“It’s complicated, Jake. Everybody’s doing everything to find Mom.” Greg stroked Jake’s head. “Have some more pizza.”
“Hey.” Kat smiled. “I’ve got some video games you can play with Grandpa after.”
“Think you can still beat me at hockey?” Vince asked.
Jake shrugged. “Probably.”
Vince winked. “Give you five bucks if you do.”
After eating, Greg and Kat had talked alone in her kitchen with the door closed as Greg tried to hold it together.
“So you decided to talk to Sellwin?” Kat said. “What happened?”
“I got a bad vibe off him. I wanted to beat the smile from his face.”
“Do you think there’s something going on with him and Jenn?”
“I have no proof. And I don’t know what Kozak and Carillo know, or found. They’ve been going through our phones, our computers. They’ve taken our prints, more stuff, our DNA. Now they want to polygraph me. God, Kat, they think I hurt her.”
That’s when Kat took control, insisting he talk to a lawyer immediately about the polygraph. After a combination of calls to Kat’s friends and an online search, they reached Susan Segretti, considered one of the best. Segretti was aware of Jenn’s case—most people in the region were—and she’d returned Greg’s call, noting the first consultation, even if it was after regular hours, was free.
“...now, there are advantages and disadvantages to agreeing to submit to a polygraph,” Segretti said as she relayed the basics to him.
No matter what investigators say, it’s not routine, and Greg should assume he has not been ruled out as a suspect. And while the results cannot be used in court, any statements he makes during the process could be used against him later.
Segretti said that Greg had every right to refuse the polygraph, but refusal would create the perception that he was hiding something, while participating could expedite removing him as a suspect. She said she could be present, acting as his attorney, if he agreed to take a polygraph, and could represent him subsequently, depending on how things went.
Her fee was $300 an hour.
“The decision is yours. Think about it, Greg, and let me know.”
The call ended. Greg stared at nothing while Jake and Vince’s game playing spilled from the living room.
“Well?” Kat said. “What did she say?”
Greg told her everything, including Segretti’s rate.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said.
“You don’t know? Look. I got these while you were on the phone.” Kat had cued up Buffalo TV news reports. “These are new.”
The first showed volunteers in the ongoing search for Jenn. They turned up the sound to hear the reporter say, “...however, tension apparently surfaced between Greg Griffin, the missing woman’s husband, and a volunteer searcher today in Whisper Wind Park...” The footage was blurry but it showed Greg confronting Porter Sellwin. “No one would comment as to the source of the apparent disagreement...”
“And look at this one.” Kat hit play on another report showing police at Greg’s house as he entered.
“...late today state police investigators executed new search warrants at the home of missing mom Jennifer Griffin. Sources tell us DNA samples were collected giving rise to speculation that people close to Griffin may not yet have been ruled out as suspects...”
At a loss, Greg lowered his head, shaking it slowly.
“This looks bad for you,” Kat said as her laptop chimed with a notification. “Oh, this is live news on the case.”
Kat clicked on it and a video blossomed of a man at a cluster of microphones, newspeople huddled around him, a woman at his shoulder.
“...to reiterate, my client, Brooke Bollman, is cooperating with police and is not involved in any way with the disappearance of Jennifer Griffin. That concludes our statement. We will take no questions.”
All the saliva drained from Greg’s mouth, then he cursed.
“Who is she, Greg?” Kat asked.
He didn’t answer.
Heart racing, skin tingling, Greg reached for his phone.
His call was answered on the third ring.
“Hi, Ms. Segretti, Greg Griffin again. I will take the polygraph and I’d like you to be there, as my attorney.”
Forty
Clarence, New York
Greg took a deep breath.
“That’s it, breathe regularly. Remember, treat this as a conversation, but give only yes or no responses.” Valerie Vera, the polygraph examiner, checked her instruments.
It was midmorning the next day.
Greg was seated in a comfortable high-back chair with wide armrests. He looked at the sensors connected to his fingertips and chest to gauge his breathing, pulse, and perspiration. Cables linked the sensors to Vera’s polygraph and laptop, where she would measure and record the activity.
Earlier, in explaining the exam process, Vera also conducted the pretest interview, which included questions on Greg’s physical and mental status, and the use of any medications.
“It’s okay to be uneasy. I expect some anxiety, Greg.”
Valerie Vera wore red-framed glasses that rested partway down her nose. She was in her early fifties and looked at him through her glasses and over them to ensure he understood as she told him how she would analyze the results and give investigators one of three outcomes: Greg Griffin is untruthful, Greg Griffin is truthful, or the results are inconclusive.
Greg took another breath.
How did this happen?
Here he was at the Bureau of Criminal Investigation offices of the New York State Police, Clarence Barracks, in a meeting room, hooked to a lie detector. Behind him were Kozak, Carillo, their boss, Lieutenant Phil Becker, and Greg’s attorney, Susan Segretti.
Centered at the far end of the table, Vera had placed a clear glass lamp with floating globs of luminescent goop for him to watch and stay calm.
“All set,” Vera said. “Are you relaxed, Greg?”
“Yes,” he lied.
“We’ll start with some basics to establish a foundation.”
Vera made a quick adjustment of the polygraph and began.
“Are you Greg Griffin?”
“Yes.”
“Is your wife Jennifer Griffin?”
“Yes.”
“Is your son Jake Griffin?”