The Fourth Life: Chapter 56

John had just spent his day with so many questions, his head was slightly aching.  Putting down a few Advil, he sipped some water, and turned to the door.  There was Patrick Thornhart, his last interview of the day.


"Patrick, come in."

"Lieutenant, you look tired."  Patrick noticed.


"I am tired.  It's no secret.  To say this has been a long day would be an understatement."


"What can I do for you?  You asked me to come here, today."


"I wanted to ask you about your whereabouts on March 25."


"I was...I am not entirely sure."


"You were with Todd and I in the morning, remember, we brought him to see Blair before his arraignment?"


"Yes, now I do, right."


"And you had errands to run."


"Yes, I wanted to go and see Margaret."


"So, you were at St. Anne's, then?"  He wrote it down.


"No, I never made it out there.  I got hung up, and then, I went to the lake.  I wanted some peace and quiet."


"Did anyone see you doing this?"  He crossed out what he had written and scribbled more.


"Some strangers, possibly, why?"


"It's the day Carlo was killed.  It happened at the hospital, right about when you took off from Todd and I."


"Are you asking me, Lieutenant McBain?" 


"Sure, why not?"  As much as he had originally though Patrick might be his man, things had taken a huge turn this day.


"I didn't kill Hesser, if that is what you mean."  Patrick said, matter of factly.


"Did you see him?"


"Not since the beating he took from Todd."


"You have no witness to that, no alibi?"  John asked.


"No, not a one.  Ya just have my word."


He stared into Patrick's eyes.  "That is all I've got right now.  I'll have to ask you not to leave town, for a while."


"I won't be going anywhere.  My Margaret is here, and she needs me."


John nodded, and stood, extending his hand.  "See you later.  Thank you for coming in."


Patrick started to go, and then turned, saying "Anything on the shooting at the courthouse?"


"Nothing I can share right now, but I do have a break in the case."  John assured him.


"Good.  Something positive for poor Blair, eh?"


"Possibly."


"Goodbye," he said, and left. 


John looked after him, "You're not my man, Thornhart.  You're not...in fact, no man is," he said, thinking to himself how likely it was that the killer of Carlo Hesser was going to be a woman.


***


Mac Hennessey sat in a jail cell, his shirt undone, and the tails out over his pants.  He held his own head in his hands, and leaned over, as if the weight of everything he'd done was pushing down on him.  He was alerted when McBain ended up at his cell door.  The cop said, "You want to tell me anything?"


He looked up, and his eyes met those of the detective.  "What is there to tell?  Like you don't know it all already."


"I don't know your side of it."


"She told you everything?"


McBain opened the cell, and walked in.  Sitting on a chair across from Mac, he said, "The important stuff."


"There's going to be a death penalty here.  I killed a child.  I shot a pregnant woman.  I tried to kill a witness who was brainwashed and tortured.  I don't care anymore what happens to me, really.  I'm guilty.  I'm almost relieved.  It's been hard knowing I took that baby's life."


"You don't have to confide in me this way."  John reminded him.


"I know that.  What's the difference?  Everything's over."


"Because she turned on you, you mean?"


"Yeah.  I've lost her.  She was the only person I had.  The only one."


"No family?"


"No.  I left my family behind years ago.  I'm going it alone, I guess."


"What happened that day?  Was Blair a target?"


"No.  She wasn't.  That was....an accident?  A fluke?  I don't know."


"A ricochet.  From what we could tell."


He rubbed his face.  "I never imagined anything like that.  When the woman screamed in the courthouse, I remember jolting a little and he didn't go down.  I pulled off two rounds instead of one."


"What made you want to kill him?"


Hennessey was cautious in his response, and his demeanor changed.  John took note of it.  "At first, it was money.  He was going to set me up, a new life for me and Kathleen, with a lot of money.  Then, after a while, he was starting to threaten her.  He said he was going to have her raped and killed.  Shredded, he said.  He said I'd have to find her in the sewer and get her shreds from there."


John swallowed, thinking of Leona, and once again, his belief that Carlo was capable of anything rebirthed in his mind.  "Was Kathleen in on this?"


"No," he lied.  He wasn't sure why he did, but he protected her, and would.  Nothing mattered much anymore, but Kathleen.  "I was supposed to help him escape in return for the money.  Then, later, he changed toward me, and threatened both Kathleen and I.  I felt I had no choice."


"All right.  You could have turned him in?"


"I was too far in, I was afraid.  Look what he did to Manning?"


John nodded.  He stood up, "You've been pretty up front with me, and I won't say it's not bad for you, but I'll do what I can to make it the easiest possible.  I know what Hesser was capable of."


"You can't make it easier.  I lost Kathleen, and I killed a baby.  An innocent child.  And I hurt Blair Manning in a way no one can fix."


"That's true.  But you still have a life, even if it's in here.  You're alive.  There's always room for hope somewhere."


"I don't care.  Right now, I've got nothing.  I can't live with what I did.  I don't know how I thought I would."


"It's tough.  But you did it.  You made that choice.  You pulled that trigger.  That was your own doing."


"I know.  No matter what regrets I have, no one is bringing back that little girl."


John sighed a bit, "No, no one is."  He went to the door, taking out his keys.  "Do you want a laywer?"


"I suppose.  Just the public defender is enough.  I'll make it simple.  I don't need a trial.  What I did was wrong, there's nothing to decide or judge."


"I will tell you that it means we'll be able to go easier on you.  You won't be put to death."


"Thankful for that, since I need years to make up for it before God forgives me."


John left him in the cell, and the words of Mac Hennessey stayed with him as he ascended the stairs back to the precinct. 


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