An Unhealthy Fixation

"That's a little callous, don't you think?"

"The last thing that this distributor wants is to be drawn into a court case where they could be accused of misrepresentation when it came to the participants. That is why they have all of those disclaimers about all of the participants being consenting adults., looks sometimes to the contrary."

"You seem to know a lot about this industry."

"One has to keep abreast of all things," He chuckled, "getting back to the reason why I'm here, Doctor Wilcox has expressed the opinion that your free time could be better spent preparing the case that I will put to the Coroner, to assist his inquiry."

"But won't that appear to be a conflict of interest?"

"Not if you're on leave, it then becomes a private matter. I will provide all the necessary assistance for you, under the counter."

"Thank you. My first step is to have another talk with the student counsellor to see if she can provide more information."

"Well, get to it man, I can't have you lollygagging around doing nothing," He got serious again, "You and I are going to get to the bottom of this, we need to get to the bottom of this, for Jaime."

I arranged to meet with Amanda after school had finished for the day. I didn't get a chance to sit before she did something unexpected, she hugged me.

"Do you think that's appropriate?" I asked.

"Under the circumstances, yes I do. I am a woman who had a connection and love for the woman that you loved. While my love should not be construed in a physical way, I believe that Jaime and I had the same commitment to seeing the kids in this school get the nest education and guidance that we could give them. Having said that, let me tell you one thing, Jaime's love for you made me jealous, you see, I have a poor track record when it comes to relationships."

"I'm sure that the right guy is out there."

"That's what she kept telling me but my search was doomed to fail, none of them lived up to the picture that she painted of you and her relationship with you."

"While I'm flattered, I don't think that we should be even thinking about this, not while I'm focused on clearing her name and getting some sort of emotional closure."

"Okay, back burner it is then. I've been asking around among the students in that class and, how can I put this, it's interesting. The common thread is that they all, well nearly all, loved her as a teacher and none of them believes in the suicide theory."

"The exceptions being Justin, who loved her too much and had an unhealthy fixation on her and Dean, who hated her guts and could quite easily be fitted into the frame of someone who hated her enough to kill her."

"So you don't believe she took her own life then?"

"No, she did not. Did any of them mention a DVD that she allegedly starred in?" I asked.

"How did you know about that? Kimberly Falzon told me about it. It would appear as if Dean gave it to her as an indication that he was having a sexual relationship with her, and that she wasn't the saint that everyone thought she was."

"It must have been her that left it on my front doorstep." I said.

"So you've seen it then?"

"Yes, and it proves the opposite, she was not in a relationship of any sort with Dean. The worst part of this is that this DVD is out there, in adult stores and featured on several porn sites."

"Fuck. How devastating for you. Something has to be done." She was genuinely astonished.

"What I would like you to do is to gather as many kids as you can and arrange for them to submit Stat Dec's to that effect to Sergeant Robinson, he's in charge of the investigation. The more people that express doubts about her taking her own life, there more seriously they will explore the alternatives to that hypothesis." I told her.

"I'll get onto it tomorrow, I'm sure that he will be flooded with Stat Dec's. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but I would like you to have dinner with me tonight, at a restaurant, my treat. I want the opportunity to unburden myself of the conflicting emotions that I have and I can't think of a better person to allow this than the one that I know has been having the same emotional conflicts. Well, what do you say?" She took a pile of files and dropped them into her in-tray.

"I'll do it on one condition. If you so much as hint that you have feelings for me that I am not ready to accept you'll find yourself coughing over exhaust fumes and tyre smoke."

"I'll try." She didn't sound confident.

"Okay, let's go." I stood to leave. We left.

Dinner began well enough, we discussed Jaime and her commitment to her work and her kids, our feelings for her. That one hurt and I was close to tears until Amanda very subtly changed the subject. I asked her about her life and background, why she chose to be a student counsellor and her views on the futures for the kids of today.

"That's a difficult one. When I was growing up I was taught that we should respect adults and learn from them. When I look at the adults of today I don't think that the examples given are the proper guidance for kids and, as educators, we have been limited in what guidance we are allowed to give, something to do with infringing on the civil liberties of parents to give no guidance to their children."

"Yeah, back in the day, schools would have Career Counsellors who would help the kids to decide on a career. That was back in a time when there were entry-level jobs. Now kids have to have qualifications to get even the most basic of jobs, qualifications that they can only get if they have had a job, sort of Catch 22."

"Enough of this maudlin conversation! I think it's time for coffee and home."

I didn't like the look she gave me, no, scratch that, I liked the look, another time, another place and I would think seriously about chancing my luck.

We went back to the school where she had left her car. "Thank you for this evening," she said before she got out of my car. "I feel better now." She leaned across and kissed me, it was a borderline non-platonic kiss. "Keep me in the loop."

"Sure, see you."

"You will." She stood and shut the door.

I looked into the rear-view mirror to see her waving. I wound down my window and waved back.

What was I to make of this? If I hadn't just lost the woman that I loved, I might have been having lustful thoughts, but then if I hadn't been married to Jaime, I never would have met her unless by chance.

I had a message on my desk to go to Roderick's office.

"James. I am going to enjoy shafting this Dean Jankovic and his father."

"His father, what does he have to do with this?"

"His father, among many sometimes dodgy enterprises, runs a company that produce training and motivational videos for companies. An offshoot of this business, and one that he has hidden well, but not well enough, provides videos for the porn industry, and would you believe that to groom his son to take over this side of his business, he has had Dean star in several videos using the name Dick Thrust. The video you saw could be seen as a training video. Dean was given artistic control of its production."

"What can we do about that?"

"A lot as it turns out. He had the wherewithal to edit and produce this video, and I am going to introduce that into the Coronial enquiry. I have discussed this with the Coroner and he agrees. If the police investigation has not looked at this very important aspect, then we will bring it up. He is going to call on Dean and Justin to provide a background to Jaime's mood at the time of her suspected suicide. He has not dismissed the possibility that she was murdered."

"Have you discussed this with the police?"

"Yes, they have followed this line as far as they can,"

"I'll have a chat with Sergeant Robinson."

I went back to my office and called the sergeant. "Sergeant Robinson, I would like to discuss this case and how far you have got with your investigation. Would it be possible for me to meet with you, say at the police station?"

"I was just heading to your place."

"Turn around, I'm at work."

"You didn't stay away long, did you?"

"I'll explain it all when you get here."

He must have been close because it was no more than five minutes before he was seated opposite me. "We, that's my boss who just happens to be my father-in-law and Jaime's father, and we have followed a different line and delved a little deeper than you have been able. We are going to raise the issue of the production and distribution of that DVD, it is germane to the inquiry and may lead to you having to arrest Dean Jankovic. I am telling you this because I, we, don't want to spring this on you." "How are you going to do that?"

"My boss, and father-in-law, has been appointed as counsel assisting the Coroner. I know, it could be construed as a conflict of interest, but we're hoping that no one will recognise this, after all no mention will be made of Jaime's maiden name."

"Officially I don't like this, but privately, I say go for it, I will not stop you."

"Mister Sampson, Justin." Roderick began in a gentle tone. "You were in Mrs Peter's English class, were you not?"

"Yes, I mean yes I was, not yes I was not."

"You liked her as a teacher, yes?"

"Yes, she was special."

"In what way?"

"She helped me. I was falling behind in my work because I was being bullied. She took the time to help me gain more confidence in myself so that the bullying didn't upset me as much."

"But you saw it as something more than that, didn't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You saw her attention as something more than a relationship between a teacher and a student, didn't you?"

"I loved her and thought that she loved me."

"Did you discuss your feelings with her?"

"Yes, she told me that she could not love me because she would get into trouble."

"Did she tell you that she loved her husband?"

"Yes, but I thought, I hoped that it would not last and she could be mine."

"Did she ever do anything to encourage these thoughts?"

"No."

"Were the other students aware of your feelings towards Mr Peters?"

"Yes, Dean Jankovic was always teasing me about it."

"How did you feel about that?"

"He made what I had seen so, dirty."

"Did he tell you that he and Mrs Peters had been having a sexual relationship?"

"Yes, but I didn't believe him."

"How did you feel about this revelation?"

"I knew that it wasn't true, it couldn't be true. She was pure and would never have sex with someone like him. I told him so."

"You told him so," Roderick softened his voice further. "You were angry, weren't you? You yelled at him to take it all back, that she would never have sex with him, didn't you?"

"Yes. I was angry, very angry, I went to hit him, but he pushed me over."

"Then what did he do?"

"He told me that he would prove to me that he had been having sex with her."

"And did he?"

"The next day he gave me a DVD and told me to have a look at it."

"Did you look at it?"

"No, not all of it. I looked at the first ten minutes, it was so disgusting, him having sex with her."

"What did you do next?"

"I asked Jaime if I could have a word with her after school."

"What did you say to her?"

"I confronted her, asked her how she could stoop so low as to have sex with Dean Jankovic. She denied it."

"What did you do then?"

"I called her a liar and threw the DVD at her and ran from the room."

"That will be all, thank you."

Dean Jankovic was called to the witness stand. "Mister Jankovic, you have heard the evidence that you told Justin Sampson that you had been having sex with Jaime Peters, is this true?"

"Yeah, it's true."

"Can you prove that this is true?"

"Yeah, it's out on DVD."

"So you filmed this sexual act, why?"

"He," pointing to Justin, "didn't believe me, I had to prove it to him."

"Why did you distribute the DVD?"

"I figured that I should make some money out of this."

"So this DVD has been released worldwide with the title, 'Teacher's Pet - creaming an A', I presume to adult stores as well as on porn web sites, would that be true?"

"That's a decision the distributors made to increase sales. I've made a bit of money from it, yeah."

"Were you under any obligation to pay Mrs Peters for her participation?"

"Nah, she did it for free, she didn't want money from the distribution and sales."

"We have spoken to the distributors and they have informed us that you told them that you would pay her performance fees and that they adjusted the payments to you accordingly. You never honoured that commitment, did you?"

"Yes, I did."

"But not to Jaime Peters, the lady identified as the other participant in this sexual encounter.

Why was that? Was it because she was not the woman with whom you were having sex?"

"Yes, she was."

"Then why wasn't she paid? Her husband has asked for the payments that should have come to her from the distribution and sales of this DVD. Do you deny that she should receive that payment?"

Dean did not reply. He looked to his father who shook his head.

"Tell me, Mister Jankovic, you videoed your assignation with Mrs Peters, You would have been close to her genitalia during this encounter, is that true?"

"Sure, I was very close to the action."

"Were there any features of that part of her body that would distinguish her from any other woman?"

"Not that I remember, no."

"Was she shaved or did she sport pubic hair?"

"You've obviously seen the DVD, she was shaven."

"And there were no tattoos there?"

"Nah, I don't like girls with tattoos."

"I am going to show this court the DVD in question." The DVD was projected onto a screen set up to one side of the courtroom. As the opening sequence scrolled through, Roderick pointed out that the woman was indeed Jaime Peters. The action moved to the woman having oral sex for several minutes before stripping and laying on the desk. He paused the DVD. "You will notice that, except for the opening sequence, the face of the female participant is covered by her hair. Why would that be Mister Jankovic?"

"That's the way it's done."

"You will also note that there is a lack of pubic hair and no tattoos, correct?"

"Like I said, I don't go for inked or hairy chicks."

Roderick turned the display off. "Now, Mister Jankovic, I want you to look at this photo taken during Jaime Peters autopsy, what do you see/"

He did not reply.

"You see that she has pubic hair, hair that has been trimmed in a distinctive pattern, it was trimmed by Mister Peters as part of their sexual pleasure, not clean-shaven as it appears in your DVD."

"She could have grown it back."

Roderick ignored the suggestion. "And, if you look closely you will notice a tattoo, it is small granted, positioned so that he could read it while he was 'down there' during love-making. It reads 'Je t'aime.' which is French for I love you. Mister Peters has an identical tattoo. They had them done just after they got married three years ago. So you see Mister Jankovic, the woman that you are having sex with was not Jaime Peters, was it?"

"No." He said quietly.

"On a side note, this video appears on a porn site as your casting video, which means that you desire a career in the porn industry, would that be correct?"

"Yeah, I guess, I mean if you've got it you might as well make money from it, right?"

'"But Dick Thrust, surely you could have chosen a better professional name than that? Getting back to this enquiry, Mrs Peters asked to meet with you after class and confronted you with this, didn't she?"

"Yes."

"She had already found out that the DVD was in distribution and she was angry, wasn't she?"

"Yes."

"Especially as this DVD had identified her as a teacher having sex with a student, that is illegal. Her teaching career had been ruined all because of your continued bullying of Justin Sampson, isn't that right Mister Jankovic?"

"Yes."

"She was what is known in military circles as collateral damage, an expendable victim. You destroyed the two most important things in her life, her teaching job and her marriage, isn't that true Mister Jankovic?"

"Yes."

"But it didn't end there, did it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Mrs Peters was a much stronger person than you realised. She told you that she was going to go to the police to see what charges could be laid, and she would also reveal all to the media, your bullying of Justin Sampson and what you had done to her. She was prepared to go public, even though, to do so would tarnish her reputation as a person in the eyes of the public at large, and probably be the end of her teaching career. While she knew that her husband would love and support her, she wasn't prepared to put him through the trauma of innuendo. She was determined to sacrifice herself for the good of others, wasn't she Mister Jankovic?"

"She said she was going to the media."

"And you could not have that, could you?"

"No."

"So, to calm herself down with the hope of being able to reason with you, she went outside for a few minutes.

"Yes."

"And, while she was gone you drugged her water glass with Rohypnol didn't you Mister Jankovic?"

Dean did not respond.

"Didn't you?"

"Yes." He looked at his father who glared back at him, this wasn't going as he'd hoped.

"Why did you happen to have this drug with you?"

"I don't know, I just did."

"You knew that she was angry with you, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I knew she was pissed."

"So, you took the opportunity to slip some of this highly dangerous drug into her water."

"Yes."

"And while she was affected by this drug you smothered her, didn't you?" Again no response.

"Didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And you left her there, in the classroom where she lived her dream as a teacher, dead, hoping that her death would be taken as suicide."

"Yes."

"I'll take that as a confession."

Sergeant Robinson walked slowly to the witness stand, "Dean Jankovic, I'm arresting you on the charge of murdering Jaime Peters, you do not have to say anything but what you do say will be taken down and may be used as evidence in a court of law."

"Dad." Dean called out to his father.

"Sit!" Sergeant Robinson pointed to Dean's father. "I'll get to you in a minute." He led Dean to the door and handed him over to a Constable. Returning to the body of the court he addressed Dean's father. "Mister Jankovic, were you aware of the reason why your son wanted to produce this video?"

"He said something about a school project."

"Were you aware that he would be using images taken, without her knowledge, of Mrs Peters?"

"I figured that, once he realised how much work went into the production of a video, he would give up on the idea just as he'd given up on previous ideas."

"Did you watch the video before its release?"

"Yes, I thought that it was well done."

"So you had no hesitation in releasing it through your very own video production and distribution network?"

"No."

"Are you then prepared for the repercussions of that release, the death of an innocent woman, the loss to Mister Peters of a loving wife, the traumatic effect it would have on a vulnerable young man?"

"I am not responsible for those outcomes."

"But you are quite happy to receive the earnings from this video, aren't you?"

"If there's a demand for the product then I will fill that demand."

"I imagine that the publicity will boost sales. You take no responsibility for this video, even if it means that you have thrown your son under the bus?"

"I didn't ask him to kill that woman, that was his idea." He saw the look on the Coroner's face. "I, in no way condone his actions."

"I bet he'll be overjoyed to hear that his father has abandoned him. That will be all."

As I stood to leave I noticed Amanda at the rear of the courtroom talking to a man. She saw my glance and signalled me to join her. "James, this is my brother Simon, he's a journalist. I asked him to come here with me to hear what was going to happen."