Page 58 of A Winter of Discontent for Henry Milch
“I have no idea. The sheriff is going to have to prove that, isn’t he?”
And I figured that was where we’d start. When Jan arrived at noon, I ran out of the house and drove to the Municipal Center. It was a beautiful day. When the sky is a clear blue and the snow a sparkling white and the temperature in the high twenties, I can almost appreciate winter. Almost.
I was in the Metro, so I slid into a parking place and then went into the sheriff’s office. Bernie had asked me to meet him there so we could talk to his aunt together. On the way, I’d called Hamlet and explained Bernie’s offer.
He said, “Thank you for being ethical. And bringing in work. I think you’ve earned yourself a two dollar an hour increase.
“Which brings me to… how much?”
“Oh shit! I’ve got to go.”
I would have thought he was faking if it weren’t for the gunfire in the background.
Anyway, I reached the sheriff’s office before Bernie. I stopped the moment I walked in. The office was basically a large, communal room with a lot of empty desks. The room was ringed by offices and interview rooms. In my other visits it had been a deadly quiet place. Today, though, it was noisy and chaotic.
Several of the deputies were there standing with Detective Lehmann, as they watched Patty Gauthier attempting to carry Lehmann’s wife Gloria around the room. Gloria was a very attractive, petite blond who was likely around Bobbie’s weight.Detective Lehmann had devised a way for Patty to prove her confession true.
Gloria lay over Patty’s shoulders in what looked like a fireman’s carry.
“Honey, relax, you’re a corpse,” Detective Lehman said from the sidelines.
“I’m trying.”
Patty was struggling a bit, but she was managing it.
“Really, Rudy, I could have written you an equation that would have proven whether this was physically possible or not,” Gloria said. She taught algebra.
And then, Bernie Schaub, Jr. was behind me saying, “Oh no, no, no, no-no-no.”
“I’m just verifying Patty’s confession,” Detective Lehmann said.
“Bernie, you don’t need to be here,” Patty said as she put Gloria down. She wiped some sweat off her forehead. “I’ve confessed. I don’t need an attorney.”
“Aunt Patty, that’s when you need an attorney the most.” He looked at Detective Lehmann and said, “Manslaughter.”
“She’s already confessed that she went to Bobbie’s home with the intention of killing her.”
Bernie looked at his aunt, and said, “You really should have talked to me first.”
“I just wanted to get it over with.”
Detective Lehmann said, “Why don’t you and your client go into an interview room. We’ll get a search warrant for her home… Unless you’d like to give us permission?”
“Yes, go ahead,” Patty said.
“Uh-no… get a warrant.”
“We’ll get a warrant.”
Then we went into the interview room. Bernie nodded in my direction, indicating that I should join them. Once in the room,there were only two chairs, so I leaned up against the wall. I was, of course, the least important person there.
“I just can’t believe this. Aunt Patty, how could you do something this horrible?”
“Well, Bobbie took advantage of me for a very long time and I just reached?—”
“No, I don’t mean murder. I mean, how could you confess? You must have some idea how inept the sheriff’s office is. They’d never have figured out the killer was you. What possessed you?”
“Well… actually, it was you…” She was looking right at me.
