It Needed Doin' - John Corso

Corso sat back and sighed, and I saw him steeling himself.

"Guess who I ran into at the mixer?"

It was an easy guess, but I couldn't answer, I needed this to be clean for the recording.

"Big as life, there's Mattolo. He's the football coach. A young one too. He'd been good in college, got a shot at the NFL, got damaged during pre-season, and wasn't charismatic enough for media work after. He came back here, site of his past glory, got a job, and bingo... he's back."

"He's coaching at the same school my wife teaches at." Corso said with emphasis. "Fuck."

"That's rough." I said, using his own phrasing, and I really felt that way. I know about people you don't want around showing back up in your life.

"My wife steers Mattolo over to meet me, not knowing he's that guy, and Mattolo recognized me right off. He acts all buddy-buddy, all the while giving me this sneering smile. Sees I'm unhappy, and he keeps on pushing."

"Eventually, he pops this line of 'We had good times in school, didn't we?' crap for the benefit of my wife, thinking I'm still a kid and expecting me to go along.

"Fuck you, no.' I told him. 'You were the biggest asshole around. Everyone hated you. Everyone probably still hates you. Williams, whose face you broke on a toilet, prays for your death. You broke my arm. There was cheering when you got your knees blown backward. Fuck you."

"I remember my wife giving me this look, like she couldn't believe what I'd said, then I saw her put it together. I'd talked about Mattolo, but not by name. Now she put it together."

"Hey, we were kids.' The asshole says. 'That's behind us.' and then he puts his hand on my shoulder like he's my friend, and he's giving me this bullshit smile."

"I slapped his hand off me, and I told him if he touches me again, we're going to go at it."

"The fucker just keeps that nasty smile going, and steps up to me. He's still way bigger than me."

"Let's see what you got, pissant.' he tells me. So I swung."

Corso sighs, picks up his coffee, and takes a swig. He checks the bottom of the cup then, grimaces, and puts it back down. I can tell it's empty now.

"A few shots happened, he got the best of them. He actually had kids cheering for him." Corso picks up with. "He knocked me down once, I got back up. I couldn't let that guy get over me ever again. Ever. I felt that really deeply. I didn't need to think about it, that guy wasn't going to put me down ever again."

"We get broken up, and he's declaring he couldn't even feel my punches. He was lying, I could tell. I got a couple of decent ones on him. I get told I have to leave, and I was happy to. Jean went with me. We didn't talk much going home."

"Next morning, she lays into me. She'd been texting with some of the other teachers there. She said I embarrassed her, she didn't know I was that immature, how could I hold a grudge that old, etcetera, etcetera, blah blah."

"For a couple of days I was holding my ground about the whole thing. She didn't understand what was happening. Then I started giving her little apologies, saying it won't happen again, and she's going on about how she has to occasionally work with Mattolo, she had to ask him not to press charges... he said I didn't hurt him anyway, I punch like a sissy, she said he said... I tell her we better never be in the same room, if he pulls his shit again. She says she won't do that to me, but she has to be around him. They work at the same place."

"Life resumes. Jean doesn't bring up Mattolo to me again, but I don't go to any more school events. She tells me I'm not welcome anymore. No skin off my nose."

"About a year later, things start changing with Jean. She starts changing." Corso says, his tone shifting. I can anticipate where this is going, and I have to work a little bit to keep my face the way I want.

"Sex slows down a bit, she's short with me, she's irritated." Corso says, his eyes closing. "Then she's back, but she's a dynamo in bed. That goes away, and this time, the bed is a desert. Nothing happening. She's even short with the kids now."

Corso opens his eyes now, and looks at me.

"Can I get another coffee?" He asks. "I'm kinda dry."

"Not a problem." Palumbo says. "I'll be right back. Damar?"

"Can I get a soda?" I ask.

"Gotcha," and Palumbo goes out the door.

"John, you okay?" I ask Corso.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He says. "I promise, I'm getting there. I just need a moment to think. This is bad stuff for me."

I nod, and we make some small talk. I purposely don't bring up the current situation, I want Palumbo back here for that. I do a few small things to build Corso's trust in me, hoping that the break doesn't slow him down. We haven't gotten anything relevant to the case yet, other than Corso hated the guy he killed, which is motive. If what he was saying is true, I sympathized.

Palumbo came back pretty quick, handed around the drinks, and we both thanked him.

"So, yeah,..." Corso started again. "Jean went bitch on me. We fought about it for a while, then she just stopped engaging me. At all. I mean, if I brought up our problem, she ignored me. Unless we had something going on about money, the kids, the house... she just wasn't there for me. Even then, she was pretty bitchy. Jeanie noticed too."

"Then on our anniversary, she comes on to me. I come home, she's dressed for sex, she's all over me. After a few months of just my hand, I'm really ready for her. She's still not talking to me, she's just a lot of action."

"We have a awesome night, and a good morning. It was the last time we had sex."

"She goes back to being the Frigid Witch of the North. I'm confused, and angry. I'm thinking we're done, and I'd been thinking that for a while, but Shawn was just a little pop of a guy, and Jeanie needed me around. I'm also weighing the pro's and con's of going on with the situation. One of those was that Dad had retired, and I'd bought part of his share of the business. Grandpa still had a share, he'd started it, Dad stepped back and sold me a chunk of his share. I didn't want to lose that. I started to think about ways to protect that."

I couldn't blame Corso for that. We'd looked up what he did for a living. His HVAC business had grown, and until his divorce, he'd been pulling in great money. Then his wife got half of his share, and things changed.

"Then Jean drops a bomb on me. She's pregnant." Corso says, shaking his head and looking down. "She's pregnant again. I asked what happened with her birth control, she'd been on the pill. She just walked away."

"She doesn't answer questions, beyond saying she's pregnant again. That's the whole thing. The first two," Corso says, looking back up at me. "... I was jumping and fist-pumping for joy. Now, I just felt dread. This was bad timing."

"She moves out of the bedroom, moving into Shawn's bedroom. She says she doesn't appreciate me pestering her about the baby."

"I know I'm not going to be able to get a divorce while she's pregnant, I'd talked to a couple of friends about it." Corso explains. "I'm wondering if I can put up with Jean being like this for another eighteen years, and the answer is usually 'no"

"I resign myself to getting through this pregnancy, I'll give it some time after the new kid pops out, and I'll see. Maybe she'll snap back. I was hoping so, anyway."

"Jean is going to the doctor, she's keeping appointments, she's making plans at work for the baby showing up. One day, she tosses a ultrasound down in front of me."

"It's a boy,' she says, and walks away. She wouldn't answer questions."

"At this point, we aren't eating together as a family, Jeanie is crying a lot, Shawn has figured things out, and home is just somewhere we all sleep."

"Jean has cleared out a storage room, and moved in. She is out of the house most of the time, and I was kinda thankful for that."

Corso stopped, and took a couple of swallows of his brew. I took the same opportunity.

"I come home one day, a few months later. Jean is showing at that point, but we aren't even good roommates by that time. I'm dreading the kid who's coming. I don't want to be there, but it's where my kids are, y'know?" Corso says. "Guess what I find when I get there?"

"I couldn't." I say, needing to keep him going.

"There's Jean, sitting with Mattolo."

I'd expected that. The lead-up was obvious. Corso venting however, would hopefully lead to details about the shooting.

"I throw my fit, and Mattolo is just laughing, like he's won. He had. The fucker had won."

"I calm down, and Jean explains to me that the kid in her belly is Mattolo's, they'd just DNA confirmed it. She tells me they've been having an affair for a while, and she's divorcing me for him."

"I started to blow up, then had second thoughts. I mean, I wasn't too crazy about being with her anyway, and now she was leaving? Works for me... or so I thought."

"Mattolo then tells me that they've got evidence I've been abusing Jean, and they've already got things ready to bury me legally, shark lawyer and all. Evidence to take to the cops. Doctors report that Jean had bruises and taken some damage from getting a beating."

"I ask why, and what they want." Corso looks like he wants to spit, but it's not aimed at me or Palumbo. He's agitated, but I can also see he's been wanting to tell someone this story for a while.

"Matolo tells me, laughing all the while, that they've got the divorce papers drawn up, and I'm signing over the house, the business, the cars, the accounts, and paying hefty for the kids, every month. And if I don't sign, he's going to fuck me up at every opportunity..."

"All the while, Jean just sits there, quiet." Corso closed his eyes again. "Fuck..."

"What did you do?" Palumbo asks from behind me. I was about to ask too.

"I hit the fucker with the standing lamp while he was laughing. Caught him right across the eyes. His nose popped."

I felt some satisfaction that had happened, and I let it show a little on my face.

"After that, Mattolo beat the fuck out of me. Then the cops showed up, and I was carted off."

I'd seen that in the records. I knew what came after too.

"Mattolo and Jean took me to court, the assault charge stuck, and I lost a lot." Corso sighed. "I ended up only losing half of my share of the business. I'm paying three times the child support I should, but I only get to see my kids for one day a month. Jean got the house, but when Shawn turns eighteen, we sell the place and I get thirty percent. No maintenance now, but I paid a lot before she married Mattolo."

"She had Mattolo's spawn, he's a toddler now. Probably a waste of DNA like his Dad." Coros lamented. "Mattolo moved in, brought his shit of a kid from his first marriage, Junior. My kids are in that shit situation. To make it worse, Jean keeps finding ways to deny me my day with my kids, which was until a few months ago, under supervision. I complain, it takes a year for that to gain traction in the court."

"Five months ago, my time with my kids gets expanded to weekends, Friday afternoons to Sunday afternoon, no supervision, but I gotta check in, y'know?"

He looks at me, and he's searching my eyes for something.

"My kids... they're different. Scared." Corso says, worry in his voice. "They're scared to talk to me. I mean, they're happy to see me, but they won't talk to me much. It takes until two months ago for Shawn to start opening up to me. Janie is still closed, skittish."

"That Sunday, Shawn breaks down. He's ten. I've been out of his life for two years, and it hurts. He remembers me though. God love the little guy, he loves me, remembers me, and I love him back."

"Shawn tells me that Mattolo isn't good to him. Janie either. He yells at them, and he's got no problem pushing them around. His son, Mark Junior, is worse. Junior has no problem throwing Shawn into the closet and locking him in there. Junior is 17, and guess what? He's on the football team. Quarterback. Guess who the coach is? Anyway, Mattolo thinks my kid being locked up is funny."

"Then Shawn tells me that Junior has been touching Janie." Corso is angry now. His hands are clenching. "They're in High School together, and Janie is skipping a lot of the time, trying to avoid Junior. Then she comes home, late, and tries to hide in her room. That lasted until Mattolo took the door off her room, and tells my kids they have no right to privacy in his house. My house."

"Junior likes putting his hands on Janie. Shawn says he walks in on Janie if she's in the bathroom. He makes Janie do his chores, as well as Shawn. And that he's been getting worse. The touching has been getting sexual."

"My kids."

I had this feeling in my stomach, like my heart had dropped into it, and was melting. This was hitting me way, way too close to home. I couldn't help but think of my son, DL, and how he was doing with my wife and her boyfriend, my 'old friend' Lamarr. I hadn't liked what I'd been seeing out of DL, especially after he'd been picked up for 'petite' larceny two months ago.

"Their mother, Jean, does nothing." Corso says. "She just tells them everything is okay, and it's just part of life. Shit like that."

"That bitch is giving up my kids to that fucker and his evil spawn." Corso was shaking his head and sneering. "The betrayal is almost complete, y'know?"

"Last visit, Janie was almost afraid to talk to me. She didn't do much, even though I took them to Cartoonland. She flinched away from everything. She's fourteen, and she's scared at Cartoonland. She doesn't eat, she's too thin, she had nosebleeds popping, and she wouldn't talk to me. I'm scared for her, I tell her so... and she apologizes to me. She tells me she's sorry, but she won't meet my eyes."

"Shawn tells me it's getting worse, that Junior is touching her, saying stuff. Mattolo is doing nothing, he lets his son do anything and everything he wants to. Gives the kids a 'survival of the fittest' speech or some crap. If they don't like something, fight. Right. They're gonna fight."

"I give Shawn a burner phone. I programmed in my number, and I begged him to call me, if something happens. Shawn is scared too, but I get him to promise. Then I take them back to hell."

"I expected a call within an hour. My contact with my kids at that place is controlled by my ex. They don't have phones, if I want to talk to them, I have to call her first. She sometimes lets me, but it's always short. Birthday and holiday stuff mostly."

"I didn't get a call until today."

Corso paused, and took a drink. We were getting to it. I knew we had to do this, but I had an urge to get out of there, and call my son.

"Shawn calls me. He's scared. Crying. He was locked up in his room. Junior was there and 'in charge' until Mattolo and Jean came back from something, and Junior was there with friends. They were drinking, had slapped Shawn around, and had been talking about waiting for Janie to get home."

"Then I hear the sound of a door crashing, I think, and I hear a voice yell 'Who are you talking to!' and it sounds like Mattolo. Shawn says he's not talking to anyone, he's scared. More crashing. Then the line goes dead, but not before I hear Shawn scream."

"I grab three things... my keys, my gun, and my taser. I'm gonna go get my kids, and I don't want to hurt anyone, but I'm getting my kids. The court can go to hell."

Right then, Palumbo and my phone both chimed. Crap. We ignored it.

"I burned my way over to the house. I get there, and there's a couple of extra cars in the driveway."

Our phones chimed again. What the fuck?

Then there was a knock at the door. Nobody knocks on an Interview Room door from the outside, unless it's important. I looked up at the window, Palumbo matching me. I saw our Chief giving us a 'get-out-here' look.

"John, I'm sorry, can you hold on a minute? This has to be important. Can I get you anything?" I say.

Corso hands over his coffee cup. I think he's gonna need a bathroom break soon, at this rate.

"We'll be back as quick as we can, John." I say, assuringly. Damn!, we were just getting to it.

He just nods.

We go out the door, and lock it behind us.

"What the hell?" Palumbo says, giving the Chief his best irritated-guy-on-the-job arm wave. "We were almost there! He's about to tell us everything!"

"Shut up," the Chief says. "I know what's happening in there. You need to see this."

Then he turns and walks down the hallway. Along the way, he starts talking to us, as we follow.

"First, the girl, Jane? His daughter?" Chief starts. "We got preliminary tox on her. She's positive for ketamine and rohypnol, as well as alcohol. She was tied down with sex cuffs, one each arm and leg. She was face down. Naked. She just woke up, and she's scared out of her mind. Most people lose memory under these drugs... she didn't."

"Oh, shit." Palumbo mutters.

"She's identified Mark Mattolo, Junior, and two friends of his. They caught her coming in the door as she got home, forced her to drink some vodka, and spiked her. She doesn't remember anything after that."

I could feel my face going hard.

"We'll have statements from her and Shawn Corso soon, but that info got phoned to me early. Shawn is sedated, he was actually cuffed with police-issue cuffs... I'll be looking into that, once we get the number off them... had duct tape wrapped around his mouth to shut him up, he'd been beaten, thrown into a closet, and locked in there. He's got respiratory damage."

I looked over at Palumbo as we turned a corner, and got to a desk. There was a number of papers spread out, relating to the Corso case so far.

"I haven't got them yet, but we've got two different videos of what happened. From inside the house. One is cellphone footage, one is an overhead cam from inside the bedroom. Matsuda called, he's looked at the footage so far, says this case is not a passion-crime, it's a rescue gone tragic."

"Right now, Matsuda says John Corso saved his little girl from potential rape. I'll look at the footage as soon as it's cleared, and I'll get it to you asap." Chief explained, showing me a few photos of the crime scene on the laptop on the desk. Outlines, sex-cuffs on a bed, a broken doorframe, a broken window, more.

"What's with the cameras?" I asked. "That's way out of the norm,"

"Get this... the cell phone is from one Mitchel Wright, who goes to school with Mark Mattolo, Junior. Matsuda says there's audio of three of these kids talking about using the video to force Jane Corso, the daughter, to give them sex favors. If it checks, that's conspiracy to blackmail. On top of everything else."

"The idiot was filming them raping the girl?" Palumbo said, disbelieving.

"I know, right?" Chief said. "Matsuda's getting warrants for the other two. Junior is in the hospital, broken collarbone, busted face, in custody. He was the one who got tased. Matsuda's gonna get a couple of units, and see who he can round up tonight, once he gets warrants."

"What's with the other camera?" I asked.

"Get this... it's a fixed camera, downward angle of the bedroom, color and sound, motion activated, linked to a server in another room. Once someone spotted the camera, they checked it, and got jackpot." The chief told me.

"Matsuda says it's got the whole thing, from when the three teens dragged in an unconscious Jean Corso, including talking about their plans, tying her down, spanking her, the alarms going off, the two kids except Junior running out, John Corso coming in and tasing Junior..." the Chief trailed off.

"And?" Palumbo prompted.

"Junior makes a move at Corso, and Corso tases him. Textbook. Junior topples, smacks himself on the bedframe and they think it's how his collarbone gets broken. Corso then steps up and boots him in the head, and puts the kid out."

"Wow."

"Then Corso unties his kid, and is trying to wake her up."