Echoes in the Darkness

Echoes in the Darkness by Joseph Wambaugh Page A

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Authors: Joseph Wambaugh
Tags: General, True Crime, Murder
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admired her husband.
    "He's such a thinker," Stephanie Smith said in another interview. "He never talked much around the house but he'd go down to his den and speak into his tape recorder. Hon, he has a wonderful speaking voice! But he always said I didn't own him and I shouldn't get involved in his life, and he wanted his privacy. I was always taught that the man is the master of the house and you just accept what he wants."
    Stephanie Smith also let it be known that her husband frequently commented that "the devil will rule the earth."
    The cops said, so what else is new? But the opinion was entered in a public report as a matter of routine.
    General John Eisenhower also gave a statement concerning his former colonel: "I think of him often. He was clever and loquacious. He had a terrific sardonic sense of humor. His only eccentricity was his penchant for being a loner. I remember once hinting that we might get together socially for a beer, but he said that the way he lived he had no friends and wanted no friends. I didn't take offense because I knew he was a busy man and perhaps didn't have time for such things. He was a free thinker, versed in the classics. He did not join his fellow officers in the mess or at parties."
    The press blitzed Upper Merion, but at first all they could get were some vague statements to the effect that Dr. Jay
    Smith was a lone wolf who never talked about anything but his work and never mixed socially with colleagues. Despite his years at Upper Merion, some faculty members could not even say for certain if the Smiths had children.
    As the fall term was about to begin, Jay Smith was arranging to get out of jail and was composing a few press releases of his own. First, he denied any criminal activity whatsoever, stating that it was preposterous to think he was the bogus courier. Secondly, he theorized that part of his problem was caused by the Upper Merion school administrators who were "out to get him" and inflaming the media.
    Some observers might note that from the beginning of his troubles and down through the years, Dr. Jay Smith, on those rare occasions when he would speak, was always more concerned with allegations of sexual perversion than by the very serious felony charges leveled against him.
    As to the other public agencies "out to get him," he had this to say: "The police find a collection of special books that I keep for research. But because they deal with such subjects as sex, homosexuality and bestiality, the police seem preoccupied with them. They see the books on homosexuality and they say, 'Ah ha! Smiths a homosexual.' So they ask my wife and she sets them straight and they scratch that one from their list."
    He assured his public that he was planning to publish a book entitled How to Prevent Homosexuality in Your Children.
    As to the canine books, he admitted that he was interested in exploring the possibility of training animals as sexual surrogates and that he planned to launch a mail order firm to distribute his findings.
    So naturally, all the cops made up gags about Jay Smith's coming SPCA journal called lx>ving Your Pet. And Jay Smith's version of a Ralph Nader-style blockbuster called Consumers Guide to Dildos.
    But of course the cops couldn't care less if Jay Smith was bisexual or trisexual or king of the collies. They were interested in the strange little matter of the syringe with the massive dose of drugs, his alibi being that it belonged to his son-in-law Eddie Hunsberger.
    Well, where was Edward Hunsberger? And where was his wife, Stephanie, daughter of Jay Smith? They represented Jay Smith's potential alibi for all the drugs found in the basement.
    When the cops tried to find the Hunsbergers, they discovered that Eddie and Stephanie had failed to keep an appointment at a methadone clinic back in February. The clinic employees told them that several attempts to contact the recovering addicts at the Smith home had produced no leads, so the counselors feared drug

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