Calendar of Regrets

May

January February March April May June July August September October November December   & & &167' ......... ......... ......... Hello? ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... ......... Hello? ......... ......... ......... Testing . . . one . . . two . . . three. ......... ......... Testing. ......... ......... Okay, it looks like we’re ready to go here. ......... This is Doctor Park Dietz. Today’s date is Monday, May 22, 1995. The time is, uh, the time is 9:51 a.m. This will be a taped conversation with the last name of Tager, T-A-G-E-R, first of William, 168 b & LANCE OLSEN ' W-I-L-L-I-A-M. Date of birth: November 9, 1947. WT. That is incorrect. WT. Okay, Bill. We’ll get to that in a sec. What I’ve done here is I’ve turned on the recorder so I can tape our conversation because, you know, I’m not the best note taker in the world. This morning I’d like to return to some things we were talking about last fall, if that’s all right with you. WT. Fine. PD. Okay, uh . . . Can you speak up just a little bit? I’m . . . WT. Sure. PD. Good. That’s good. Okay. So I want to go back to the conversations we were having about October 4, 1986. You were on, what was it, 86th Street, right? At a little before 11:00 p.m.? WT. That is correct. PD. And you were, you know, you saw somebody. A man you recognized. WT. We already did this part. PD. I apologize, Bill. I’m not the, you know, the sharpest tool in the shed. I just want to understand what happened. So, okay, you saw this man you recognized, right? WT. Yes. PD. And you said you thought he was . . . ? & calender of regrets ' b 169 WT. I didn’t think. I knew. Everybody knows. PD. Why don’t you go ahead and tell me—just for the record. WT. Burrows. Kenneth Burrows. PD. And what did you do when you saw the man you thought was Kenneth Burrows? WT. I needed to get the code. PD. And how did you go about doing that? WT. I followed him. PD. Where did he go? WT. He went into this pizza parlor. PD. And what happened? WT. He ordered a slice of pepperoni. A slice of pepperoni and a Coke. I ordered a slice, too. Cheese. I didn’t order anything to drink because I wasn’t thirsty. He sat at the window. PD. And where did you sit? WT. I sat in the back. PD. To watch him? WT. To keep him under surveillance. Yes. Only I pretended not to because his brainwaves were arriving and everything. 170 b & LANCE OLSEN ' PD. What do you mean when you say: His brainwaves were arriving and everything? WT. They were coming in at me. PD. What did it feel like to you? WT. It felt like tinfoil sparkling inside my head. PD. And how long would you, uh, how long would you estimate you remained in the pizza parlor? WT. I don’t know. PD. You waited until he was done. WT. Yes. PD. Maybe ten minutes? Twenty? WT. Something like that. PD. What sort of thoughts were you having at the time? WT. None. PD. Your mind was blank? WT. I was observing. PD. What did this man you recognized . . . what did he do next? WT. He got up. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, chucked & calender of regrets ' b 171 everything into the trashcan by the door. Then he said thanks to the guys behind the counter and left. I followed. PD. Was the pizza parlor crowded at that time of night? WT. There was maybe another couple of people. PD. Had you thought in any way at that point that you might want to hurt him? WT. The Vice President? PD. Had you pictured it? WT. Why would anyone picture hurting the V. P.? PD. Then tell me what was going through your head. Explain what you were thinking to me. WT. I was thinking about asking him for the code. That was pretty much it. He was walking fast. I had to jog to catch up with him. It seemed like the faster I went, the faster he went. PD. That’s when things began changing for you? WT. He knew I was coming. He should’ve stopped. PD. How did he know you were...