A Rip in Heaven

Tom takes the polygraph test in a more comfortable examination room, and he feels good about doing it, much like his interrogations. The examiner is also friendly, even showing him pictures of his family. He explains in detail how the polygraph test will work. Cummins interjects to explain that polygraphs in fact are only effective 48% to 90% of the time, with about a one in four false positive rate. Cummins also explains that sleep deprivation makes one virtually guaranteed to fail a polygraph test. Tom nearly falls asleep from sleep deprivation between every question. When the examiner asks him if he murdered his cousin, he is startled and sweats profusely. The examiner says that “we’ve got a real fucking problem here” (119), and he shouts in Tom’s face that he cannot lie to him or to the machine. Tom breaks “into childish sobs” (120).

Tom is forced to take a second exam, which goes even worse than the first. A new detective escorts Tom to a bare office room, where he bluntly asks him what he did to those two girls. He screams at him repeatedly, while Tom cries, repeating, “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it” (129).

Gene is meanwhile in the office of Lieutenant Jacobsmeyer, who tries to convince Gene that Tom is lying about something. It is impossible for a person to survive a 90-foot fall into that river without at least breaking a few bones, he says. This is a lie: The fall was only 50 feet, but lies and deception are perfectly legal and even encouraged in police interrogation procedures. The lieutenant’s assertion that the river current would have brought Tom to the Illinois bank, not the Missouri one, is another lie. Gene hates this man for accusing his son, but he agrees to cooperate, knowing that this will give him more access to his son and more control over what is happening.

Cummins cites passages from the police interrogation manual and another study that say that false confessions can happen, particularly in situations like Tom’s combined with improper police procedures. The case is all over the news, which gives the police great incentive to wrap it up quickly. A new detective comes into the room, and they attempt to elicit a confession from Tom, even telling him why his story must be false. Tom, awake now for more than 36 hours, is adamant that his story is true. They tell him that he will not see his father or anyone in his family for a long time. Lieutenant Jacobsmeyer enters next, and he lies to Tom that they caught two of the four men he described. He says that their story is different and makes much more sense. Jacobsmeyer humiliates and toys with Tom, but Tom maintains his innocence. Finally, he brings Gene in, who asks Tom what really happened. Tom breaks down, wailing in grief, but he insists that he is telling the truth.

Meanwhile, Tom’s aunts Jacquie and Sheila worry for Tom and suggest that he hire a lawyer. Then they run outside as they see Tink, Kathy, and Jamie surrounded by a local news crew and reporter. Sheila screams at them in fury to leave them alone. Back in the house, Kathy goes to Julie’s room and looks at her poems and wall decorations. A symbol from Amnesty International brings back a memory in Kathy, and she feels “like a very old woman, bent with the weight of wisdom” (126).

Kay takes Tink and Kathy back to their grandparents’ house, where she informs them that the police asked Tom to take a polygraph test and that they are hiring a lawyer, Frank Fabbri, to represent Tom. Tink and Kathy cannot understand the need for a lawyer if Tom has done nothing wrong.

Tom is left devastated and broken by his father’s imploring him to tell the truth. He does not care if he is found guilty and executed anymore. He only wants “to cry and to grieve and to sleep” (147). Jacobsmeyer tells Tom his version of events, and Tom tells him that he will believe whatever he wants. Fine, he tells them, that is what happened. They take this denial as a confession. Tom feels emboldened, knowing that he has hit rock bottom and that the police have no tape of him confessing. He tells the officer that they have the wrong man, that he has already told them what happened.

Kay calls the attorney, Frank Fabbri, who angrily asks if Tom has been answering questions at the station all day without an attorney present. Fabbri instructs her to tell Gene to get Tom out of the station immediately. The police refuse to release Tom, but they are frightened of Fabbri. Fabbri tells Kay that they will likely arrest Tom and charge him with two counts of first-degree murder, and they do.

Fabbri finds Tom completely worn and devastated in the interrogation room, and he tells Tom that the questioning is over. He tells him that the police will arrest him, that he will spend the night in a jail cell, but that this is good. This is just the process to clear him. Tom asks Fabbri if he believes him, and Fabbri assures him that he does. Tom collapses in tears. Then he listens to Fabbri’s advice “like a man” and agrees to meet him tomorrow (157). The police take Tom to booking, and he sees Gene in the hallway. Gene hugs him and tells him he knows that Tom did not do it.