The Last Victim_ A True-Life Journey Into the Mind of the Serial Killer - Jason Moss [102]
Which is why a few months after our collaboration on this project ended, I found myself by Jason’s side in the waiting room of Death Row in a Huntsville, Texas, prison. We were there to interview Henry Lee Lucas, who was soon to be scheduled for execution (the sentence was subsequently commuted by the governor because of prosecutorial bungling during his trial). I was curious to see Jason in action, going toe to toe with Lucas. Would he seem out of his depth, as he had with Gacy? I wondered how much he’d learned since his first traumatic encounter.
Things did not go well at first. Although Lucas, Jason, and I were the only ones in the huge, cavernous visiting area, our subject was behaving as if there were eavesdroppers. Perhaps there were.
I could see from the corner of my eye that Jason was becoming as frustrated as I was. Lucas was just so evasive, with his smug smile. Jason and I had been playing tag team, each of us directing various questions his way, rarely sure of who was leading whom.
I was about ready to pack it in. We were mostly wasting our time, and I felt uncomfortable spending even a minute with this squirrely guy who’d stabbed his own mother to death, as well as bludgeoned and strangled dozens of others. I was about to give Jason the “we’re outta here” signal when he pressed his foot against mine and looked at me intently. He’d obviously devised some sort of plan, and he wanted me to play along.
“Henry,” he began, using a different tone of voice to indicate a change in subject, “we were wondering if you could help us with a project we’re working on.”
“Sure. If I can. Whatcha got in mind?” At that moment I imagined that if his hands hadn’t been cuffed, they’d surely be rubbing each other with glee. Maybe there’s some angle I can exploit, you could hear him thinking.
“We’re working on a movie script,” Jason continued, “and we could use some input. It’s sort of like you’d be our consultant.”
Lucas didn’t say a word at first. You could see his wheels turning, see him calculating the chances of getting some money out of this to finance his various legal appeals.
“What’s it about?” he asked.
“Just down your line,” Jason said without a beat. “It’s about a killer.”
They both smiled at one another, as if they had an understanding. Lucas nodded but remained silent. Waiting. Watching.
“See,” Jason said, “we’ve got this character who kills people, but we need to know a lot more about what’s involved. We figured that with all your personal research and all, you must know some things that could help make this movie realistic.”
I couldn’t believe how quickly the flow of the conversation changed once Jason had created this vehicle for Lucas to speak more honestly. While Lucas had previously been reticent and terse, answering in monosyllables, all of a sudden he talked as if he was delivering a seminal lecture on his area of expertise (which of course he was).
“If you don’t leave evidence,” Lucas said conspiratorially, “they can’t find you.”
“Uh huh,” Jason responded, waiting for him to continue.
“If you don’t tell nobody, you won’t get caught neither.” Lucas’s big mistake had been to work with a partner.
“You have to hide the body so it won’t be found. It’s good to burn a body, but then they still find teeth, so you have to hide it real good.”
I looked over at Jason as this conversation ensued. Although I interview people for a living, I was grudgingly impressed by the skill and artistry with which he guided the discussion.
“Choppin’ up a body makes a mess and it leaves evidence,” Lucas explained. “You don’t want to have blood.”
At this Jason and I simply nodded our heads, as if Lucas was passing along a cherished