Chapter 44

  DEBRA KURTZ WAS DRINKING day-old coffee in the smaller, cleaner of our two interview rooms. “The Meachams were the greatest couple in the world,” she told us tearfully.

  “Any reason you can think that anyone would want to hurt them?” I asked.

  “I’m going to the soft drink machine downstairs,” Conklin said to Kurtz. “Can I get you something else?”

  She shook her head no.

  When Conklin was gone, Kurtz leaned across the table and told me about Sandy’s drinking and that both Sandy and Steven had had casual affairs. “I don’t think that means anything, but just so you know.”

  Kurtz told me that the Meachams had two children; a boy, Scott, nineteen or so, away at college, and a girl, Rebecca, older and married, living in Philadelphia. Kurtz choked up again, as though something painful was stuck in her gut¹ - or her conscience.

  “Is there something else you want to tell me, Debra? Something going on between you and Steven Meacham?”

  “Yes,” she said quietly. “Yes, there was.”

  Kurtz watched the door as she talked, as if she wanted to finish talking before Conklin returned. She said, “I hated myself for cheating on Sandy. It’s hard to explain, but in a way I loved her as much as I loved Steve.”

  I pushed a box of tissues over to her side of the table as Conklin came back into the interrogation room. He was holding a computer printout.

  “You have a rap² sheet, Ms. Kurtz,” said Conklin, pulling out a chair. “That kinda surprised me.”

  “I was in grief³,” the woman told us, her gray eyes flooding anew. “I didn’t hurt anyone but myself.”

  Conklin turned the pages toward me.

  “You were arrested for burglary.”

  “My boyfriend talked me into it, and I was stupid enough to go along. Anyway, I was acquitted,” Kurtz said.

  “You weren’t acquitted,” said Conklin. “You got probation⁴. I think you made a deal to flip⁵ on your boyfriend, am I right? Oh, and then there’s the arson⁶.”

  “Randy, my husband Randy, was dead. I wanted to cut my heart out,” she said, pounding her chest with her fist. “I set fire to our house because it was the only way I could see what I felt. The bottomless grief.”

  I leaned back in my chair. I think my mouth may have dropped open. Debra Kurtz reacted to the shock on my face.

  “It was my own house,” she shouted. “I didn’t even file an insurance claim. I only hurt myself, do you understand? I only hurt myself!”

  “Had Steven Meacham broken off your affair?”

  “Yes. But it was weeks ago, and it was mutual⁷.”

  “You weren’t a little angry?” Conklin asked. “Didn’t feel a little bottomless grief?”

  “No, no, whatever you’re thinking, I didn’t set fire to the Meachams’ house. I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it.”

  We asked Debra Kurtz where she was when the Malone house burned, and we asked her if she knew her way around Palo Alto. She had alibis⁸, and we wrote everything down. What she told us added up to a crazy woman with a burning desire to both destroy and self-destruct.

  It added up, and yet it didn’t add up at all. And now it was half past five in the morning.

  “You have any trips planned, Debra?” Conklin said, in his charming way.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Good. Please don’t leave town without letting us know.”

1 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

2 rap   

n.轻敲，拍击，责骂，厉声说出，说唱音乐，谈话，最少量；vi.轻敲，敲门，表演说唱音乐，畅谈；vt.抓，抢，拍击

参考例句：

• I heard a rap on the door.我听到有轻轻的敲门声。
• Today we are going to rap about relationships.今天我们要聊聊关系的问题。

3 grief   

n.悲伤，悲痛，悲伤的事，悲痛的缘由

参考例句：

• Don't allow yourself to sink into grief,it can do no good.不要使自己陷入悲哀之中，这样一点好处也没有。
• After her mother died,she abandoned herself to grief.母亲死后，她沉浸于悲痛之中。

4 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

5 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

6 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

7 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

8 alibis   

某人在别处的证据( alibi的名词复数 )； 不在犯罪现场的证人； 借口； 托辞

参考例句：

• The suspects all had alibis for the day of the robbery. 嫌疑人均有证据证明抢劫当天不在犯罪现场。
• I'm not trying to beat your alibis any more than I'm trying to prove 'em. 我并不是不让你辩护，我只是想把那个人找出来。