Chapter 10
Max shifts himself from side to side. He tries sitting up straight then slouching like he’s at home watching TV. Nothing works. The couch he's sitting on looked comfortable when he arrived but he now feels a wayward internal spring working its way up through the cushion and into his flesh. Listening to a man named Jeremy talk, with free flowing tears, about his amazing and spectacular wife who has been stolen from him too early, isn't helping the detective relax. Jeremy looks to be the same age as Max with a very clean-cut, inoffensive, way about him. Max could imagine him as a politician.
Jeremy's wife was found in the alleyway with Max’s name carved onto her abdomen; a fact not currently disclosed to the grieving husband. They’re only at his house to collect him and take him to a police station for a formal interview but the heartbroken father of two merely fills their time with anecdotes about when he met his wife and what they did during their first few months together. His stories are sweet and heartfelt and Alan listens patiently with only the occasional dirty glance at the younger detective when he tries to interrupt.
Jeremy's stories are told against the background noise of two little boys playing just outside the window. When the detectives arrived at the house Jeremy's parents were there to baby sit and took the children outside.
Jeremy finishes one story then says, “I haven't even told the boys yet. I don't know how. They keep asking.”
Alan is genuinely sympathetic but has to act his way through a well-rehearsed line he’s said countless times over the last two decades. “We can put you in touch with counsellors. They can help with that.”
Jeremy wipes a few tears from his eyes as Max adds in his own style, “We really need to move to a station where we can do this formally.”
Jeremy is almost exhausted with emotion, “Look, I can't do this now.”
Max has no time for it, “I appreciate that but the more you tell us now the better.” Alan tosses a dirty glance which Max misses.
“I get it. I’m a suspect, aren’t I?” Jeremy's words trail off as he puts his face in his hands and cries uncontrollably.
Alan tries to comfort him, “It’s all just standard practice.”
Max leans back on the uncomfortable couch - annoyed. He’s not a fan of the ‘group-hug’ approach, preferring pragmatism even at the expense of people’s feelings. The loose spring in the couch digs into him making him even more frustrated than he already was.
Jeremy is finally in the back seat of the car and Alan closes the door leaving both he and Max outside looking in at the crying man.
Alan takes the opportunity to offer some advice to his young counter-part, “A bit of compassion, even pretend compassion, would help everyone.”
“Yeah, well, I'm not sure compassion will find a murderer.”
“That's not the point. You may be a heartless machine who doesn't care, but losing someone under these circumstances destroys people. It's made worse when they have young children.”
The detectives hop into the car for the drive to the nearest Police station and have only the endless sobbing of Jeremy in the back to break the silence.