Chapter 15

It was 40 or 45 minutes before Cecelia and I got everything out of Annie Mae that there was to get, and sent her downstairs. There might be more people waiting, but for the moment we remained where we were – Cecelia on the bed, and me slouched against the wall.

Cecelia looked at me. "Do you believe her?"

"Better still, here's a training moment. Do you believe her?"

"I find myself resisting the temptation to remind you that you're the investigator, and I as the trainee can't possibly evaluate her tale as well as you can. But you would – and quite correctly – remind me that the whole purpose of training is to give me not merely intellectual knowledge of the field, but practical experience therein. I therefore present this assessment:

"I believe that she did see something, or at least believes that she did. I do not, however, regard her as a reliable witness of things she does see, and it is possible that she saw nothing, and is merely a fairly facile liar – or alternatively, going back to what I believe about the story, capable of considerable self-delusion."

"To put it in my kind of language, prob'ly she didn't see anything, which means a) she's lying or b) she's giving us a fiction which she believes, or she might have seen something and is now embellishing it, with a) and b) again operational."

"An accurate restatement of my position. Now, Darvin, I ask for your grade on my view of the matter."

"I think you're right, C. She is plausible a lot of the time, but then she'll either give more detail in a place or on a point than she ought to have if she'd really seen something, or else she'll have little or no detail where she ought to have a ton of it. If she did see something, after it filters through her head I really couldn't swear to what it might have been."

Cecelia nodded. "I presume, however, that we shall apply the principle which you articulated to her."

"Which principle is that?"

"The one regarding allowing experienced investigators to decide what is and is not useful."

"Ah, that one – it's been a few seconds since I said that. Yeah, we'll report this to the task force, both the story we got and our evaluation of it, and they'll give it their own study. I'd rather think somethin's junk an' report it anyway, an' find out it was useful, than fail to report it 'cause I think it's junk, an' then find out it would have been useful."

"I share that view; I would find it infuriating to realize that because of my prejudices I had stymied the progress of the investigation, even if it were only for a day or two."

"Infuriating, yeah..."

"You have another word in mind, beloved?"

"Not another word," I said, "but an event. Suppose we decided something wasn't worth the trouble, and therefore didn't report it, and therefore the cops missed a chance to prevent this mutt from doing another bum?"

Cecelia drew in a sharp breath. "That would be a burden I would not care to heft. Yes, I shall make certain to convey to the task force any information, however dubious, that we receive; better to pass on pointless trivia than to, by inaction, open the door for further slayings." Only Cecelia could have used that word without sounding pretentious.

I sat for another moment, then said, "When we get back to the office – an' we'll stop in tomorrow morning just for the purpose – write up the report, an' we'll get it to the task force."

"By now I am familiar with the format you desire for reports from the agency. But this is your case; I am merely assisting you; I believe that you should write up the report."

"I could, an' your thinking ain't got many holes in it, but they's one factor, no, two factors, that override your thinking. One, you're the contact down here, an' two, I'm the boss."

She grinned slowly. "I seem to remember that you once said that there are benefits to being the sole owner and proprietor of a business. I presume that exercising dictatorial authority over your employees is one of those benefits?"

"No, not over the employees – just over you. C, you're so blasted good at so many things that they ain't many times or places when I can tell you what to do an' expect there to be any reason for you to listen. So I'll take my chances to give orders whenever I can get 'em."

"I am competent in a number of areas, I acknowledge. And Darvin, I am quite comfortable following your orders regarding investigations the agency takes on; I am a willing subordinate, and do not find your superiority of position onerous."

"I know," I said, "an' I don't mean to sound like I resent you being so much a Renaissance woman. Shoot, I'm mighty proud of you. It ain't every man who can stand up and brag on his wife in so many areas.