Philip Kerr - A Philosophical Investigation

Jake stopped to see how ITN was covering the event and was all the more interested when she saw that the programme was being presented by Anna Kreisler. She herself had been the object of serial killer David Boysfield’s obsession; and this was the case which Jake had made the subject of her lecture to the EC Symposium on law and order when first she had been requested to command the Wittgenstein investigation. It all seemed like a very long time ago to her now.

Anna Kreisler, elegantly suited in Chanel, with the slightly plastic good looks and perky air of a model air-hostess, was responding to questions posed on air by an unseen studio anchor-man. It was an indication of the importance that ITN were attaching to coverage of the punishment that Kreisler was there in person and not behind her usual desk in the studio.

‘What’s the atmosphere like there in Wandsworth Gaol, Anna?’

‘Well, as you can imagine, Peter, it’s very tense here. A sizeable crowd has gathered outside the walls of Wandsworth Gaol to protest against Paul Esterhazy’s punishment, and although the police are in attendance, they’re not expecting any trouble. This kind of thing differs very much from what used to happen with capital punishment because, unlike then, now there is no expectation of a last minute reprieve. Telephone calls from the Home Secretary commuting a sentence to life imprisonment are a thing of the past, because of course there is no such thing as life imprisonment. I spoke to the prison governor a little earlier and he told me that Paul Esterhazy ate a light dinner at around five o’clock and that he refused the opportunity to speak to a priest. Since then I understand that he’s spending his last few hours watching television.’

‘So he might even be watching this broadcast. Anna, we still don’t know much about Esterhazy’s motives for these dreadful crimes: at the trial it was suggested that the balance of Esterhazy’s mind may have been affected by protracted use of reality approximation programs. Has there been any word from Esterhazy himself as to what made him into a mass-murderer? Any indication of remorse?’

‘No indications of remorse whatsoever, Peter. Of course, we now know that the background for these murders was the Lombroso Program and that, like Esterhazy himself, many of his victims had been given the names of famous philosophers in order to protect their identities. Esterhazy was himself an undergraduate at Oxford University until he was sent down for drug abuse, and some commentators have suggested that this may have brought about a resentment of intellectuals in general, and philosophers in particular. It’s also a bizarre coincidence, but like the real Ludwig Wittgenstein whose name Esterhazy was given, he himself came from a rich Austro-Germanic family, and spent some time working in the pharmacy at Guy’s Hospital. This was one of the factors which was alleged to have contributed to Esterhazy’s failed defence of not guilty by reason of insanity.’

‘Anna, you’ve spoken to lots of people who have met Esterhazy. What kind of a man is he?’

‘By all accounts, a highly intelligent one, Peter. Well read, well educated, skilled with computers. He was popular at work too. Many of the people who knew him at Guy’s said he was a nice man, well-mannered, the studious type who wouldn’t have harmed a fly. But at the same time it seems he was a rather solitary, lonely figure. We know how he became estranged from his parents many years ago, and so far there has been no sign that they have any wish to re-enter his life at this late stage in the day. Records also prove that Esterhazy was married for a while, but his wife divorced him and has since changed her name. All attempts to trace her have so far proved fruitless.’

‘So in many ways, even now he’s in custody awaiting punishment, Esterhazy remains something of a mystery?’

‘Very much so, Peter. What’s frustrating a lot of people is that carrying out this punishment today might mean we never discover any more about him. But it’s only fair to say that Esterhazy may be something of a mystery even to himself. There have been occasions, especially during the trial, when he seemed unable to distinguish between reality and an approximation of reality, as I think you mentioned earlier. For that reason there are lots of people who believe that the proper place for Paul Esterhazy is not in a PC drawer, but in a hospital for the criminally insane.’

‘You mentioned the Government’s Lombroso Program, Anna: where do you think this leaves that and other controversial aspects of the Government’s law and order policy?’

‘Critics of the current policy, most notably the opposition spokesman on Law and Order, Tony Bedford MP, have argued that the Lombroso Program constitutes an invasion of human rights and should be scrapped. But I think that’s unlikely to happen, Peter, since the European Court has already ruled that since the accent of the Program is on care and counselling people who have an innate capacity to develop an aggressive disorder, the Program does not constitute a violation of human rights. Nevertheless radical changes will have to be made, not least to the Program’s security, and it’s being said that heads will have to roll. But until the results of the public inquiry, we won’t know how the system’s security was breached and exactly who will be held accountable. And of course until that result, the Program itself remains in suspension.

‘I’m now joined by the Minister for Law and Order, Mrs Grace Miles. Mrs Miles, how do you answer the critics of punitive coma who say that it is a cruel and unusual punishment and has no place in a civilised society such as ours?’

Mrs Miles smiled, almost painfully.

‘First of all, Miss Kreisler, let me correct an earlier remark that was made about the Lombroso Program. The Lombroso Program is not just this Government’s policy. It is part of the policy of the European Community, as enacted by all the member nations in the European Parliament. It just happens to have been introduced in this country first of all.

‘Now to your questions about punitive coma, I would say this: the European Court has ruled that it is neither cruel, nor unusual. This kind of punishment has existed in the United States for a number of years and has many proven advantages, which I don’t propose to discuss now. This hardly seems like the most appropriate time. However I will say this about its detractors. What surprises me about them is that their arguments are the same arguments that these same people used to use against the return of hanging. I myself was, and am against capital punishment. But everyone felt that in certain cases, such as this one, some punishment tougher than imprisonment was required. I think PC does that job very well indeed. And the best argument of all for PC as the law’s ultimate sanction is that, where mistakes are made — and let’s face it, any system is fallible — a sentence can be reversed. I would only add to that that there is clearly no room for doubt in this particular case.

‘Moreover, I for one welcome the presence of cameras here today. The public has a right to know about the punishments meted out in its name and at the taxpayer’s expense. Just as long as the faces of those participating in the execution of the sentence can be obscured. I look on this kind of broadcasting as performing a valuable public service.’

Jake could stand no more of someone as manipulative as Mrs Miles defending the freedom of the press, and walked slowly away from the cameras. She was surprised to find Mark Woodford come after her. She hadn’t seen him since the day when he and Waring had tried to persuade her to let Sir Jameson Lang try and talk Wittgenstein into killing himself.

‘Haven’t had a chance to speak to you,’ he said. ‘But well done, you know. For catching this poor fellow. No hard feelings?’