“No, that’s it. When can I get out of here?”
That he thought he had any prayer of being released was hard to believe.
“Never,” Sam said.
Gonzo turned off the recording device as they stood to leave the room.
“Wait! What do you mean ‘never’? My dad made me do it! I didn’t want to.”
That quickly, he was back to being a bewildered little boy.
They ignored him and left the room.
Charity and Freddie met them in the hallway.
“Are you guys thinking what I am?” Sam asked.
“Multiple personality disorder?” Gonzo said.
“It’s called something else now,” Sam said, trying to remember the current terminology.
“Dissociative identity disorder.” Charity rubbed her arms as if to contend with goose bumps. “I’ll request a full psych eval.”
Cameron Green came down the corridor toward them. “Got the warrants for the wife’s and sister-in-law’s phones in the Carver case.”
“Great, thanks,” Gonzo said to his partner.
“Why do you guys look so spooked?”
“Take a look at the video for the conversation we just had with Brecken Mayfield,” Sam said. “We’re having a full psych eval done. Possible dissociative identity disorder.”
“Oh wow. I’ve never seen that before in person.”
“Be thankful for that,” Sam said. “I’ll never forget it.”
“Same,” Gonzo said as Charity and Freddie nodded.
“Will you get him back to lockup?” Sam asked Gonzo. “We’re headed to see the Aherns.”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of it.”
“I’ll work on arranging the psych eval,” Charity said before she left.
While Gonzo and Cam took care of moving Brecken back to lockup, Sam and Freddie headed for the morgue exit.
“I’ve never wanted out of here more than I do right now,” Sam said.
“Right there with you. That was unreal.”
“Is it weird that I started to feel empathy for him as it became clear he’s seriously unwell?”
“No, it’s not, because I did, too. This is all on the father who molded his son into a monster in his own image.”
“I feel for the mom who tried to stop it.”
“I know. If only she’d been able to get him away from the father.”
“It was too late by the time she tried. The son was old enough to say where he wanted to be.”
