Jeffery Deaver - The Lesson of Her Death

He watched them talking, Corde and the Halperns, until the two squad cars silently pulled up. He crawled back to the door, opened it and motioned the men forward. Ebbans and Ellison went around back and Slocum and a county deputy held up on the front steps where Mahoney signaled them to stay.

Mahoney crawled into the living room.

"Son, please, there's nothing to be gained by this…"

"Philip, your father and mother and I want to help you."

The boy was crying now. "He's always hitting me. I don't do anything but he hits me."

"I want you to be strong," Halpern said. "That's all. I know you have it in you. It's going to be all right They'll see the note and you'll be free. Tell him about the letter, Corde."

Corde asked, "Letter?"

Halpern said desperately, "The note! Tell him!"

Mahoney stood then walked along the corridor into the dining room holding his breath not only to keep silent but to keep the stink of the dog piss and rotting food out of his nostrils.

"What note, Halpern?" Corde asked.

"Didn't the sheriff tell you?"

Mahoney eased forward. A board creaked.

Corde spun around and saw him. "No!"

The boy's silver-dollar eyes saw Mahoney and he raised the gun. Mahoney did the same. Corde lifted his arms, palms out, his back to Philip and stepped in between them. His nerves bristled at the thought of a Smith & Wesson muzzle ten feet behind him and a Browning automatic's the same distance in front. "Mahoney, what the hell are you doing here?"

"You fucking son of a bitch, Corde, get out of the way! You fucking -"

"Get out of here, you've got no business!…" Corde was shouting. Mahoney was dancing in the doorway, jockeying for a target. The boy stood frozen with fear, the muzzle pointed at Corde's spine.

"Philip," Corde shouted over his shoulder, "drop the gun! You'll be okay. Just -"

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!" Mahoney shouted.

Philip's hand drooped. His father looked at him and said, "Put it down, son. Please."

The gun sank lower.

A shadow flashed across the kitchen floor. Mahoney shouted, "Drop it!" And fired two shots into the ceiling.

Ebbans and Ellison leapt into the kitchen. Philip whirling toward them, Ellison screaming in panic, "He's shooting he's shooting take him out!" The men's hands vanished in ragged flares of muzzle bursts. Mahoney dropped to the carpet. One slug hissed past Corde's left ear as he collapsed on the floor. Philip spun around and around. Then he fell. Corde scrabbled toward him, shouting, "No, no, no!" Philip's father stood frozen, his right hand outstretched toward his son.

In the enormous silence that followed, Charlie Mahoney stood up and steadied himself on a pink metal table. He knocked off a flower pot, which broke and scattered a wiry geranium along the carpet, a flower as red and dazzling as the artery blood that sprang from Philip's neck and chest and soaked the filthy floor that may at one time have been white.

HARRISON COUNTY SHOOTING INCIDENT INQUIRY BOARD

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: The matter before the Board is the death of a minor, Philip Arthur Halpern, 15 (the "Suspect"), who was shot and killed by County peace officers after an escape from New Lebanon town jail where the Suspect had been incarcerated following indictment on charges of murder, manslaughter, rape and sodomy.

On the afternoon of May 8 the Suspect was struck by shots fired by Thomas T. Ebbans, Chief Deputy, and Bradford Ellison, Sheriff, Harrison County. It was determined that Deputy Ebbans fired two shots, hitting the Suspect twice in the chest and Sheriff Ellison fired four times, hitting the Suspect once in the neck. All bullets were recovered. The Suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

The facts surrounding the shooting are not in dispute. When shot, the Suspect was holding a loaded.38-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol which he had taken from a New Lebanon town deputy whom he had severely beaten when he escaped earlier in the day. The Suspect acted in a deranged manner and it apparently was his intention to shoot his father. Also present were the Suspect's mother, New Lebanon Detective William Corde and Charles Mahoney, a licensed and bonded private investigator from Missouri who was acting as consultant to the New Lebanon Sheriffs Department.

As Detective Corde was attempting to talk the Suspect into surrendering, Sheriff Ellison and Deputy Ebbans approached from the rear entrance to the house. Mr. Mahoney stated that the Suspect suddenly raised the gun and, according to Mr. Mahoney, "was about to discharge his weapon at Detective Corde and myself, causing me to fear for our safety." Mr. Mahoney fired two shots at the Suspect, missing both times. Sheriff Ellison and Deputy Ebbans heard these shots and assumed the Suspect, who had turned and was pointing his gun at them, had begun firing. They returned gunfire which resulted in the Suspect's death.

It is the conclusion of the Board that the shooting of the Suspect was justifiable and that both Sheriff Ellison and Deputy Ebbans acted within the boundaries of prudent law enforcement. Detective Corde testified that the Suspect had not been about to fire and we agree that Mr. Mahoney was perhaps premature in firing the shots that precipitated the killing. However, that was a judgment he made during an extremely stressful confrontation and this Board is prepared to accept that his behavior was justified under the circumstances.

Testimony was given by the Suspect's father that prior to the incident, he delivered to Sheriff Steven Ribbon of the New Lebanon Sheriffs Department a note purporting to be evidence casting doubt on the Suspect's guilt. Sheriff Ribbon testified that he felt the note was of such importance that he personally took it to the state laboratory for forensic analysis and through a miscommunication, none of the law enforcement officers at the scene of the shooting were made aware of the note's existence. However, the existence and authenticity of the note bear solely on the issue of the Suspect's innocence with respect to his prime indictments in one of the murders of which he was accused; they are irrelevant with respect to the escape and the incidents of assault that led to the shooting.

Therefore, THIS BOARD OF INQUIRY CONCLUDES that

l. The death of Philip Arthur Halpern was justifiable.

2. The death shall not be presented for inquest to the Grand Jury of the County of Harrison.

3. No grounds exist to dismiss, suspend, fine or in any way reprimand Sheriff Bradford Ellison or Deputy Thomas T. Ebbans on the basis of the events occurring in the house of Creth A. Halpern on May 8.

Here is Bill Corde.

He writes three parking violations – after turning the thick handles of the meters to make sure that the perpetrators are in fact out of time and didn't just forget to crank in their coins. This is not generosity on Corde's part; nobody argues with cops more vehemently than parking violators.

He stops Trudy Parson's '74 Gremlin to tell her that the blinker in her right turn signal is on the fritz and the left rear is low too.

He tanks up a Plymouth and sits in a speed trap for half the day, catching himself nothing but one salesman from Chicago. He gives the man a ticket – not a warning – because the driver is wearing a fish gray silk suit and a pinkie ring and has a dark tan and here it is just mid May.

Howdy, fells, that wouldn't be a beer you got in there, would it, reason I ask is neither of you look like you're eighteen, so if it is I sure hope you're going to tell me that you just found those cans in the street and are about to dump them out and take them to A &P for the nickel, is that right?

Corde has requested a hearing on the charge of destroying Jennie Gebben's letters. Because he has been reinstated and the inquest has been canceled the district attorney tells him a hearing would be moot. Corde looks up the word "moot", then he debates for a time and files another notice seeking the hearing. A day later he receives a call from the judge's clerk telling him that the application was rejected and they will be sending him a notice to that effect by registered mail return receipt requested.