Mind Switch by Lorne L. Bentley Page A

offered Fred a cup of coffee. Fred hated the thought of coffee, but wanting to have an excuse to stay for awhile, Fred replied, “No, thank you; but a glass of ice water would be nice.”  
    While she was getting the water, he decided on his next approach. He concluded that he would be totally honest with her and solicit her input on that basis alone without any distortions or attempt to coerce. When she returned he said, “Mrs. Slivers, I have to tell you I have talked to your husband’s employees and they could say nothing but positive things about him. He appears in their eyes to be of the finest character.”
    With tears in her eyes Mrs. Slivers said, “Yes, then I don’t understand why you are accusing him of this crime. I just talked to him at the county jail and he told me he didn’t have anything to do with it; and, Lieutenant, I can assure you that my husband does not lie. Maybe you don’t know that he is a respected member of the community and a deacon in our church.”
    Fred thought, great, in the eyes of the world, not only should this guy not be accused of murder, he deserves to be put up for sainthood.
    “Mrs. Slivers, I am not challenging the fact that your husband was a valued member of the community or a good husband. I am simply trying to reconcile that with the fact that he alone was responsible for the murder and injury of several innocent people.”
    She responded in anger, “That’s not true, that is simply not true!”
    Fred waited a few seconds and speaking in a calm voice said, “Mrs. Slivers, we have a videotape of your husband with the murder weapon in his hand, shooting bank customers and bank personnel. Your lawyer has been provided with a copy of the same tape. There’s no question that he did it.”
    Mrs. Slivers’ response offered the same rebuttal logic that had troubled Fred earlier, “Why would he try to rob a bank? More money at this stage in our lives is the last thing we require in this world.”
    “I understand; and like you I don’t believe he entered that bank with the intent to rob. The question is, why did he enter the bank, what was his purpose?”
    Mrs. Slivers was silent for what seemed like minutes. When she finally spoke, her composure had returned and she seemed for the first time to have taken in the reality that her husband was in fact involved. “I don’t know, my husband has not been depressed or unhappy about anything in our lives. The only thing—”
    “—Yes” Fred interrupted, “What were you about to say?”
    “Well, this can’t have any bearing but Jim has become rather forgetful lately.”
    Fred could not see how this could possibly link to the crime, but he asked her to provide more details.  
    “Last week he often came home from work much later than normal and he couldn’t remember where he had been. We even made an unscheduled call to our family doctor fearing Jim might have an early onslaught of dementia. Jim was tested and the results indicated that he had greater recall than the vast majority of men his age. Our doctor said forgetfulness often stems from the pressure of work. He suggested we take a cruise and relax for awhile. Officer, our cruise is scheduled for a couple of weeks from now. Oh, God, will we ever be able to take it now?”
    Fred had empathy for this very devoted wife who had a hard time processing the reality of the situation. He spoke to her very softly, almost at a whisper level. “Mrs. Slivers, unless we can find some breakthrough in this case which would prove your husband innocent, I really don’t see how. I can only promise you that I will try very hard to understand what went on; and if the facts support your husband’s innocence I will do all I can to make sure he is released. But to be realistic, I can’t see at this stage how that can happen.”
    As he made this statement, Fred realized that he was being purely honest both to the grieving wife before him and to himself. If for some reason Fred found