David Ellis - In the Company of Liars

“Thatis confusing,” Aiken says to Czerwonka. “Mrs. Pagone here says she was home all night and she wasn’t sleeping with Mr. Dillon. Her daughter says just the opposite.”

“Maybe it’s a mixup,” Czerwonka says to his partner. “Maybe we misunderstood what Mrs. Pagone here has been telling us.”

Allison says nothing.

“Well,” Czerwonka continues with Aiken, “when you talked to Jessica, did she give any indication she was confused?”

“No,” Aiken says. “No, she was crystal clear on it. We went over that point over and over again. Mom came home about two, looking all out of sorts. And then she spilled it-that she was having an affair with Sam Dillon.”

“Well, did she know it’s a crime to lie to a police detective?” Czerwonka asks.

“That’s enough,” Allison says.

“Yeah,” says Aiken. “She knew she had to tell the truth. Otherwise, it’s obstruction of justice. Yeah, Jessica understood that she could get in all kinds of trouble for lying to me.”

“I want you to stop this.” Allison stands up.

“It’s no act, Mrs. Pagone.” Czerwonka laces his hands together. “One of you is lying about this. You or Jessica. Should we pick her up for lying to a police officer?”

“Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do-” Allison looks away.

“Nothing to do with what?” Aiken asks.

“Nothing.”

“Look, Mrs. Pagone. Take your seat if you would,” Czerwonka says. “Let me make this easier for you. We know you went to Sam Dillon’s office downstate last Friday-the day before he was murdered. We know you were upset.”

Allison holds her breath. Something she can’t control, what happened at Sam’s office.

“You went to his offices up here, first, then you drove all the way down to the capital to find Sam Dillon. You already told us, when we started this interview, that you didn’t have business with Dillon. You said that already. So why the rush to go down there? It’s personal. Of course, it’s personal. Okay.”

Allison sits down, as previously requested.

“You rush into Sam’s office and close the door. Okay, you want privacy. But you didn’t quiteget privacy, Mrs. Pagone.”

The words pierce her heart. Her body accelerates. She is ready to say it right now, if necessary. Something in her-caution, perhaps, or simply the inability to speak-forces her to keep quiet for the moment.

Somebodyheard her conversation with Sam?

“There was an aide at the office,” Czerwonka continues. “You may not have noticed him in your haste. He heard what was going on in there.”

“You don’t understand,” she says.

“Then help me out here.”

No. No. Let him take the lead. She closes her eyes.They know, she thinks with a mounting horror.They know I made Sam fire Jessica. They know Jessica had a thing for Sam and he rebuffed her. They probably know Jessica was upset, upset enough to-

“ ‘This isn’t working out.’ ‘Mat’s a friend.’ ‘This is crazy.’ ”

Allison opens her eyes to a satisfied Detective Czerwonka.

“Sound familiar, Mrs. Pagone?”

Something’s not right. Those were the words Sam used, on the phone with Jessica, but the look on the detective’s face tells her he is misreading it.

“He dumped you, Mrs. Pagone,” Czerwonka concludes. “You’re not the first. I can say that from personal experience.”

He dumped-me. Me,not Jessica. Allison’s heart leaps. The office aide heard the words but didn’t know the context. He didn’t know Sam was on the phone, talking to Jessica.

Sam dumped me. Yes!

“But then you deny you were involved with Sam,” the detective says. “And it looks bad for you. Because it’s so obvious to us that you twowere an item.”

“And that means, score one for Jessica,” Aiken adds. “She was telling the truth. Which means she was probably also telling the truth about you coming home at two in the morning on the night Sam Dillon was murdered.”

“We need you to explain this to us, Mrs. Pagone. You’ve lied to us twice. There’s an innocent explanation for that? Great. I’m ready to believe it. But you’ve given me nothing to believe, so far.”

Allison brings her hand to her forehead. “It’s-complicated,” she says.

“Life is complicated,” Czerwonka responds. “Explain this to us.”

Allison gets back to her feet. “You said I’m free to leave.”

Czerwonka freezes. His partner looks at him.

“Yes,” Czerwonka says, to keep the record clear on this point. A good detective is always thinking about keeping a confession legal. “But this is not the time. Right now, you should be putting our minds at ease.”

“I’m leaving, then.”

“Mrs. Pagone.” Czerwonka stands, along with his partner. “I’d advise you not to leave town any time soon.”

“I’d advise you to get a law degree, Detective.” Allison hikes her purse over her shoulder. “You can’t make me do anything.”

There will be a time,” Father said, “when they will want you to risk your life. That,” he added, “is when your true dedication shows.”

Ram Haroon drinks his beer slowly. He is the only non-Caucasian at this place on the west side. It is close to midnight. The dozen or so people inside are getting louder, growing more boisterous in their inebriation. This was an asinine choice, this spot. Haroon sticks out, as the Americans say, like a sore thumb. And it could well be only a matter of time before one of these drunken idiots decides to tap him on the shoulder and tell him to go back to his own fucking country.

Ram drains his beer at ten to midnight. He walks toward the bathroom, ignoring any stares that might be coming his way. He turns down the small corridor where the restrooms are located but passes them, goes to the exit door and pushes it, steps out into the alley.

Larry Evans is standing there, awaiting him.

“I assume there is an excellent explanation,” Haroon says, “for what I have been reading in the newspapers and seeing on television.”

“Everything’s fine,” Evans says.

Haroon approaches him, partly so he can keep his voice down but more to make his point clearly. “Last week, you tell me there is a man, Sam Dillon. You tell me your scientist is nervous. You tell me you’re going to keep an eye on this man Dillon.”

“And I did.” Larry Evans is immediately defensive. “I listened to him. Watched him.”

“ ‘Keep an eye on him,’ you said. You said nothing aboutkilling him.”

Larry Evans takes a moment with that. He will neither admit nor deny killing Sam Dillon, obviously. “I think all the worry was for nothing,” he says instead. “I don’t think Dillon knew and so I don’t think she knows, either. The woman. Allison Pagone.”

“And how does your scientist feel about this?”

“He’s upset. He wants me to watch Pagone, so I will. But I think we’re okay.”

“Youthink.” Haroon runs a hand over his mouth, paces in a small circle. “Her home is still bugged?”

“Yes. And it’s been interesting. She looks like she’s going down for the murder.”

Haroon nods. “I saw on television. She was questioned today.”

“She’s going to be arrested.” Evans stuffs his hands in his pockets. “She thinks so. It’s like shewants to go down for it.”

“Why would she want to be arrested for murder?” Haroon turns to Evans.

He shrugs in response. “I think she’s protecting her daughter.”

“But why?”

“Here’s the thing.” Evans steps closer. “They were both there that night. The night he was murdered.”

“Allison Pagone and her daughter?”

Evans nods. “Both of them. And Allisontold her daughter she killed Sam. She confessed, that night.”