Sex, Lies & Murder: The Pamela Smart Case

Pam was losing control of Cecelia. Unconcerned, Pam figured that she would be believable. Ironically, Pam's intuition of Cecelia catching her on tape was exactly what happened. The police set up two brief telephone intercepts, and fixed Cecelia up with two body wire sessions. Unbeknownst to Pam, the tapes would tell another tale.

"Seeing what happened, wouldn't you rather have just divorced Greg?" asked Cecelia while surreptitiously taping their conversation for the police.

"Well, I don't know, you know. Nothing was going wrong until they fucking told Ralph [Welch]."

"No shit!" said Cecelia. Apparently, Ralph Welch was talking to the police. He was interviewed by the press and told others as well.

"It's their stupid-ass faults ... that they told Ralph, you know," Pam said.

"I can't even believe they told him," agreed Cecelia. "Now they're in jail and like every time I hear Motley Crew I think of Bill."

 "Yeah, So do I. Tell me about it. ... That's the thing. I never fucking paid 'em. Somebody told me I gave J.R. a stereo and stuff. ...You know, if they get certified as juveniles, then nobody will ever know anything, and they'll all be out in a year, you know, when they turn 18. ... but I'm just like, what the hell, I've already got the best friggin' lawyers anywhere."

"You do?"

"Yeah. But they're fucking wicked expensive, but what could I do?"

"Obviously you can afford it."

"No goddamn fucking [way]," said Pam. "Didn't I need them? But right now they don't have to do anything unless I'm arrested, and if I get arrested, then they have to do shit. ... So they can't convict me 'cause of fucking J.R.'s-sixteen-year-old-word-in-the-slammer- facing-the-rest-of-his-life."

"Well, first of all," said Cecelia, "you didn't offer to pay him, right?"

"No."

"So he's not gonna say that you offered to pay him," continued Cecelia. "He's going to say that you knew about it before it happened, which is the truth."

"Right," she agreed. "Well, so then I'll have to say, "No, I didn't" and then they're either gonna believe me or they are gonna believe J.R.-sixteen-years-old-in-the-slammer. And then who [will they believe]? Me, with a professional reputation, and of course that I teach. You know, that's the thing. They are going to believe me.

"All right," said Cecelia. "Well, I'll call you."

Pam then invited Cecelia over later so that they could go out together. "You'd better be there," Pam said jokingly, "or I'll come after you with my Rambo knife."