Perfect Murder, Perfect Town - Lawrence Schiller [229]
Mills had, of course, heard of the Ramseys. Like most people, he had drawn conclusions about the case based solely on what he’d read in the newspapers. He believed the couple was guilty of killing their daughter. He told Tracey he wasn’t interested in some child murderers in Colorado. Before the two friends hung up, however, Tracey persuaded Mills to consider making a documentary about the case. His arguments about the one-sided view of the media had convinced Mills. The two men agreed they would meet with Patsy and John Ramsey.
When Michael Tracey arrived in Atlanta on December 6, Bryan Morgan was already there. Ramsey came to the Hyatt Regency to pick them up. Shaking John Ramsey’s hand in the hotel lobby, Tracey had the odd feeling that he might be face-to-face with a child killer. At the Ramseys’ home, Tracey was introduced to Rachelle Zimmer, one of Bryan Morgan’s associate attorneys, who was living with the Ramseys until they got settled in their new home. She was making cookies in the kitchen. Patsy was on the patio, talking on her cell phone.
“Well, they didn’t have handsome professors when I was a student in journalism school,” Patsy greeted Tracey. “Thank you” was the only reply the flustered professor could think of. Invited to sit down, Tracey told the Ramseys a little about himself. He’d received his doctorate in political science and American politics in Britain, and then moved to Boulder to teach in 1988, he said. His life’s work, he said, was to think about the media.
“What do you want to do with us?” Patsy said. “What’s your idea?”
It took Tracey a second or two to reply: “A story has been told about you and this murder. I want to see if another story could have been told.” He wasn’t prepared to make a presentation, but he plunged ahead: he wanted to include material about the credibility of the tabloids and the inaccurate reporting by the mainstream press, he said. Patsy seemed to like what she was hearing. John was noncommittal.
Later in the afternoon, Ramsey took Tracey and Morgan back to the hotel so they could pick up David Mills, who had by then arrived from Hungary, where he was filming. Sitting in the car, Mills also had a strange feeling: Was he being driven by a murderer?
At dinner, Patsy was the perfect hostess. They dined in a wood-paneled restaurant that resembled an English gentlemen’s club. Mills noticed the waiting staff’s kindheartedness toward the Ramseys. He also watched the Ramseys themselves. John was very reserved, while Patsy was outgoing—exactly what he expected from a southern beauty queen. Theirs was an odd relationship, Mills thought. A small incident piqued his interest in the couple.
Ramsey had been telling Tracey about the media’s incorrect reporting. For example, they had said that he flew his own jet to JonBenét’s funeral. He didn’t own a jet, much less know how to fly one, he said. Mills asked Patsy: “How have you coped over the past year?” Patsy started to talk about her faith in God and then suddenly broke down. Mills felt guilty. John Ramsey never moved or looked up as Patsy cried. It was Bryan Morgan who attended to her. The lawyer took Patsy by the hand and led her to the ladies’ room so that she could compose herself. Mills wondered whether Ramsey was such a cold fish that he didn’t care about his wife. Tracey asked himself, Why on earth doesn’t this man get up and see if his wife is OK? Moments later, Patsy returned to the table. Without looking at her husband, she thanked her guests for being so kind.
Later that night, Tracey and Mills discussed the incident. Mills felt that the couple had developed an unusual codependency in which it was understood that one of them had to be rock-solid at all times, lest both of them lose control. Tracey saw it slightly differently. In his view, John held it together for both of them.
It was mysterious, however, and open to different interpretations. It was possible, for example, that John hated Patsy