Cicero looks at Nick from across the table and occasionally glancing down at a file he had open.
“How was the psychiatrist Nick?”
“Ok, I guess,” Nick says shrugging, “What did he say?”
“I can’t you that right now Nick.”
“Oh, I’m not crazy or anything though I know that.”
“I know Nick. I know.”
“Ok,” Nick says but his eyes were darting around the room looking for something that he could focus on. When his eyes passed over Falco he gave up and looked back at Cicero.
Cicero didn’t know what to make of Nick. The psychiatry report came back to him right after the session ended and he had even talked to the psychiatrist about Nick. The only information he had gotten was stuff he had mostly already known except for a small liner note that said that Nick probably had tunnel vision at times yes he did have an anger management problem that needed to be taken are of. Other then that Nick checked out with a clean mental bill of health. He had close to no stresses in his life and all the fights he had gotten into had come from small minor arguments he had chosen to fixate on.
The comment about Nick having an anger management problem and tunnel vision though made Cicero wonder. Nick had a short temper and that combined with tunnel vision was a deadly combination. When a person has tunnel vision they tend to fixate on one thing and one thing only until they either take care of the problem or it goes away. This could most defiantly apply to the murders in the case if Nick had asked the girls out, but they replied no or had done anything else to agitate him.
The thing that Cicero couldn’t figure out was why that would have been the situation for Nick in the first place. He seemed like the type of kid who could get a number of girls with his looks or his personality. Of course if Nick did contribute to the murders it didn’t necessarily mean that that had to be the cause for murder. The reasons could be hidden deep inside Nick’s mind and only he would know the answer too what had really caused him to commit one of the most horrible acts known to man. When it came to outside appearance though Cicero was sure that no one would ever think to convict Nick. He seemed like a scared lost little boy stuck in a big city that could eat people alive…literally or not.
“Sunshine,” AJ nods towards Falco’s direction as the two of them walk into the room holding AJ whose feet were once again propped up on the table.
“How did the psychiatrist interview go?” Cicero asks taking his seat across form AJ as he puts his feet onto the floor once more.
“You tell me,” AJ says staring at him, “So tell me does he think I’m insane? That I need psychiatric help? So tell me doc how am I mentally?”
“You know I can’t tell you that AJ.”
“I know. I was just asking though. It didn’t hurt to ask.”
Cicero stares at AJ and lays the folder down on the table as AJ looks down at it and back at Cicero again. AJ looked petrified telling by the way his eyes looked to Cicero.
The truth was Cicero had already read through the entire file and had talked to the psychiatrist and what he had found out made him wonder even more about what was going on through AJ’s mind.
According to the psychiatric report AJ had gone through a lot, even more then he had let on in the first place. His father had been abusive to both him and his mother and AJ also tended to have an anger problem when it came to beating women. This only made Cicero wonder more why he was here the first place to be questioned. After growing up and seeing his mother getting beaten AJ couldn’t take anyone ever laying a finger on a women using force. He also held a deep hatred for his father in the recesses of his mind even though he didn’t like to let people know about it, which made the question if he had been involved in his father’s murder even more questionable.
After he had run away from home at the age sixteen he had already been a part of the locks, but he was also on the street and remained there for two more years. Living on the street can do a lot to a person more mentally then psychically. It makes a person tough on the outside, which the psychiatrist said contributed to the way AJ held himself. AJ liked to put on a strong persona, but he didn’t have one on the inside. After growing up for sixteen years in an abusive family and living two years on the street the psychiatrist said that he was almost positive that AJ was suffering from posttraumatic stress, which would explain why he was always on defensive mode. More then anyone in the group of five he needed help for whatever was going on inside of his brain.
As for being in the gang it hadn’t done that much to AJ. He had already seen enough violence on the street and ironically he was more sheltered now then ever even if he was in a gang. Taking AJ away from his gang would mean instilling more pain in him that he already had. The only family he relied on now was his gang brothers and there was no way in hell that anyone was going to get him to quit that gang. The psychiatrist was unsure of the guess that AJ may also suffer from a case of split personality. It could be possible, but it couldn’t at the same time. The only thing he had to base it on now was the fact that AJ seemed to have two sides to himself, the loud obnoxious gang member and the joking sentimental guy who longed to have a stable life somewhere with a real family to care for him. The only thing that he knew for sure was that AJ needed to talk to someone about his problems no matter what they were or what they weren’t.
Cicero looks up from staring at the folder and looks at AJ.
“So do a need help?” AJ asks.
“It’s available to you if you want it.”
“I guess that’s the nice way of saying yes for you huh?”
“It’s the nicest way I can think of to say yes.”
“I’m psycho,” AJ says hanging over the edge of his bunk and looking at Nick upside down.
“I have an anger problem,” Nick says looking up at AJ and laying on his back on the bunk with his hands behind his head.
AJ nods solemnly, “Yeah that’s us for you.”
“They tell you to stop singing again?”
“What do you think?” AJ smirks.
Nick smiles slightly and closes his eyes.
AJ shakes his head and pulls himself back up onto his bunk and lays back staring up at the ceiling and humming lightly. Soon enough though he was singing softly to himself as he closes his eyelids slowly.
“You could be the devil in my bed. You could be the angel in my head. You could be the voices that I hear. I’m singing along because it sounds just like you’re nearrrr. Cause you’re so beautiful. Beautiful today. You’re so beautiful. Beautiful in very little way. Cause when you’re coming around. I’m off of the ground. I gotta say. You’re so beautiful. You’re beautiful today. I could be the drug you can’t resist. And I could be the answer that you missed. I could be the love you hate to fear. You’re feeling more inside your heart. Cause you’re so beautiful. Beautiful today. You’re so beautiful. Beautiful in very little way. Cause when you’re coming around. I’m off of the ground. I gotta say. You’re so beautiful. You’re beautiful today, ”
Nick shakes his head and opens his eyes staring up at the bunk, “Who sings that song?”
“Don’t know,” AJ says with his eyes closed still, “I’m not sure if those are the right words either. Close enough I figured though. If I’m psycho I’m entitled to sing as loud as I want to. It’s therapy to me.”
“It’s a good song.”
“Yeah.”
“You ever think of singing professionally?”
“You shittin me?” AJ asks sticking his head over the side of the bunk again and staring down at Nick.
“No, honestly you have a good voice. You could make it.”
“Nah not me,” AJ says shaking his head and pulling himself back onto his bunk and laying back again, “What good can I do in a studio? My father always said I would amount to nothing.”
Nick shakes his head and shuts his eyes again.
AJ stares at the ceiling and sighs, “Cause I know. Cause I feel. Cause I could learn to hate just like you. Cause I know. Cause I feel. Cause you can learn to love just like me. Cause I know and I feel and I could learn to hate like you. Cause I know and I feel. Cause you can learn to love just like me,” he sings softly to himself and gets louder until he is singing out loud again, “ You’re so beautiful. Beautiful today. You’re so beautiful. Beautiful in every little way. Cause when you’re coming around and I’m on the ground. You’re so beautiful. Beautiful today. Can we make it through together we got to fly,”AJ sings softly as Nick drifts off to sleep.
Brian smiles slightly as he lies on his back on his bunk as AJ starts singing again.
“Cause you’re so beautiful. Beautiful today. You’re so beautiful. Beautiful in very little way. Cause when you’re coming around. I’m off of the ground. I gotta say. You’re so beautiful. You’re beautiful today,” Brian sings softly to himself and stares at the ceiling bouncing his head along a little.
He really did have a good voice.
Cicero stares at Kevin from across the table as Kevin sits rapping his fingers on the table top at an almost annoying pace.
“So how bad am I?” Kevin asks.
“Kevin, how long has this double life of yours been going on?”
“Double life?”
“Kevin the Wall Street boy wonder and Kevin the club hopper who uses speed at night.”
“Oh…three four years.”
Cicero nods and looks down at Kevin’s psychiatric evaluation. The psychiatrist wasn’t one hundred percent sure about Kevin’s case. He said he wasn’t sure if Kevin did in fact have a split personality or if Kevin was just rebelling to a certain extent against the boundaries that his family and his lifestyle had made for him.
Of course choosing between one or the other meant a lot to the case. If Kevin was just rebelling it was nothing to worry about. Every one does it at one point in their life to get away from things, but if it was the other there was a problem. If Kevin did indeed have a split personality he could of done things that he might not even remember and/or he could be doing things that were uncharacteristic of himself. Of course the psychiatrist said he would need at least another session with Kevin to be sure about his decision. This meant that the others would probably need to go too just so Kevin wouldn’t protest that much. On the other hand the others would probably be better off getting another session especially in the case of AJ.
Other then that Kevin had a clean bill of mental health. He didn’t harbor any rage toward anyone and he had a stable upbringing if you could call it that.
The one small note that caught Cicero’s attention though was a small note that stated that Kevin had a tendency to keep people from getting to close too him. He liked his life the way it was now and he didn’t think he needed anyone else in it to jumble up his lifestyle. Of course this ability also meant that Kevin could be capable of hiding a wide range of emotions and how he really felt about things. This would prove most significant if they ever decided to give the five of the suspect lie detector tests. No one would be able to tell if Kevin was lying or not.
The only that Cicero was sure of no though was that he needed to get Kevin back into psychiatric evaluation.
Cicero stares at Brian as he once again begins to finger a small gold cross that was on a thin gold chain around his neck. There was no doubt in his mind that Brian was nervous about what the psychiatrist had said about and this only reinforced Cicero’s suspicions.
Brian was a perfectionist to a level that was normally not healthy for people, but it wasn’t his fault as it turned out. Most of the blame was put onto his father and the pressure he had instilled on him as a child that had carried over to his habits has an adult. Brian was nervous mostly because he was worried that in that one small folder could be something that could destroy everything he had worked for all of his short life. He was your classic case of an over achiever who was never happy with the level he was at.
Other then that Brian was your classic boy next door. He had no sings of any mental problems and had the cleanest record out of all five of the suspects. He was the type of person everyone wanted for their son and would be the perfect son if it weren’t for his over achieving tendencies.
Of course even the perfect child can have a mask that covers what he really is and that was what worried Cicero. It didn’t say it in the folder, but Cicero felt something in his gut that told him that Brian could be as, if not more, manipulative as AJ. So much pressure being put on one child at such a young age can be a lot to handle for the child and in certain cases can cause emotional problems later in life. That was what Cicero was suspicious about in Brian’s case and he was going to tell the psychiatrist to look further into it during Brian’s next evaluation.
“So how am I?” Brian asks softly.
“How are you?”
“What did the psychiatrist say about me?”
“It’s nothing to worry about Brian.”
“No please tell me.”
“Brian really its nothing to be worried about.”
“Just tell me,” Brian says in an outburst before quickly calming himself as Falco stares at him, “Please tell me.”
“You’re fine Brian, honest. You have the cleanest bill of health out of the five of you.”
“Ok, thank you,” Brian says staring at him.
“We’ll talk to you tomorrow ok Brian?”
“Ok,” Brian says nodding and fingering his cross again.
Cicero stands up and quickly exists the room as Falco trails close behind.
“What was that outburst about?” Falco asks.
“I have no idea,” Cicero says walking towards the hallway where the cells are and turning down that hall.
“Jeremy spoken. Spokennnn. Jeremy spoken. Spokennnn. Jeremy spoken. Spoken. Jeremy spoken. Spokennnn,” AJ sings as they pass his cell and walk towards Howie’s
Falco looks inside the cell quickly and continues to Howie’s as AJ continues to sing Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy”. Well there was song to cheer up his already bad day.
If there was anyone who perplexed Cicero the most it was Howie. He didn’t know why either.
Howie had come out of the evaluation with a clean bill of health nothing noticeably wrong with him, but Cicero still felt that something was wrong about him and he didn’t know what it was. Still even now as he stared into the cell at his fellow officer he felt a bit at ease with Howie.
He knew in the back of his head it was probably just a stupid feeling that he tended to get while he was on a major case, but it was always there ticking in the back of his mind that there was more to Howie then what anyone could see. Of Falco also seemed to be reacting the same way towards AJ, so he figured maybe he felt this way because Howie had come off of a bad first impression to him in the beginning. Whatever it was he wasn’t even sure what to tell the psychiatrist to look for the next evaluation.
There was no need to take Howie in for interrogation today, so they decided to just let him go and tell him that they would question him tomorrow because they both needed to get out early today.
Two cells down AJ switched to singing Pink Floyd’s “Brick in the Wall” and for some reason it seemed oddly appropriate enough at this time.
“Let’s go Falco,” Cicero says and they head back down the hallway as Falco once again turns to look inside Nick and AJ’s cell only this time AJ was standing up with his face looking out of the bars.
“How come he isn’t getting questioned today?” AJ asks as Nick turns his head to gaze outside the bars from his bunk.
“We both need to get out of here early,” Flaco says to AJ.
“Righttttt,” AJ says, “Its because he’s a….”
“Don’t even think of pulling that he’s a cop bullshit McLean,” Falco snaps as a grin spreads across AJ’s face.
“Nice to see you too sunshine. Let me guess you think your copper boy down there has a clean bill of health right?”
Cicero stares at AJ, “What are you getting at AJ?”
“Oh please can’t you tell. I’ve been around enough people like him to be able to tell.”
“Tell us what then AJ. If you’re so smart how come our psychiatrist didn’t pick up on this?”
“Psychiatrists think with their heads not their guts.”
“You’re point being?” Falco asks.
“That guy down there, your copper friend.”
“Yeah.”
AJ smirks, “He’s a pathological liar,” AJ’s smile broadens and puts his forehead against the bars and starts singing in a low voice, “They did a bad bad thing. They did a bad bad thing.”
