D.O.A.
*Previously published in Crimson Rivers, Vol. 2, 2000.
D.O.A.
BY
KEITH LAUFENBERG
-1-
MONEY
Thy money perish with thee.---New Testament: Acts, viii, 20.
Barbara Patterson scowled at her 12 year old son. A recent divorce had awarded her custody of him and $3,000 a month in alimony and child support. Her husband, an engineer, had not contested their house and she had been awarded that also, a 5 bedroom, 3 bath contemporary, located in an upper middle class neighborhood in Long Island, New York. Her son, Brian, had just handed her his report card and had failed two subjects. She hadn't expected it, he had done so good the previous grading period, but her separation and divorce had affected her son more than she wished to admit to. She threw the report card on the kitchen table and snarled:
'I won't sign this Brian.'
Brian, as tall as his mother, at 5'4', shrugged.
'That's aw'right. I'll just get Dad to sign it.'
'You'll not be seeing him, if I can help it. That woman!'
'Who Amy?'
'What? You call her Amy?'
'Yeah. She's nice.'
'She's a slut, she's'''''''
'She's nicer 'an your boyfriend.'
'Brian, you keep quiet.'
'You called her a SLUT, Mom?'
'What? What DID YOU JUST say, Mistah?'
Brian stared at his mother and smirked and she ran over to him and slapped him hard on his cheek and he scowled and walked towards his room as his mother hissed:
'Call your mother a slut. I wish I'd never had you, you little brat. Children? Hah, nothing' but a big waste a time, nothin' but money.'
An hour later, she had entirely forgotten what she had said to her son but it was something that he would never forget.
-2-
LOVE
Love is the strange bewilderment which overtakes one person on account of another person.
James Thurber and E.B. White, Is Sex Necessary!
Amy Brandenberg grabbed Brad Patterson's hand and they walked out of the school auditorium. They were seniors at the local high school and had been going steady for almost a year. Amy lived with her divorced mother and younger sister, just around the corner from Patterson and they practically lived at each other's homes. They had begun becoming sexually intimate with each other, almost from the very beginning, and Amy had just recently begun having morning sickness.
'Braddie, please I know I'm pregnant.'
'Why'nt you get checked?'
'Oh please, I know I am but nobody else knows, yet?'
'How about Marcia?'
'Well, you know SHE knows, she knows everything.'
'How?'
'Well, you know she IS a witch.'
'Cah'mon Aim, she's a devil worshippah.'
'Well, it's the same thing. She says she wants to use it, if, if we don't tell anybody. She says I can hide it easily with big clothes.'
'Use it? For what?'
'I think a ceremony.'
'Yeah? Why can't you just have the abortion?'
'Well Braddie, you know, then Mom would find out.'
'Well, I've already been accepted at Harvard.'
'Oh, you can still go, you know you can. I mean, I have to go off to school in Pennsylvania too, you know that.'
'Yeah, well I'm gonna visit you all the time.'
'Oh Braddie, why can't we just run off together?'
'Hon', I'm gonna be a lawyer, you're gonna be a doctor. We just need to figure this damn mess out.'
Brandenberg squeezed Patterson's hand and leaned close to his ear.
'Braddie, less go to your room; what could happen, now? We can do anything and be safe.'
Patterson smiled slightly and glanced at Brandenberg who was leering.
2
-3-
SATAN
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
New Testament: 1 Peter, v, 8.
'Gainst the logic of the devil
Human logic strives in vain.
A.L. Gordon, The Wayside House.
'Braddie, pleee-uh-ease, come down here now. I'm jus' practically going into labor.' Amy Brandenberg shouted into the telephone, causing Brad Patterson to pull it from his ear, for an instant. He nodded at Marcia Seinley, a 43 year old self-proclaimed witch and Satanic cult member, and returned the phone to his ear.
'Aw'rye baby, aw'rye. It'll take me a couple of hours to drive down there, okay?' Patterson heard a distant faint reply, in the affirmative, and hung up the phone. His eyes fixed on Seinley and he rasped:
'She's says she's gonna have it anytime now.'
Seinley smiled and whispered:
'We need this child, we can use it for an ultimate cult sacrifice. Do you understand the power you can derive from an ultimate sacrifice, Brad? For the cult, for Lucifer.'
Patterson, who only understood that his teenage hormones seemed to have him in a constant state of sexual desire, and that Seinley was willing to satisfy that desire whenever he showed up at her Manhatten condo, rasped:
'Oh? Yeah, I guess so.'
Marcia Seinley rubbed against Patterson and cooed:
'Want some glow before you go, bay-bee?'
Patterson frowned. Seinley was introducing him to things of a sexual nature that he had only heard of and when she had suggested more cult members join them he had been shocked but inquisitive. She had shown him pictures of the cult in sexual rituals with each other and children and even animals and his 18 year old mind was reeling. All he knew for sure was that his girlfriend was pregnant with his baby and neither one of them could afford for her to have it and their futures, as far as they were both concerned, hung in the balance. He smiled now, at a leering Marcia Seinley and said:
'No, maybe next time I uh-ah''''''''.
'Yes bay-bee, next time, as soon as she delivers, and bring the infant.'
3
-4-
DOOMED
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
New Testament: Luke 17:2.
Brian Patterson put the fifty-six dollars on the counter and nodded at the motel clerk, who smiled at the youth, as he glanced outside and saw Amy Brandenberg, sitting in the boy's car. So many of these college students paired up for rooms that the clerk had, long ago, lost count. It was usually on the week-ends but he had his share of week-day transgressors like this one and he handed Patterson the key to room 104 and his receipt. Patterson nodded and left quickly, the clerk's smile turning into a leer; he knew the pair couldn't wait to get in the room and get at each other, he knew the old song all too well.
But, inside room 104, it was anything but the old song the motel clerk was imagining, as Brandenberg exhaled rapidly and strained to push the small life inside her belly out into the world. She screamed and Patterson scowled, then smiled, knowing what the clerk would be thinking. He saw the baby's head and made a face; it was revolting to him. Amy Brandenberg pushed with all her might and grabbed the new-born's head and pulled. A boy, it lie on the bed next to her and all Brian Patterson could think of was that he probably wouldn't give it to Marcia Seinley, but he wasn't going to let anyone know of its existence, either. He heard its cries and saw all the blood on its head and body. Maybe it was injured? Maybe it was retarded? The thoughts quickly left his mind, as he grabbed the infant and, within seconds, had snuffed the life from it, when he applied all the pressure he could to the infant's neck and then threw it violently on the floor, where it lie, motionless.
Amy Brandenberg stared wide-eyed at Patterson and his voice cracked:
'Wha. . . .what have I done?'
Brandenberg sneered, her voice a virtual snarl:
'You did what you had to do, Braddie. Quick, we have to get rid of it. Someone will see.'
Patterson looked around the room and quickly saw what he must do, as he walked to a large garbage can and removed the unused trash bag, inside it.
*********
Amy Brandenberg smiled, as she walked towards her dorm room. She was weaving but the co-ed's in the dorm figured she was intoxicated and it wasn't until she passed out, in the hallway, that they called for an ambulance.
4
*********
Dr. Joe Grossman nodded at Dr. Ed Silverstein and rasped:
'She's obviously given birth within the past few hours, I'd say?'
'Yes, I think we'd better call the authorities Joe.'
Grossman nodded and lit a cigarette.
'Good idea.'
*********
Lt. Fred 'Red' Perkins nodded at Betty Thompkins, Amy Brandenberg's room-mate and smiled.
'So, she tried to hide it all these months, huh, Miss Thompkins.'
'Yes, but I knew she was probably pregnant. I just didn't want to, well, you know, butt in.'
'Ummm. Do you know who the ah-um, father is?'
'Oh, that'd be her boyfriend, Brian Patterson.'
Perkins took out a small notebook and wrote Brian Patterson's name in it.
'Would you have any idea where he is?'
'Well, I know he goes to Harvard.'
'Really?'
'Yes, I hear he's pre-law.'
Perkins smiled sardonically.
'That figures.'
He slipped the notebook inside his coat.
'Pardon me, but did you say something Lieutenant?'
'Naw, nothing Miss. Thanks a lot for your help.'
*********
The dormitory advisor nodded at the campus security guard and they walked to Brad Patterson's room. The advisor knocked and Patterson opened his door. He appeared startled. He had just gotten back on the campus and had slept very little in the past 48 hours.
'Bradford Patterson?'
'Uh-ah-er-um, yeah?'
'You'll need to come with us, sir.'
'Uh-ah-er, wha' what's this all about?'
'The F.B.I. wants to question you.'
'The, the F.B.I.?'
'Um-hummm. Your girlfriend at Penn State was taken to the hospital and they found out that she had delivered a child sometime within less than a day before she feinted in her dormitory.
5
You know anything about that? They have witnesses that said you were with her, a Miss Amy Brandenberg, at a motel in''''''''''
'I'll show you man, I'll show you.'
The security guard glanced questioningly at the dormitory advisor and then at Patterson.
'You'll show us Brad?'
'Yeah. Where I put the body.'
The security guard motioned for the dormitory advisor to step over to him and, when he did, he whispered:
'You better call the cops man?'
The dormitory advisor nodded and walked out of the room and to a phone.
*********
Lt. Larry Adkins, a homicide cop for the past two decades, smiled at Patterson and rasped:
'Mister Patterson. You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer any questions. Do you understand?'
'Ah-rah-um yessir.'
'Anything you do say can be used against you in a court of law, or in other judicial proceedings. Do you understand?'
'Ah, yessir.'
You have the right to consult with a lawyer before answering any questions, and have him present while you are being questioned. Do you understand?
'Ah, yessir.'
'If you cannot afford a lawyer, a lawyer will be appointed for you, if you so desire. We will not ask any questions until he has been appointed. Do you understand?'
'Yessir, I wanna say that''''''
Adkins held up his hand and barked:
'Just wait Mister Patterson, understand?' Patterson's face reddened and Adkins continued.
'You can waive these rights, and answer questions now, without a lawyer present. However you have the right to stop answering at any time, or until you are able to consult a lawyer. Do you understand?'
'Yessir.'
Adkins smiled laconically and growled:
'Knowing and understanding these rights, are you willing to answer questions without a lawyer present?'
'Yes-ah, yessir. I'll show you where I put the body.' Adkins removed a package of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and lit one. He offered one to Patterson and the lad took one greedily. Adkins lit it and said:
'Go ahead Brad. Tell me everything, son.'
He put his hand on Patterson's knee and squeezed, then glanced at his partner, Det. Sgt. Bill 'Big Mac' McDonald; they hadn't even made an attempt at their usual Mutt'n'Jeff routine. This one was going to be a piece of cake.
6
EPILOGUE
FUTURE EVIL
The curse of an evil deed is that it must always continue to engender evil.
Schiller, Piccolomini. Act v, sc. 1.
Special agent Tom Mahoney flipped his shield shut and Adkins shook his hand and rasped:
'We already got his statement, Tom.'
'Did you Miranda-size 'im?'
'Sure did. Made sure he understood every one of his rights too.'
'Good. Borkins vee Alabama's in every damn judge's head nowadays.'
'Yeah. Cigarette?'
Mahoney waved them away and glanced at the statement.
'You know we may go all the way with this one.'
'Yeah, he'll probably change his story soon's he gets a shyster on his case. Hell, they rollin' in dough. Damn kid goes to Harvard.'
'Yeah?'
'Yeah. You know it's scary. I been a cop over twenty years and this kid scares me.'
Mahoney shrugged.
'Really? How so?'
'Well, the kid's only eighteen, you know. And, and he can kill his own son, a baby man, a newborn, and not seem to even feel anything. I asked him if he felt bad about it and he said he didn't really feel anything about it.'
Mahoney nodded and barked:
'Ah-ehhh, whaddayah expect, it's the 90's Lieutenant, it's the 90's. Comin' into a new millennium soon and when're changing', thing's're really changing, you know?'
Mahoney shuffled away when Lt. Larry Adkins merely nodded and mumbled 'guess so,' and then stared into space, shivering involuntarily and wondering if this was some kind of future shock that precluded the Armageddon that his pastor had preached about just the previous day in church. Then he snapped out of it, when his superior Capt. Brent Byrne walked into the room and he knew another case, another murder, awaited.
7
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