Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 30

"I hear you want to retract your previous confessions and give a new statement, John?" Burgess asked. She and Halstead had just sat down at the interview room table. Opposite them were John Layfield and Shane McMahon, his lawyer.

"I wasn't telling the truth before," Layfield said, speaking as if he was delivering some kind of revelation.

"I'm aware of that, John," Burgess said evenly. "We've wasted a lot of police time on these interviews and your stories. I need to know that you're going to tell me the truth this time. Because from where I'm sitting, it looks you're going to carry the can for these killings on your own, while your wife denies all knowledge. That doesn't seem like justice for the victims, for their families, or quite frankly for you. So, how about you tell me what really happened? Let's start with the eight victims, then we'll come to your daughter."

Nice opening, Halstead thought, not that he was surprised. Unlike with Purrazzo, which wasn't her fault, he didn't have to worry about stepping in with Burgess doing the questioning. She was as good as he was.

"I didn't kill any of them. I cut them up. I buried them. But only because I didn't know what else to do. What was I supposed to do, come to you people and tell you my wife kept killing people?"

The seemingly obvious reply was, "Why didn't you come to us the first time she did it?" But Halstead knew Burgess wouldn't go with that. Using confrontation so early in an interview with so much at stake would be unproductive overall, likely only serving to make the suspect either clam up or get aggressive.

"Why don't you start by telling us about the first person your wife murdered?" Burgess asked, assuming for the sake of discussion that his opening statement had been true.

"That was Lauren."

"Lauren Stevens?" Burgess asked for the clarity of the record.

"Yes, Lauren Stevens."

"Okay, tell me what happened with Lauren in as much detail as you can. She was working for you as a nanny, is that right?"

Layfield nodded. "That's right. I was obviously always busy running my construction company, so I had no time to look after the kids. Jillian never had much interest in doing it, so we decided to get a nanny. Lauren was the first one we took on. She was a really pretty girl, which is why I think Jillian wanted her."

"Where did you advertise for a nanny?" Burgess asked.

"Advertise? We didn't advertise. Jillian has always known so many people. It's something she made a point of. Lauren was one of those girls that was always falling out with her parents. She lived with her mum, had an argument with her, went to live with her dad, had an argument with him, and so on. So, Jillian offered her a place to live and a small amount of pay if she took on the job of looking after the kids."

"Lauren moved in on that basis?" Burgess asked.

Halstead sat there observing, calmly drinking his coffee.

"Yes, she did. And it wasn't long before Jillian started seducing her. She's always had a thing for pretty women. Threesomes weren't a rarity in our house at one time," Layfield boasted.

"Did you have a threesome with Lauren?" Burgess asked, keeping her voice devoid of any kind of emotion.

"Probably. I don't really remember. There were a lot of them."

"But you remember her being killed?"

"Of course I do!" Layfield objected. "I'm not going to forget something like that, am I?"

"Tell me what happened," Burgess instructed.

"It started out as sex. Sex between Jillian and Lauren, I mean. By that point Jillian had gotten Lauren smitten with her, and had been building up her experience with bondage. That kind of thing turns Jillian on the most. She always loved having a girl tied up and gagged while she made love to them."