Read Online Bronx Justice by Joseph Teller - Free Book Online Page B

moment.”
    â€œG-g-guilt?”
    â€œYes. Darren, when you were growing up, which of your parents would you say was stricter, was more concerned with teaching you right from wrong?”
    â€œThey were both pretty strict.”
    Jaywalker could believe that.
    â€œWhich one would more likely have told you it was wrong to hurt people?”
    Darren seemed to think a moment before saying, “My dad, I guess.”
    â€œHow about sex education? Which one took more of a role in teaching you about sex?”
    Darren thought again. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “I—I—I learned that pretty much on my own.” Then, when Sandusky didn’t react, he added, “I guess it would have b-been my dad again.”
    â€œOkay,” said Sandusky. “Psychologists and psychiatrists tell us that hurting values and sexual values are taught to us by our parents when we’re very young, and that deviance from these values is what produces guilt feelings.”
    This struck Jaywalker as mumbo jumbo, double-talk. He had the feeling that Sandusky was deliberately trying to lose Darren here, though he didn’t know why.
    â€œThe problem is,” Sandusky explained, “guilt feelings can interfere with the test.” To Jaywalker, that sounded counterintuitive. Wasn’t the test premised upon the existence of feelings of guilt and designed to ferret them out?
    â€œSo,” Sandusky continued, “when we get started, I’m going to include a couple of questions to eliminate them. One will be about hurting, the other about sex. And by the way, these two questions will be between you and me. I won’t report them to anyone, not even your lawyer. Okay?”
    Darren nodded.
    â€œDo you know what masturbation is, Darren?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Evidently Sandusky wanted to be certain.
    â€œIt’s when you p-p-p-play with yourself.”
    â€œRight,” said Sandusky. “Have you ever masturbated, Darren?”
    â€œYes,” Darren admitted.
    Jaywalker found himself feeling more like a voyeur than ever. But it was riveting stuff, and he was beginning to see where Sandusky was going with it.
    â€œWhen was the last time?”
    â€œI c-c-can’t recall.”
    â€œHow old are you now?”
    â€œTwenty-two.”
    â€œWell,” said Sandusky, “that makes you pretty old. I guess it would have had to have been when you were ten or eleven, huh?”
    â€œI g-g-guess so,” Darren agreed.
    Jaywalker’s hunch had been right. Sandusky was building a lie into the test, deliberately coaching Darren to be deceitful when the time came. That way, he would have a control response to a lie, against which he could measure the real responses.
    â€œWell,” said Sandusky, “you can’t remember masturbating in the last ten years, can you?”
    â€œNo,” said Darren, swallowing the bait.
    â€œGood. Now, have you ever hurt anybody?”
    â€œYes,” said Darren. “I guess so.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œI’ve hurt Charlene, my wife, by saying things.”
    â€œCan you remember anyone else you’ve hurt?”
    Darren hesitated for a moment. “No,” he said.
    â€œOkay,” said Sandusky. Once again he attached the straps to Darren’s body and inflated the blood pressure cuff. “Now,” he said, “put your hands on the arms of the chair. Feet flat on the floor. I want you to face forward and close your eyes. As I ask you questions, you just answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’” He turned on the machine.
    Jaywalker had to remind himself to breathe.
    â€œDo you live in the United States?” asked Sandusky.
    â€œYes,” answered Darren.
    â€œDid you rape Joanne Kenarden?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDo you know who did rape Joanne Kenarden?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œIs your name Darren