“Give me what you got.”
Ray nodded to Sue.
“Well,” Sue began. “This is where things get interesting.”
“How is she now, by the way?” Tyrrell asked.
“Physically, she’s recovering. But mentally, she’s way out somewhere,” Sue answered.
“Tell me about interesting,” Tyrrell prompted.
“The bio on the Leiston website said she had a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Wisconsin. But when I contacted them, I found that she dropped out her junior year,” Sue explained.
“So, she wasn’t a college graduate?”
“Actually, she was. She had a nervous breakdown and withdrew from school. This was shortly after her father died from alcoholism. Helen’s mother had her admitted to Menninger Clinic…”
“Where’s that?”
“Topeka, Kansas, at that time. It’s moved to Texas. I had a long talk with her sister, Mary Hayden. She was very cooperative.”
“How did you find her?” Tyrrell asked.
“She contacted us to file a missing person’s report. She was indignant that Dr. Warrington didn’t seem to know where his wife was.”
“So, give me a quick history,” Tyrrell said, looking impatient.
“According to Mary Hayden, Helen was in and out of Menninger Clinic for years.” Sue read from her notes. “She suffered from what’s now called a dual disorder.”
“Dual disorder, what’s that?”
“She had both severe psychiatric and addiction problems.”
“Addicted to what?” Tyrrell asked.
“So?” asked Tyrrell, looking a bit bored.
“She advertised herself as having a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and worked as the school psychologist her first year at Leiston.”
“I don’t know. Mary said Helen had a rich fantasy life. She was an enormously convincing liar and a very skillful manipulator,” said Sue.
“And did the sister… ?”
“Mary.”
“Mary said that she has had little contact with Helen for more than a decade. She met Ian once, briefly, at her mother’s funeral. Helen and Ian were newlyweds at the time.”
“And you’ve talked to Dr. Warrington?”
“Yes, and he’s sticking with the story that he thought Helen was a certified psychotherapist. He says he met Helen on a plane from Chicago to L.A.—at the time he lived in Chicago and Helen in Kansas City. He says that when he first met her she told him she was a clinical psychologist, that her specialty was multiple personality disorders.
“Dr. Warrington said they had a long-distance relationship for about a year, then she moved to Chicago, and they married. Shortly after that, her mother died. Warrington said Helen wanted to take some time off from working, and money wasn’t a problem. By his account the first few years of their marriage were happy, and then Helen started falling off the wagon and having psychological problems. When he took the job at Leiston School, he encouraged her to take the school psychologist position. He thought working again might get her back on track, but before the first year was over he could see that it was just exacerbating her problems.”
“Anything else?”
“He said the last six months have been especially difficult—Helen had become extremely difficult. He’s been trying to figure out how to deal with the situation.”
“What’s her connection to this Freeler kid?
“When Helen Warrington was the psychologist at Leiston, she treated Denton Freeler. Denton Freeler’s former Leiston roommate says that Denton bragged that his relationship with Helen Warrington involved drinking, drugs, and sex. We do know that his records disappeared from Leiston’s files and assume that Helen removed them. Also, he was listed as deceased in the alumni file, and we assume that Helen made the change. And for the last few months he’s been living in the area.”
“How about Freeler?”
“I’m still trying to put that together, I’ve only got bits and pieces.”
“His parents, didn’t they know what was going on?” asked Tyrrell.
“His father works in Saudi Arabia. I talked to him on the phone—this is after their attorney informed them of his death. Very strange call,” said Sue.
“How so?”
“There was no emotion. He didn’t seem particularly upset by the death of his son. He said that Denton had been a very troubled child and a difficult teenager. After high school, he had flunked out of several colleges. His father said they did what they could to help him while he was growing up, but at some point Denton had to take responsibility for his own life.”
“Did the father know he was living at his grandparents’ cottage?”
“No, last he heard Denton had an apartment in Royal Oak and was going to the local community college. He said they had instructed their attorney to provide Denton with tuition money and a living allowance.”
“So, let’s cut to the chase. How did Helen Warrington and Freeler hook up? What provoked these crimes?”
“There’s much we don’t know; we are still collecting facts.” Ray answered. “We believe that their relationship began when Freeler was a student at Leiston School. Based on the account of his former roommate, Jay Hanson, Freeler became involved with Helen Warrington when she was functioning as the school psychologist. Warrington, in addition to providing therapy, also accompanied Freeler to AA meetings. Freeler bragged to his roommate that rather than going to AA, he and Helen went to his family cottage for drinking and sex. That was more than three years ago. We don’t know when they reconnected or when Freeler came back into the area. There seems to have been some powerful attraction—love, or hate, or addiction—that held them together.”
“But why kill Allen and Dowd?”
“There’s a complex history that we’re still trying to sort out. But we think the event that triggered the Allen/Dowd slayings was that Ashleigh photographed Warrington and Freeler together.”
“When was this?”
“A few days before the murders. Ashleigh had taken her biology class to Upper Bar Lake to collect water samples. Using a digital camera she took a lot of photos of the students. They were on a CD I took out of her camera. Several photos showed a couple on the east shore across from where the students were wading,” explained Sue.
“Freeler and Warrington?” probed Tyrrell.
“Yes, they were in the distance at the edge of the photo. I didn’t even notice them the first time I looked at the pictures on screen. And, given how far they were from Ashleigh, she might have not recognized them. But when I enlarged the photos, there they were, holding hands. No question about their identities.”
“So,” said Ray, picking up the narrative, “here’s our theory. Freeler and Helen thought that they had been discovered. Freeler, on his own or with Helen’s prodding, committed the murders to protect their secret.”
“Great theory, but so what? They were consenting adults.”
“We’re not dealing with rational people,” responded Ray.
“And the fire?”
“The arson investigator wouldn’t commit to a specific cause, but I think there’s a good chance that Freeler, or Helen, or both working together started the blaze. ”
“Motive?”
“The photos, they wanted to destroy the evidence. Ashleigh’s camera was in her apartment and lots of prints of her students doing field work.”
“Why didn’t they just take the camera?”
“Speculation again—perhaps he thought we would have noticed the camera was missing.”
“Why did he try to kill you?” Tyrrell prodded.
“Again speculation,” Sue answered. “But perhaps in their confused world they thought that Ray was getting too close. And if they killed him it would stop the investigation. It was just the two of them against the world. With Ashleigh dead, Ray was their most immediate threat.”
“But you haven’t been able to question Helen about this?”
“I’ve had several conversations with her psychiatrist. At this point she’s catatonic,” Sue said.
“Four deaths,” said Tyrrell, “Ray shot. What an enormous amount of carnage.”
“And Arnie Vedder,” added Ray, “An unintended victim. We think he fled to his shack after he witnessed the murders or found the bodies.”
“And Arnie Vedder,” repeated Tyrrell. “What’s happening with him?”
“He’s been moved to a nursing home. He’s made some progress,” said Ray. “But the prognosis is uncertain.”
“Poor bastard. That kid never had a chance,” muttered Tyrrell. He dropped in a chair at the head of the table and looked at Sue and then Ray. “So, we can charge Helen with a lot of things, but she may never be competent to stand trial.”
They both nodded their agreement.
“What an appalling way to save the county money.”
A long pause followed, finally Tyrrell turned to Ray and said, “I hope you’re going to take some time off. How long has it been since you’ve had a vacation?”
“It’s been a while,” Ray responded. “And as soon as I’m a bit more ambulatory I’m going to get away for a few weeks.” “Where to?”
“California. I’ve got some personal business I need to attend to.”
In the process of writing and revising this book I received help and encouragement from a number of people. Detective Sergeant Mark Henschell of the Michigan State Police provided counsel on police procedures and DNA evidence. Don Shapton lent his knowledge of the workings of rural fire departments and helped with cover concepts.
I am very grateful to the early readers of this manuscript, Anne Stanton, Anne-Marie Oomen, and Lori Hall Steele. Their insightful suggestions helped me grow the story during the many revisions.
My thanks again to Lori Hall Steele for her skillful editing and her help in bringing this project to completion.