Lethal Guardian (Pinnacle True Crime) by M. William Phelps

Author:M. William Phelps [Phelps, M. William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: True Crime, Murder, General
ISBN: 9780786021321
Google: 8KDiAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0786021322
Publisher: Pinnacle
Published: 2004-06-01T12:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

During the afternoon of February 20, 1994, Catherine White and Joe Fremut were hanging around Fremut Texaco when Mark Despres pulled into the parking lot, parked his car by one of the garage bays, got out and walked casually over to where they were standing. As was generally the case lately, Chris Despres was right behind his dad.

“Catherine, go do something,” Fremut said, wiping his hands off with a rag.

“I can’t find the opportune time to do him, Joe,” Despres said in frustration. “I’ve been following him around but just can’t seem to get him alone.”

“Continue to follow him around,” Fremut urged. “The moment will present itself.”

Later that night, White finally confronted Fremut about what she suspected.

“Mark picked up this contract for eight thousand dollars to do this guy from Old Lyme,” Fremut said without hesitation.

This was the first time White had heard directly from Fremut that he and Despres were going to kill someone.

Things abruptly changed one day near the end of February. Clein and Beth Ann had gotten into, Clein later said, a “petty argument,” and Clein got so upset at her that he called the murder off.

“Forget about it,” Clein told Despres over the phone the following day.

At first, Despres didn’t say anything.

“You hear me?” Clein said again.

“Okay,” Despres said. Then, thinking about it for a moment, he asked, “Do you want me to lower the price?”

“No! It’s off.”

Later, Clein explained that it was possibly his moral compass on that day beckoning him to look for a reason to call it off. He said the argument had been so trivial it shouldn’t have been enough to make him mad enough to cancel the contract. “I reasoned with myself that I shouldn’t be doing this for her—that why should I do this for her? I might have just been looking for a reason to call it off.”

Somewhat amazed by the recent turn of events, after realizing how serious Clein was, Despres said, “Fine, no problem.”

Later that night, Clein showed up at Beth Ann’s condo and explained how he’d called it off.

Beth Ann didn’t say much of anything one way or the other, Clein later said, and just let it go.

At least for the time being.

Haiman Clein and Beth Ann’s life together stayed pretty much plain and simple for the next week or so. They continued sleeping together, dining out and working together, but the subject of Buzz’s murder, according to Clein, hadn’t been as much a part of their conversation as it had been in recent months. Throughout the past few weeks, Beth Ann had noticed an increase in Clein’s anxiety, though. He would sweat profusely, she later said. He would shake. His skin was pasty and clammy. There were times when he would become enraged for no apparent reason. They might be driving down the road and Clein would snap and begin banging his head against the windshield. She suspected he was abusing drugs, but she never called him on it.

A short time after they had

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