RANDOM SCENE 4
| AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just a lil' bitty scene I thought up, not very much at all. This is from the unwritten novel Magic City, as is the unrelated "Random Scene 3" (about Devetko and Brooks).
If you're wondering exactly what's going on here, a look at Minot will clear everything up, in particular "Minot: Chapter 8." (And keep in mind that that chapter took place in 1995; this scene takes place in 2001.) 
"Mark Kincaid never would have committed suicide," Tamarah said, almost scowling down into her drink. "I knew him better than anyone else knew him, except maybe the chief. And he never would have killed himself." "But he did." Kristeva peered at Devetko out of the corner of his eye. "All the evidence proves that he did." "It only looks like it does," Tamarah snapped. Devetko actually blinked and backed down. "That's because they wanted you to think he killed himself." "They?" Kristeva asked. "There was a woman," Tamarah blurted out, and then fell silent. She looked down at her drink again without finishing. Kristeva and Devetko sat and waited for her to do so; when she didn't, Kristeva prompted, "A woman--?" "I always wanted to do right by his son." Her voice was soft now, resigned. "He never deserved any of what he got. Mark, he was good for bringing him in, even when the kid obviously had problems. They really did care about each other. I never did right by him by keeping my mouth shut, like everybody told me to do." "Here's your chance." She looked up at him. Kristeva met her eyes and she flushed and looked away. "Look...if I say now, it'll only make things worse..." "Believe me, things can't get any worse." Tamarah hesitated. She sighed. "Mark...Mark was into something...something not too pretty. I don't think he meant any of it. Or at least knew what he was getting himself into. But he did anyway. He's not the saint everybody makes him out to be. I think maybe, everybody was better off thinking that he was." "Ms. Tamarah." She looked up at him again. Kristeva folded his hands between his knees. "If you know something about the suicide, you'd best tell us now. If you haven't noticed, this has started to become an epidemic. Mark Kincaid might be the key." The woman's cheeks flushed red again. "Mark...Mark got involved with the wrong people," she said haltingly. "Not by any fault of his own, it just happened, from what I can tell. They probably fooled him into thinking they were legit. They were anything but. They're the ones who messed him up. I believe they were the same ones responsible for what happened to Kinnie." Devetko frowned. "The same people who had Lieutenant Kincaid? Behind Mark Kincaid's suicide?" "Why do you think this?" Kristeva asked. Tamarah sighed and shrugged. "Because who else would want him dead so badly? Look. Mark was never suicidal before the day he killed himself. Ask anybody and they'll tell you yes, he was depressed. But not suicidal. If anything he wanted to keep living so he could put those bastards behind what happened to Kinnie behind bars. You really think he would've killed himself rather than do that?" Kristeva lifted one shoulder. "You tell me." "Did either of you notice that he became suicidal right after Kinnie started remembering things in therapy? Do you see the pattern there? Everything was fine until the memories started coming back. Then, Mark was a liability. He needed to be dead." "You think they killed him to keep Kinnie quiet?" Tamarah snorted. "No. I think they got him to kill himself to keep Kinnie quiet. And it worked, too. You see the record? Kinnie clammed up and nearly went catatonic right after the suicide. Since then he's never spoken about it as openly as he did back then. Mission completed." "Why not just kill Kinnie himself?" "Well, perhaps they wanted to, but perhaps they didn't. Maybe he has his uses, being 'crazy' and all--he can discredit anything else anybody might say that would back his case up." "But he never has," Devetko said. Tamarah shook her head and gave a small grin. "Nope. Maybe because he wasn't programmed right...or else he's tougher than they thought. But still, he hasn't exactly come forward yet, either." "So what does Mark have to do with all of this? You say they made him kill himself. How does somebody do that?" "Easy." Tamarah counted off on her fingers. "Plenty of drugs. Plenty of suggestion. And plenty of 'incentive.'" The two detectives stared at her for a moment. The sunlight changed patterns on the floor. Kristeva finally spoke. "This 'woman' you mentioned." Tamarah nodded, and her eyes narrowed. "I never did like her," she muttered. "I knew there was something wrong about her. She came onto him way too fast. And the timing, too. Right up there with Kinnie's therapy. Just like she planned it that way." She fell silent for a moment, as if fearing she'd said too much, before sighing and speaking again. "She started dropping by his place more often. Not that I ever saw anything amiss, but a few of my friends said they'd see the three of them in town once in a while. And the way she looked at Kinnie sometimes...if she was interested in Mark, there's no way she should have been looking at him like that. Of course, he never looked back. Well...not in the same way." "In what way then?" "Once in a while he'd kind of look at her, like he knew...knew what she was up to." Tamarah's voice quieted. "Or suspected. Maybe he did. Poor kid. If he'd told Mark, I know Mark would've believed him over her..." "You think she used sex to get what she wanted from him?" Devetko asked. Kristeva glanced at him and Tamarah blushed and looked down at her drink again. "Well...that wouldn't be the only thing, of course. Mark was smarter than that. I think that's how she won him over, initially. But to keep him...she would've needed something a little stronger..." "Drugs." She nodded at Kristeva's comment. "Like I said, I never saw anything myself...but I don't know...the way he acted sometimes, like a robot...like he was just programmed to go through the motions, you know?" On hearing the word programmed Kristeva slowly sat up, his eyes changing. The other two looked at him. He seemed to stare into space for a moment before blinking, his eyes focusing on Tamarah's face. "You have any idea what sort of drugs?" "What? Oh...no. I wouldn't have any idea. Something really weird, though. And she must have sneaked it to him. Because Mark was no junkie, no matter what crowd he hung out with toward the end. He was too busy with Kinnie to let himself go to waste like that...at least, knowingly..." Kristeva stood. Devetko followed, though he gave his partner a questioning look. Tamarah glanced at both of them before standing herself, and Kristeva shook her hand before she could speak. "Thanks for talking with us. You've been very helpful." "I have?" She blinked and shook her head, then nodded. "I hope so. I hope you get these scums, whoever they are. Mark wasn't perfect, but he was good enough. He was my friend. I know that they killed him. Make sure they're locked up before they do it to anybody else. I'm afraid for Kinnie now." Kristeva nodded. "We'll do everything that we can." He turned to the door and Devetko followed. Tamarah hurried to get ahead of them, opening it for them; she nodded at them both as they left, and shut the door behind them. Kristeva took the steps two at a time despite the ice, Devetko descending a bit more slowly. "What was that about?" he called out as they walked back to the car. "What was what about?" "Calling off the questioning early. You could've asked her some more." "She already said everything we needed to know." "And what was that? First she said that Mark didn't kill himself. Then she said he did. Then she said she knew somebody else did it." He shrugged, and opened the passenger-side door. "I don't really get it, Max. She sounds paranoid." "I can't really comment on that," Kristeva replied, getting in and slamming the door as Devetko did the same. His partner blew on his hands while he put the key in the ignition. "But she didn't contradict herself once." "How so?" "If you're going to be literal, then yes, Mark did pull the trigger of the gun that killed him. But if you're going to be technical, the trigger wasn't being controlled by Mark's finger--it was being controlled by what pulled Mark's finger." Devetko stared at him in silence for a moment with that Are-you-really-saying-what-I-think-you're-saying? look. He cocked his head forward when he spoke. "So you're saying...somebody made Mark kill himself...by making him pull the trigger? You believe what she said? Murder two, depraved indifference?" Kristeva started the car. The engine roared. "Something like that. Only they weren't as indifferent as you might think. Mark was pulling the trigger, but it's not like he had any choice in the matter anyway. You heard what she said. 'Incentive.' 'Programmed.' Give a man enough of something to wipe his mind clean, and he'll do anything once without even realizing the cost." He glanced over his shoulder and pulled the car out into the street, taking the wheel and driving up and on through the slush and back to the city. END |
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