cruces set everything up.

MARGE DUNN: So Martin planned these murders-

JOE PINE: Robbery.

MARGE DUNN: So Martin planned the robbery. What did he pay you to do the crime?

JOE PINE: Not enough.

SCOTT OLIVER: How much did you make, Joe?

JOE PINE: Ten grand cash plus whatever I could steal and fence.

MARGE DUNN: Martin Cruces paid you ten grand in cash?

JOE PINE: Lotta money, right?

SCOTT OLIVER: A whole lotta money. Did he pay the other men ten grand, too?

JOE PINE: I dunno. I never asked.

SCOTT OLIVER: What do you think he paid the others?

JOE PINE: Probably something but not as much. I told Martin I needed a lotta money to do this because the police were gonna check out every guard who worked for Kaffey. So if he wanted my help, he had to come up with a lotta cash.

SCOTT OLIVER: Where did Martin Cruces get that kind of money?

JOE PINE: I dunno.

SCOTT OLIVER: You’re gonna have to do better than that, Joe, if you want us to help you. Where did Martin Cruces get the ten grand to pay you?

JOE PINE: Maybe he had a good day with cards.

SCOTT OLIVER: Even if Cruces didn’t pay the others as much as you, he had to get that kind of cash from somewhere. Where would a twenty-five-year-old security guard get that kind of cash?

JOE PINE: I don’t know. I didn’t ask him.

MARGE DUNN: That’s crazy, Joe. No one’s going to believe that Martin Cruces offered you ten thousand dollars in cash to do something illegal and you never asked where the money came from.

JOE PINE: He gives me a lotta cash for a robbery, I don’t ask questions, lady.

SCOTT OLIVER: I don’t believe that, Joe.

(Decker read on. They kept pressing the point, but it took until two pages from the end to get something out of Pine.)

JOE PINE: Okay, you want me to make something up. I’ll make something up. Cruces said that he had a sugar daddy paying for everything. He called him El Patrón, but he never did say a name.

JOE PINE: I swear he didn’t say a name.

SCOTT OLIVER: Which patrón do you think Cruces was talking about?

JOE PINE: I don’t know.

MARGE DUNN: C’mon, Joe. You can do better than you’re doing.

(More pages of cajoling.)

JOE PINE: I swear I don’t know. Probably someone high up with a lot of cash who hated the old man. Cruces never did say.

The transcript ended. Decker put down the papers and finished up his third cup of coffee. Armed with a little bit of knowledge and a fresh cup of coffee, he was ready to face the fire.

“HELLO, MARTIN, HOW are you doing?” Decker asked him.

Cruces lifted his head from the table. Despite the man’s bloodshot eyes and tired face, he was decent looking. His features were symmetrical with dark eyes, dark hair, a dark mustache, prominent cheekbones, and a square chin. He said, “Who’re you?”

“Lieutenant Peter Decker. Can I get you anything?”

Cruces’s voice was slurry. “Are you…like The Boss?”

“I’m in charge of the detective squad.”

“So tell your people to stop lying.”

“What do you think they’re lying about?” Decker sat across from Cruces, giving him space. He’d move over later to the middle seat for intimidation or intimacy depending on how the conversation was going.

“They keep telling me I was involved in the Kaffey murders. I wasn’t anywhere near the Coyote Ranch. I was at a bar, getting drunk. You checked out my alibi. I was where I said I was. Why you come back and hassle me?”

“Because your bloody fingerprint was lifted from the crime scene.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Forensics doesn’t lie.”

“But you do.”

“I do lie,” Decker admitted. “But this isn’t one of the times.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Martin, I don’t care if you believe me or not. We have your fingerprint and you, my friend, are in deep trouble. Not only do we have forensics, we have an eyewitness who puts you there.” Decker leaned across the table. “I found Rondo Martin. I’ve been interviewing him for the last twenty-four hours. He’s locked up and he’s safe and you can’t get to him. None of your cousins can get to him either, because we’ve arrested almost all of them. Rondo can’t wait to testify against you.”

“You don’t know how many cousins I have,” Cruces told him. He looked upward and closed his eyes.

“Martin…” Decker moved over to the middle chair. “Even if someone did manage to whack Rondo Martin, it still wouldn’t do you any good. We’ve got everything that he told us videotaped, and we’ve already made copies. Help yourself and talk to us.”

“I never seen no videotape.”

That’s because it didn’t exist. Since Cruces did seem to have oodles of cousins, Decker decided that saying he had a videotape would be a good idea. He actually should make one in case something did happen. “Why in the world would I show it to you?”

“I wanna see it.”

“If you cooperate, maybe I’ll show it to you. So this is what we have, Martin. We’ve got José Pinon telling us all about you and Esteban and Miguel and Gordo and Julio Davis-the guy who gave you your alibi. We’ve got Joe telling us where Julio is. We have bloody fingerprints, we have an eyewitness who puts you at the scene.”

“I wasn’t there.”

“Martin, it’s over. Joe Pine told us everything because he was looking at the death penalty.”

“So José tells you lies to save his skin and I’m supposed to be upset? It’s bullshit.”

“It’s not just him, Martin. It’s José and the rest of your homies from Bodega 12th. We’ve got them all…except maybe Julio.” Decker liked to throw in a bit of truth. “But we’ll find him. It’s only a matter of time.”

Cruces laughed derisively. “You got a problem, man. José is feeding you bullshit.”

“But José makes sense,” Decker said. “Sure, he’s probably handing us some lines, but the story makes sense and the forensics back him up. He’s saying that it’s all you, Martin. You set up everything, and you paid each of your cousins ten grand to do it. It’s all over, Martin. Help yourself out by helping us out.”

Cruces was silent.

Decker said, “How’d you get that kind of money, Martin?”

“José is telling you lies! How many times do I gotta tell you?”

“Why should I believe you when we have your bloody fingerprints, Rondo Martin’s eyewitness testimony against you, and Joe Pine talking like a mynah bird?”

“Rondo’s lying, too. He hates me.”

“The fingerprints don’t lie.” Decker leaned in close. “Martin, I know that you didn’t set this up without help. From the very beginning we knew that you were paid off by someone who wanted to murder the Kaffeys. Someone who had a lot of money. Help yourself and tell us who paid you to do the murders.”

“I didn’t get paid off by anyone. How many times do I have to tell you? I wasn’t there. And I’m gonna keep saying this until you guys let me go.”

“You’re not going anywhere, Martin. We’ve got enough to arrest you on three counts of premeditated murder, which can carry the death penalty. This crime was so cruel that I’m sure a judge would have no problem ordering the needle. Is that how you want it to end?”

“I wasn’t there!”

Decker went at him for another hour, but Martin refused to budge. If this had been going on for eight hours prior to Decker’s questioning, how likely was it that he was going to crack?

Patience, patience.

Decker suddenly recalled a police seminar he had about ten years ago. The lecturer spoke about a shrink who had been a master hypnotist. Sometimes instead of fighting the induction, the head doctor would incorporate the patient’s resistance in part of the induction. So what would it hurt if Decker just played along with Cruces’s lie?

“All right,” Decker said. “You weren’t there, okay?”

Cruces narrowed his eyes and stared at him. “That’s right.”

“You were not there. Rondo Martin was mistaken, Joe Pine was mistaken, the fingerprint was wrong, you weren’t there.”

“That’s right.”

“Okay.” Decker nodded. “I believe you.”

There was a long pause. Cruces said, “Good.”

Decker said, “You know why I believe you?”

“Why?”

“Because we’ve been questioning you for a long time and you keep coming up with the same sentence. You weren’t there. I have to ask myself: why would someone keep saying that when the evidence is so overwhelming against him? And the only thing that I can come up with is…it must be the truth.”

“That’s right.” Cruces straightened his spine. “It’s the truth.”

“Okay, you weren’t there,” Decker told him. “But you know some of the people who were there.”

“I don’t know who was there because I wasn’t there.”

“All I’m saying is that you know Joe Pine, right?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“And you know Esteban Cruz and Gordo Cruces. They’re your cousins, right?”

“Yeah, they’re my cousins.”

“And you know Julio Davis. He’s the one who gave you your alibi.”

“Yeah, I know Julio. He wasn’t there, either. I told you we were both getting drunk in a bar. About a million people saw us.”

“And you know Miguel Mendoza.”

“Met him a couple of times.”

“That’s all I’m saying. That you know the guys that Joe Pine said were involved in the murders.”

“Joe’s full of shit.”

“Probably. But let’s get back to you. If I believe you and I’m willing to help you out, you’ve got to help me.”

“Depends on what.”

“Can I be straight up with you?” When Cruces didn’t object, Decker said, “We’re in a little bit of a quandary. We know that the people who shot the Kaffeys were paid off by someone with a lot of money. Because Joe Pine said he got ten grand for the murders.”

“Joe’s full of shit.”

Decker leaned forward. “We know that the Kaffey murders were an inside job, Martin. We know that it wasn’t just planned by a bunch of Bodega 12th Street boys and a couple of guards. We know someone with a lot of money started the whole thing going, know what I’m saying?”

Cruces didn’t say anything, but he managed a small nod.

“And whoever started it…he’s the real bad guy. Why should your cousins take a fall for some fat cat?”

Cruces didn’t answer.

“Look, you had nothing to do with it,” Decker said. “So you’re okay. So why don’t you man up and help your cousins? Tell me who paid them to murder the Kaffeys?”

“I don’t know,” Cruces said. “I wasn’t there.”

Decker said, “But if you had to guess who El Patrón was, who would it be? You know El Patrón, right?”

“Why should I know?”

“Because you’re a player, Martin. You know about these people.”

Cruces didn’t answer.

“Who is El Patrón?”

“Why would I know about him?”

“I’m just asking for your opinion.”

“Well…” Cruces sat back. “If I give you my opinion, are you gonna let me go?”

“It’s not up to me. But I’ll tell everyone that I believe you. And I’ll tell everyone that you helped me out by giving me your opinion.”

“That means you ain’t gonna do dick.”

“What’s the harm in giving me your opinion? You’re not admitting to anything.”

“That’s right. I ain’t saying anything.”

Decker made a point of sighing. “I know you could help me. You’re a smart guy.”

“Why should I help you?”

“’Cause I’m the only one who believes you.”

“Are you really a lieutenant?”

“Yes, sir, I am. All I want is your opinion, smart guy. Nothing that’s admissible in court. Just want your plain honest opinion, sir.”

Cruces blinked then lay back in the chair. “Okay…in my opinion, if I was you…I would say…look at the brother.”

“Grant Kaffey or Gil Kaffey?”

“Not the sons, dude, the hermano. Mace Kaffey. Man, he never liked Guy at all.”

“Excuse me for a moment.” Decker walked out of the room-a big smile on his face.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask.