Grace Under Pressure

Kill Brother, Kill Sister: Episode Two

Podcast: Episode Two – Grace Under Pressure
Apple Podcasts: Episode Two – Grace Under Pressure

Sometimes we have to answer profoundly human challenges, ones that require instantaneous action. How do we meet the moment when sheer decisiveness is the only thing required of us? We often hear about “fight or flight” (and sometimes “freeze”) — but this is a different moment. This is that “grace under pressure” moment. There’s no turning back, there’s no second chance. This. Is. It. The pressure cooker of life.

From all available evidence, Robert Pfeil was built for moments like these. After learning of his sister’s assassination, he headed straight toward the crime scene. Was there within minutes — having stopped only to drop off wife Marianne at his ancestral home. On a day like this, his seventy-seven year old mother might need a touch of kindness. This was the anniversary of her husband’s — his father’s — death, twenty-two years earlier: A freak floatplane accident that shocked the Anchorage community. Was this a shot across their bow?

It hardly mattered. In this moment, Robert Pfeil was all business. The reward for information about his sister’s murder? Published within weeks of her death. A notice to reassure Muriel’s travel service customers? Done. A private word with the investigators? Of course.

Indeed, Robert Pfeil was so quick to action he sometimes seemed ahead of himself. The man had his reasons, foremost among them: one Neil S. Mackay, Muriel’s ex-husband. Robert Pfeil was, of course, far from an unbiased observer.

Robert Pfeil had seen violence in Neil Mackay. Remembered the time during Muriel’s divorce when Mackay called him to his apartment. Told him he’d “pay” his sister to stay with him. It was a bribe offer. A flat-out bribe.

Bob Pfeil must have looked at Mackay like he was batty, because Neil snapped. “He cursed me,” Bob recalled. “Told me if I ever crossed him, he’d have me and when he was through with me I’d look like I’d been run over.”

Pressure Drop

As might be expected after such a violent murder, Bob Pfeil faced multiple pressures. But one took precedence and it had a name: Neil Pfeil Mackay. AKA “Scotty.” Age: Three and a half years old. Status: Just a kid. Prospects: Vulnerable. Situation: Not something the child could fully understand. As in: where’s mother? Dead. So… Robert Pfeil, wife Marianne and “Grandmother” Pfeil reached what they thought an unimpeachable decision. Grab Scotty. Rescue Scotty. Take him to a safe place. Keep him away from Neil S. Mackay. Make it legal.

What they did — what Bob and Marianne did — was drive straight to Scotty’s daycare provider. It was conveniently located just 150 feet from the duplex where Scotty lived with his mother. It wasn’t difficult to get him released into their custody. They — Bob and Marianne — knew the daycare provider, one Rena Bertram. And she knew them. Bertram was suitably shocked by the news. Learned that she would remain as Scotty’s daycare provider.

The Master Plan was to stay at Muriel’s duplex overnight (yes, they had keys). Once Scotty nestled in, Bob went for their daughters, Kristina and Caroline, ages nine and seven, respectively. Marianne, meanwhile, started packing Scotty’s things. Clothing. Toys. Treasured objects. And then, when his cousins arrived, they doted on him. They were in on the news. Understood that this child would need them in ways he could scarcely fathom.

A Radical Response

That wasn’t the only news. Bob and Marianne had decided — with the encouragement of Grandma Pfeil — that the best course of action was to immediately gain custody of Scotty. The lawyers — chief among them Muriel’s divorce lawyer — were soon on the case. Legal documents would be filed.

Looking back at those documents, Robert Pfeil’s rationale shined crystal clear, his thoughts flowing in simple, coherent phrases. This little boy needs a stable family with a mother and father. Neil Mackay does not know how to function around children. I don’t think he can cope with [him]. Scotty is a very active child.

Pressure @ Penthouse

Over at 639 W. 20th — where Neil’s penthouse loomed over the skyline — an aura of panic ruled the scene. Mackay’s office telephone had also rung a little after two o’clock. A business associate named Frank Nosek was calling. He too had an office in Muriel’s building. His message was more… Qualified. Something about a bombing. A car. A car bombing. But he wasn’t sure of much beyond that. Muriel’s car? Was she in it? He didn’t know. And then, seemingly more to the point: What about Scotty? Was Scotty in the car? I don’t know, Frank said. He doesn’t know?

From this point forward, things got pretty frantic in that 14th floor penthouse. Between Neil and his legal secretary, Virginia Zawacki, there was considerable mashing and gnashing. And an unrelenting sense of desperation. Where is Scotty? Where is my son? Finally… Another call from Frank Nosek. Yes, it was Muriel’s car. Yes, she was in the car. But where’s Scotty? No answer. The pressure was on. The pressure was unrelenting.

“Well, [Neil] was a little bit, I believe, flustered because he didn’t – Frank didn’t know for sure that it was Muriel’s car, that Muriel was in the car herself. And Neil was worried about Scotty. Was Scotty in the car?”

Virginia Zawacki, Neil Mackay’s legal secretary

Random Dialing

The two of them did what they knew best. Got on the phone. Thumbed through the white pages. Thumbed through the yellow pages. Looking, looking… Blind calling whoever and whatever seemed vaguely promising… They were looking for Rena Bertram. Except that… They. Did. Not. Know. Her. Name. Curious, right? The father, so concerned about his son, doesn’t even vaguely know his whereabouts. Has no fricking clue. And neither does his legal secretary. There was one hope: call his preschool. Nope. Not there.

There was, of course, a perfectly reasonable explanation for this state of affairs. And it was not so much the father’s neglect — although there’s that too — as it was Muriel Pfeil’s steadfast obsession with protecting Scotty. Of keeping his father at bay and in the dark. Her vow to keep Neil Mackay away from Scotty had teeth. It had to.

So when was it, you might ask, that Neil Mackay finally learned of his son’s whereabouts? Late in the day, after the cops called him in for an interview. One in which he was asked — and gave — a detailed accounting of his minute-by-minute movements. He was a suspect, after all. During that encounter he was also asked to take a polygraph. “I’ll consider it,” he offered, noncommittally.

“Oh, by the way,” the cops muttered. “Bob Pfeil has Scotty.”

The Book: Kill Brother, Kill Sister

Kill Brother, Kill Sister is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other fine bookstores (paperback and ebook).

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