My Funny Farm - Chapter 24 – The Full Diaper Bag – Part 2 of 2

 

My Funny Farm

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 24 – The Full Diaper Bag – Part 2 of 2

 

This was one of the big ones.  Detective Kinsley opened the door and walked into the interview room where Bill and his lawyer, Bartlett, had been waiting for some time now.  Both men looked fit to be tied.

“Why have you kept us waiting all this time?” Bartlett demanded.

“I’ve been busy,” Kinsley replied.

“I’m going to be filing a protest about this too!” Bartlett told her.

“Wonderful,” Kinsley replied, not caring in the least.  “File away.  I don’t care.”

“You will,” Bartlett threatened.

“Uh-huh,” Kinsley grunted.  “If you say so.  But first, I need to discuss a few things with your client.”

“My client has important business to take care of!” the lawyer shot back.

“Your client is a low-level accountant!  His job is barely important at all!  As far as I’m concerned, he may very well lose that job by the time I’m finished with him.”

“How dare you!” the lawyer accused.

“I dare!  So shut your mouth or I’ll find and excuse to charge you with something too.”

“I’m going to file a…”

“Go right ahead.  Now shut up!”

“I will not!  Now despite what you think, my client does indeed have important business to take care of, and since you kept us waiting so long, you can wait a bit longer while we handle it.  Oh, and you better make some phone calls because we need access to my other client, Mr. Craig Bryson.”

Kinsley was surprised.  “Not gonna’ happen!” she told him.  “Now what could possibly be so important as you claim?  I already know it has nothing at all to do with his job.”

“Craig Bryson’s expressly stated that he wanted my client here to handle all of his financial affairs.  He no longer trusts his son James at all!”

Kinsley was a bit surprised.  “That’s your business?”

“Yes.  And it’s very important.”

Kinsley turned to Bill.  “You know, Caitlin told me that Craig Bryson decided to change his financial executor last night.”

Bill was startled.  “Yes!” he replied happily.  “He told us during dinner.”

“And it’s business we need to take care of right away,” the lawyer insisted.

“It’s not gonna’ happen,” Kinsley replied calmly.

“It is going to happen!” the lawyer insisted.  “It’s going to happen today, as soon as possible!  Make the calls to give us access to Craig Bryson.”

“That deal will happen over my dead body!” Kinsley shot back.

“This is Craig Bryson’s will!  It’s what he wants, and we have witnesses to prove it.”

“Not hardly,” Kinsley replied.  “How could it be what he wants, when it was you, Bill, that made that decision for him.”

“Me?  How could I make a decision like that?”

“You wanted to take care of his business all along, didn’t you.”

“Yes.  I live right there in the house.  It only makes sense.”

“Except when it comes to fraud!”

“Fraud!  What are you talking about?”

“And extortion,” Kinsley added.

“What?  This is outrageous,” Bartlett replied.  “Craig Bryson himself stated what he wanted done, and everyone in the house heard him.”  He opened a file folder.  “I’ve already drawn up the paperwork to file as soon as possible to officially change his money management to Bill.  This needs to be filed right away!”

Kinsley shook her head.  “Why?  What possible reason could there be that your paperwork can’t wait another day?”

“Mr. Bryson is not of sound mind!  He can’t handle his own affairs at all.”

“And yet you just told me that he made the decision to have Bill here handle all his money for him instead of James.  That sounds like his mind is sound enough.”

“It isn’t!” Bartlett insisted.  “He’s getting old and has lost to much of his reasoning function.”

“Including his reasoning to change his money manager?  I don’t think so.”

“It’s what he wants, and we need to file this paperwork immediately!”

“Let me see it,” Kinsley asked.  “Pass it over.”

Bartlett passed the stack of papers over to her and Kinsley began reading through it.  She didn’t get very far before she went back to the beginning and started reading more carefully.  She was dumbfounded by what she read.

She finally looked up at Bartlett.  “Mr. Bartlett,” she said.  “I’m sure it took you a long time to prepare that document.”

“Yes, it did.”

“Which means to me that you had to know about what they were doing well in advance of anyone else.”

“What do you mean, what they were doing?”

“This conspiracy to defraud Craig Bryson out of his money.”

“What conspiracy?  There is no conspiracy!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!  Very!”

“Okay,” Kinsley said.  She opened a file folder in front of her and pulled out a plastic wrapped piece of paper.  “Let’s start comparing your document there with this list of hypnotic suggestions I found in Nichole’s desk drawer this morning.”

Bartlett looked startled.  “Hypnotic suggestions?”

“Number one!” Kinsley said.  “He will want to be a baby and will love it.  The more of a baby he gets to be, the better.”  She glanced over at Bartlett’s document.  “Oh look, right here near the top of your list of incompetency reasons is that very same idea.  Practically word for word!”

She went through two more, the said, “Let’s skip down to the most important one, okay?”  She got no answer from either Bartlett or Bill.  She looked at Nichole’s list and read, “He won’t like it that his son James is handling all his business affairs.  He will believe that Bill should be doing it instead.”  She looked up at Bartlett.  “Isn’t that exactly what he announced to you at dinner last night?  An idea that was hypnotically implanted into his head just that day, and just so you Bill, could gain control of all his money.  Millions of dollars!”

“Hypnotically implanted?” Bartlett tried.  “That’s absurd!”

Kinsley was surprised.  “Is it?  Let’s see.”  She turned the laptop so they could see the recording made by the picture frame and pulled up the video of Nichole implanting all the suggestions into Craig’s head, including that he would want to change his money manager from James over to Bill.”

Both Bill and Bartlett were shocked.  “Where did you get that?” Bartlett demanded.

“We made a recording of everything that goes on in that nursery of his,” Kinsley explained.  “And you wouldn’t believe some of the things we found.”

“This is outrageous!” Bartlett complained.  “It’s entrapment!”

“No it’s not.  Not at all,” Kinsley countered.  “Not only has Mr. Bryson himself expressed his concerns about a conspiracy against him, but I worked on this directly with James Bryson, Mr. Bryson’s son, who is the executor for Mr. Bryson’s affairs.  In fact, it was James himself who installed that video surveillance system.  There is no trace of an entrapment charge here at all.  But instead, I’ve got an entire bag full of evidence against you,” she told him.  “Or…an entire diaper bag full if you want to use that analogy since it seems to fit the circumstances.  And guess what, not only does it show everything that Nichole did to him, but as you just saw, some of it implicates your client, Bill.  Now the only question I’m trying to figure out, is exactly who else is involved, and I already know of one other person.”

“Who?” Bartlett asked.

“You!” Kinsley said.

“I am not!” Bartlett protested.

Kinsley chuckled.  “Yes you are.  “It had to take a while to put that document of yours together.  And everything in it was the exact things that were on Nichole’s list of hypnotic suggestions.  It’s quite obvious to me that you’re also part of this conspiracy.  I’m charging you with conspiracy to cause mental harm, fraud, and of course the main entrée on the menu – extortion!  You’re going to jail along with the rest of them.”  She stared him in the eyes and saw nothing but fear there.  “Now,” she said.  “Do you want to tell me who else is involved in your little conspiracy besides you, Bill, and Nichole?”

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Detective Kinsley expected this next interview to be the shortest one.  A mere formality that’s all.  After talking with Bill and his lawyer, she knew now that there had been four people lined up against Craig Bryson expecting to get his money.  Three family members, and the lawyer.  Bill, Nichole, her husband Michael, and Bartlett.  She was happy to hear that Caitlin was in the clear.

She walked into the interview room where Michael had been waiting and sat down.  After this one, she would be tackling Nichole.  She was looking forward to that little talk.

“Michael,” she said.  “I’ve just come from a rather lengthy discussion with Bill and his lawyer Mr. Bartlett.  I’m going to tell you right up front that between all our evidence and now talking with them, I know pretty much everything.  I know that your wife, Nichole, has been systematically hypnotizing your grandfather and trying to make him incompetent, and also to arrange to have Bill handle all his money affairs so that you…and they…can get that money.

“Lucky you, Bill and Bartlett named you as one of the four people involved, although it seems that your involvement has been barely anything at all, except to discuss it all with your wife, which makes you complicit in the crimes committed.”

“What’s complicit?” Michael asked.

“Helping commit a crime, or in this case, having knowledge of it and not reporting it.”  She got the impression he still didn’t understand.  “I’m sorry, but you’re still going to jail for it.  Just…maybe not for as long as the rest of them.”

“Jail?”

“Yes!  Sorry, but that’s the way it works when you conspire to steal someone’s money.”

She noticed that Michael didn’t exactly look happy, and he shouldn’t.  “Tell me,” she said.  “Your wife is quite a hypnotist.  Did you know that when you married her?”

He nodded.  “Yeah.  She learned it in college.”

“She took a course in it?”

“No.  It was just something she picked up in the dorms.  She used to set people up with all kinds of hypnotic suggestions to get them to do things.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.  Act like a chicken.  A lot of times she had them making out with things or people they never would.  She was real good at it.”

“How good?”

“Real good,” he replied.

“How do you know?  Did she ever hypnotize you?”

“No.  I was never interested.”

“That you’re aware of,” Kinsley noted.

“Uh…I’m sure she didn’t.”

Kinsley figured that someone like Nichole probably tried to hypnotize everyone she could, including him.

“She was so good,” Michael told her, that she used to hypnotize people and get them to think she had loaned them money, and then had them pay her back.”

“When she didn’t loan them any money in the first place?” Kinsley asked.

“Right.  Pretty good, huh?”

“Yeah,” Kinsley admitted, realizing that fraud was an old habit for Nichole.

 

--- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

 

Kinsley walked into the interview room and sat down across from Nichole.  “Nichole, Nichole, Nichole,” she said.  “You’re quite the hypnotist, aren’t you.”  She saw only a very brief bit of concern on Nichole’s face before it evaporated.

“Hypnotist?  I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I’ve never done it.  I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

Kinsley almost had a fit hearing her say that.  She smiled instead.  “I’ll bet you say that to all your victims.”

“What victims?  I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh!  Sure you don’t.”

“I don’t!”

“I had an interesting little chat with your husband a few minutes ago,” Kinsley told her.  “And believe me, he’s pretty much in awe of what you can do.”

“What I can do?  He’s my husband.  And I’m glad he’s in awe of me, I just don’t know why.”

Kinsley chuckled.  “According to him, you’re an old hand when it comes to using hypnotism to defraud people.  He told me all about the scheme you had going in college to rip off all your friends, and they never knew what was going on.  Quite impressive, I must say.”

“I never…”

“Stop it Nichole!” Kinsley said sharply.  “I know everything.  I’ve got…”  she chuckled.  “As I put it to Bill and his so-called lawyer, I’ve got a whole diaper bag full of evidence against you.  Especially you!”

“Me?  What did I do?”

“Well, maybe we should just start at the beginning with torture and intent to commit bodily harm.”

“What?”

Kinsley opened her laptop and pulled up the first video showing Nichole shoving the big plug into Craig’s ass, and then attaching the electric shock device and shocking him nearly to death.  Emily and Caitlin had cried seeing it, Nichole simply looked angry.

“Where did you get that?” Nichole demanded.

“James helped me install a surveillance system in that nursery.”

“I didn’t see anything like that in his room.”

“Of course not.  If you had, we’d never have been able to get all these wonderful recordings. 
The system was on a motion detector by the way, so that anytime anyone was in the room it was recording.  And Nichole, the abuse you were dishing out was pretty much non-stop, all day.”

Nichole said nothing.  She just glared angrily at the detective.

“As for you not knowing anything about hypnotism, let’s take another look.”

Kinsley played one of the first videos where the volume had been boosted so that it was easy to hear everything Nichole had said to Craig, reminding him of each and every thing she had instilled into his head so far.  When it was over, Kinsley said, “When we searched your apartment, we found the list of suggestions you wanted him to have to make him incompetent.  As you just saw, you went straight down that list, at least as far as you had gotten with it so far.  You still had a number of things you were planning on doing to him, but the proof of all of it is right there in front of you, including telling him every time you woke him up that he would never remember being hypnotized, and that if anyone ever asked, he’d say you were incapable of such a thing.  Proof Nichole.  Right there.”

Nichole still said nothing.

“You systematically hypnotized him three times a week, three times a day, to put those ideas into his head, not only robbing him of his ability to do the most basic things, but also to make him want to be nothing but a baby for the rest of his life.  Incompetent!  All so you and your friends could get your hands on his money.  Proof Nichole.  And you saw it.  And trust me, there’s a lot more where they came from.  Would you like me to play you the part where you were drunk and singing and dancing?  You were singing an old Carpenter’s song.  But the words you sang said that he was going to make your dreams of money come true.  Would you like to hear it?  Would you like to see your drunken self, singing and dancing?”

“No!” Nichole told her.

“That’s what it was all about Nichole – money.  Money, and fraud!  And as I said, I’ve got tons of evidence now against you and all your friends.  I only have a few questions left that I haven’t figured out yet, but they’re minor little points.  First of all, was it you who put it into Craig Bryson’s head to commit suicide in the first place?  Did you make him want to kill himself?”

“No!  Of course not.”

Kinsley shook her head.  “I don’t know whether to believe you or not.  We already know you lie whenever it suits you.  But the truth is, it’s a minor point in the grand scheme of things.  As I said, we’ve got more than enough to put you away for a very long time.  There’s just one more question I have.  How about Jared?  Was he part of your little conspiracy too?”

Nichole was surprised.  “You mean Emily’s Jared?”

“Yes.”

“God no!”

“Emily was concerned that he might be because of the way he was abusive towards Craig.  She’s very concerned about it.”

Nichole shook her head.  “Look,” she said.  “Jared just wants everyone to see him as some kind of badass, so he goes around talking big and doing some…well…sometimes it can be some pretty cruel stuff.  But then Emmy kind of gets a kick out of some of the BDSM stuff too.  She used to be so hung up on Jared.  She still is in fact, even though they don’t live together anymore.  But then, have you seen him?  He’s a hunk and a half.”  She smiled.  “I’ve been to bed with him a few times myself.  Of course, dumb Emmy doesn’t know that, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  But no, he was never involved.  We never even talked to him.”

“So it was just the four of you,” Kinsley stated for the record.

“Look,” Nichole said.  “Michael kind of came up with the idea for me to hypnotize Gramps and get him to give us some money.  But we didn’t know just how rich he was, so we asked Bill since he’s so interested in money.  Bill told us though that Gramps has millions just laying around doing nothing at all, and he wanted in on the scheme.  He told us if we did it right, we could all get rich.  Probably more than a million dollars each.  But then he came and told us that we had to make his lawyer friend part of the deal as well.  I got the impression his friend didn’t give him much of a choice.  After that, we were already going to have to split Gramps money four ways, there was no way we wanted anyone else in on it, so there was no way we were ever going to ask someone like Jared.  As if we would anyway.  He may be a hunk and great in bed, but he’s an idiot!

Two minutes later, Detective Kinsley left the interview room.  Now she needed to figure out what to do next on the case.  But the answer to that was obvious.  It was time to check in with the victim, Craig Bryson.  Actually, it was time to check in with him and his doctors.

One thing she wanted to make sure of, and she’d probably have to get her sister to back her up on it, but if Craig was going to remain in that behavioral center where he belonged, then he needed a different doctor.  Craig was absolutely right about one thing.  A doctor who was still in high school wasn’t the best person to treat Craig’s problems.  Even if it was a doctor who just looked like he was in high school.  He needed someone older…and wiser.  Hopefully.