Daddy's Gone a Hunting

93

Jack Worth continued his attempt to appear confident as he was hooked up to the lie detector machine. “When you see the results, you’ll know you’ve been wasting your time,” he told Detective Matt Stevens. “And mine,” he added.

“We’ll see,” Stevens said. He began by asking Jack the usual litany of routine questions about his background that they knew he would answer truthfully.

“What is your name? How old are you? Where do you work? How long have you worked there? Are you married? Do you have any children?”

When the basic questions were completed, Detective Stevens moved on to the areas of inquiry that were pivotal to the investigation. “Did you ever drive a furniture van belonging to the Connelly furniture company?”

“Occasionally,” Jack responded promptly. “If my own car was being serviced, they would allow me to take one of the smaller vans home overnight.”

Matt Stevens was disgusted to see that Worth looked supremely confident.

“What color are the Connelly vans?”

“Black with gold lettering. Old man Connelly decided that it looked classy and it’s always remained the same.”

“Were you driving one of those vans the night Tracey disappeared?”

“No. I went home feeling lousy and I went to bed.”

Matt Stevens observed that the computer readings on Worth’s physical reactions remained fairly constant.

“Anyhow,” Worth continued, “if I had been driving a Rolls-Royce, Tracey still wouldn’t have gotten into it. She never gave me a second look.”

“Do you have any idea who else might have been driving one of the vans the night she disappeared?”

“No, I don’t.”

Again, Stevens could discern no physiological reaction to the question.

“Do you have any idea if Tracey Sloane knew anyone who worked at the Connelly complex?”

“No, I don’t.”

“All right. Let’s move to a different topic,” Stevens said. “Did you ever have any contact with Jamie Gordon?”

The computer registered a significant change. “No, I didn’t.”

“Do you have any knowledge of what happened to Jamie Gordon?”

“No, I don’t,” Worth insisted, as the computer continued to indicate a substantial change.

“Did you kill Jamie Gordon?” Detective Stevens demanded.

As the reaction being registered on the computer skyrocketed, Jack Worth ripped the wires from his body and jumped up. “I’m done with you!” he shouted. “I thought this was all about Tracey Sloane. You told everybody that the homeless guy killed Gordon. What are you trying to pull on me? I tried to be straight with you guys and cooperate. But now I get a lawyer.”