Fighting Chance(79)

“Suicide?”

“It stands to reason,” the policewoman said. “It’s frightening, coming into a place like this. They don’t think it through. They don’t consider the ways in which the system can help them. They just think they’re looking at the end of the world.”

Gregor thought that if he had ever ended up in a place like this, he would have considered it the end of the world. This was not a system that seemed to offer any help. It wasn’t one in the foyer, and it didn’t become one when he passed through the locked solid metal fire door into the hallways beyond. This was a system meant to cage in people who were dangerous and unpredictable.

Another policewoman met him in the corridor. She had a nightstick at her hip and a huge ring of keys on her belt. “Mr. Demarkian?” she asked. “We have instructions from the office of the governor. It’s usually contrary to regulations to allow visits by anyone but the family and the attorney, and except for the attorneys, we don’t usually allow visits outside of scheduled visiting hours. We do understand that this visit is important and may have long-term implications for Stefan’s case, but we do ask you to keep this as brief as you can. It disrupts the routine.”

“I’ll be as quick as I can,” Gregor said.

“Not that there’s all that much of a routine,” the woman said. “Dispositions in these cases are supposed to be fairly rapid. We need them to be rapid, because we really can’t handle a full-scale education program here. Clients are supposed to come here for a day or two and then go home, or to a full-service facility. And education is important. Education is the key to making sure that these kids don’t end up in the system forever.”

“And does that work?” Gregor asked. “Does education stop most of these kids from ending up in the system forever?”

The policewoman gave Gregor a dry and sardonic look. “No,” she said, “but you’d better understand something else: This one seems to be harmless enough, but there are a fair number of children here who are not. It may shock you to realize it, but there are children in the system who have committed very serious crimes. Crimes of violence. Even murders. If they’re fifteen, the Commonwealth tries them as adults. If they’re younger, you have to find something to do with them.”

“I’m sure you do,” Gregor said, but he couldn’t force himself to say anything more encouraging.

They had come to yet another solid metal door. The policewoman opened it to reveal a tall, cadaverous teenager in a jumpsuit sitting at a laminated table. His hands were not cuffed, but Gregor caught a look at his feet, and saw that his legs were in irons.

“This is Mr. Demarkian, Stefan,” the policewoman said. “He wants to talk to you.”

She went out of the room as quickly as she could, and both Gregor and Stefan heard the door click locked behind her.

Stefan seemed to be in a trance. He stared at the door. He stared at Gregor Demarkian. He didn’t blink. Then, suddenly, he let out a stream of words Gregor mostly didn’t understand.

“Sorry,” Gregor said. “I was born and raised right here in Philadelphia. I know almost no Armenian at all. I can swear a little. I can say hello and good-bye. I can order food. That’s about it.”

Stefan looked around the small, cramped room. “They listen to you,” he said. “If you speak in English or even in Spanish, they hear everything you say. I think they do that even when the lawyers are here. They say they don’t, but they do.”

“If they really do listen in when the lawyers are here,” Gregor said, “you’d have a very good case for a rights violation. That’s not just against the law, it’s against the Constitution.”

Stefan shrugged. “I don’t think they care about anything,” he said. “They are always smiling at you, except when they’re not smiling, and then that is … more honest. When I first came here, they said I would only have to be here one week, but it is now very much longer. And nobody will tell me anything. Even Mr. Donahue won’t tell me anything. He only says the hearing will have to be rescheduled.”

“I think that may be all he knows,” Gregor said. “Things are a little disorganized now, and it’s only the third day after. Under the circumstances—”

“She was an evil woman,” Stefan said. “Everything you heard about her said she was an evil woman.”

“Had you ever seen her before the day she died?”

“I never saw her,” Stefan said. “She was out of the courtroom before they brought me in. There was a hearing before mine, and she went away somewhere.”