Love, Lies, and Murder (21 page)

“So, it’s still there,” Farris said.

“It’s still there,” Perry agreed. “There’s other programs that actually come in and write over it and it will erase it. . . . The difference between . . . what happens is when people delete normally . . . what they do is they force their machine to not be able to find something. . . . And then the machine can write over it again later. You have to scrub it.”

“Because some other machine can come in and find it,” Farris offered.

“Exactly.”

“Okay.”

“Hey, can I tell you something?” Perry asked.

“Yeah.”

“This is crucial, crucial, for us . . . because a lot of what we’re gonna do on our jobs . . . will be e-mail–related.”

“In Mexico?” Farris asked. “You talkin’ about—”

“Philip Rolfe. Remember that guy Rolfe, he’s on his computer all day long with e-mail.”

“And that’s how we’ll communicate with him?” Farris asked.

“Absolutely.”

“That way, he never . . . hears a voice or nothing.”

“Absolutely. . . . What to do and when to do it, and he’ll do it; and then he’ll have his little granddaughter back. . . . You see what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, and like . . . how you was explaining to me about the diamonds and stuff like that. I just wanna do that one time at least, too, because I want some diamonds.”

“When it happens, you’re gonna get on an airplane,” Perry explained about the diamonds, a scheme that he had spoken to Farris about after they had first met. “You’re going to fly to Amsterdam and you’re gonna trade ’em in and put ’em in the bank.”

“Do you think that would be safe for me going in to Amsterdam ?” Farris asked.

“With a new passport. Can I tell you something? We’re gonna totally be low-key . . . big-time . . . remember one thing. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.”

“Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered,” Farris repeated, laughing. “Huh, we’re gonna be a couple of pigs.”

“Low-key pigs,” Perry corrected. “And for the next thirty days, you need to learn about the Internet . . . and e-mails. You need to look up and learn about Mexico and immigration. You’ll see how easy it is. People just go whoring all day long (inaudible) . . . you need to remember. . . once the car gets, uh, sold—”

“Yeah?” Farris asked, laughing.

“They ain’t gonna let me out for a long time,” Perry said. “They’re gonna try to keep me in here as long as they can, until they can figure out . . . The thing you need to know . . . I’m a fuckin’ expert in Mexico. . . . I’ve got lawyers, I’ve got accounts . . . I speak Spanish. I’m an expert.”

“Well, look . . . I pretty much figured that,” Farris said. “That’s why, like, when we talked, you know, a couple of weeks ago or whatever, we was talkin’ about those kidnappings, that’s why . . . I was sayin’ . . . I would do the footwork and you could handle the other part.”

“Oh, we’re gonna both handle everything together.”

“We’re both gonna handle it together,” Farris repeated, laughing. “Hey, Perry, the dynamic duo.”

When Farris was taken out of the isolation unit a short time later, Perry March thought that he had made bond and had been released. In reality, Russell Nathaniel Farris was taken to a small room at the police station, where he soon began making supervised telephone calls to Arthur March in Mexico. While Perry sat in jail awaiting trial for murder, he believed that his new pal, Farris, would be keeping his promise by committing two additional murders.

The first telephone call between Russell Nathaniel Farris and Arthur March occurred ahead of schedule on Wednesday, October 12, 2005. Farris was being supervised by Postiglione and Pridemore. He seemed a bit nervous at first, but soon fell right into the conversation as he did what the detectives had instructed him to do. After a few rings, Arthur March answered the telephone. Following is an edited transcript of that conversation: