Tuesday, November 2, 2021 – 4:30 p.m.
Cherie Brophy Atkinson is a board member of the Yoknapatawpha Players Theatre Troupe.
Detectives Beckwith and Magee talked to her again at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.
Participants
- Detective P. Beckwith
- Detective J. Magee
- Cherie Atkinson
Detective Magee: You can sit here, Ms. Atkinson.
Cherie Atkinson: I thought we were done earlier when I told you all about how Janet plotted to ruin Kessler's show.
Detective Magee: We'll get to that again. First, let's get your name and address for the record.
Cherie Atkinson: Cherie Brophy Atkinson. 999 Muirfield Drive. If you're looking for more stuff on Janet, I really don't have anything else. She'll be fired, and we'll move on with a better actress.
Detective Beckwith: Are you sure Janet was alone in the sabotage?
Cherie Atkinson: Well, if she told y'all that someone was in on it with her, she would know.
Detective Magee: She says you were in on it with her.
Cherie Atkinson: That's a lie. I told you that before.
Detective Beckwith: What about Neal? Was he in on the sabotage?
Cherie Atkinson: Your guess is as good as mine.
Detective Beckwith: Janet claimed he wasn't.
Cherie Atkinson: He was in Janet's group most of the day, so who knows?
Detective Magee: What weapons were you using during the rehearsal that day?
Cherie Atkinson: None.
Detective Magee: Let me rephrase. What weapons were you carrying during the rehearsal that day?
Cherie Atkinson: Martin gave me a pair of cap guns early on. When he wasn't looking, I dropped them on the ground.
Detective Beckwith: What about Neal? What weapons did he have when he left the lab?
Cherie Atkinson: I don't think he had anything either. Yeah, that's weird because he seemed to be into the show and all.
Detective Beckwith: Did you see where Neal went when he left the lab?
Cherie Atkinson: He tore out of there like his hair was on fire. By the time I got out of the lab myself, he was long gone.
Detective Magee: So are you saying you didn't see where he was hiding?
Cherie Atkinson: I can't remember.
Detective Magee: Was he behind a fuel barrel? A Humvee?
Cherie Atkinson: I ran by both of those right away. He wasn't hiding behind them.
Detective Beckwith: What about Woody? Would he have had the ability to manipulate the set so it would fall at a certain time?
Cherie Atkinson: Sure. I would think so. He's always so nervous, like shaky nervous. He's probably got a ton of skeletons in his closet.
Detective Magee: Did you see Woody during the big zombie battle in the show?
Cherie Atkinson: No, I was trying to get out of that sh*t show as fast as I could.
Detective Beckwith: When was the first time you saw him?
Cherie Atkinson: When he came to get us at the evacuation point at the end of the show—to have us get help for Scott.
Detective Magee: Where was he when he alerted you?
Cherie Atkinson: At a door at the evacuation point that led directly backstage.
Detective Beckwith: Not too far from the place backstage where you tossed the 'shroom baggie, right?
Cherie Atkinson: Watch it, Beckwith, those were Heath's 'shrooms.
Detective Magee: The ones he shared with you. The ones that you admitted you had in your possession.
Cherie Atkinson: I didn't do nothing wrong.
Detective Magee: Why did you toss the baggie if you didn't do anything wrong?
Cherie Atkinson: I must be a masochist of the dipsh*t variety for doing another interview with you two jokers. Why are y'all out for me all the damn time?
Detective Magee: Listen, it's not our fault you decided to put your prints all over those drugs.
Detective Beckwith: And we sure weren't the ones that placed your husband's money into a discretionary trust that would remove you as the beneficiary if you possessed illegal drugs. I imagine there's more than a little irony that Erv Cyr is the trustee who decides whether or not you get to keep the rest of Glenn's millions.
Cherie Atkinson: Aw, you f****** a**hole!
Detective Magee: Sit down!
Detective Beckwith: You don't want to tack on a charge of assaulting an officer to your drug possession charge.
Cherie Atkinson: No, no, no! You can't do this. They weren't my drugs!
Detective Beckwith: In the eyes of the law, they were.
Cherie Atkinson: Okay, what do you want? The 'shrooms don't have dick to do with Scott's death. You don't have to say anything about them. I'll stop being a bitch. What do you want to know?
Detective Magee: Did you come up with the plan to sabotage the rehearsal?
Cherie Atkinson: Yes.
Detective Magee: And convinced Janet to go along with the plan at the Vine and Swine?
Cherie Atkinson: Yes.
Detective Beckwith: So what was the plan?
Cherie Atkinson: That Janet would lock Heath into quarantine room. I didn't know he'd be taking 'shrooms. I figured that when Janet locked him in, he'd just be stuck there until the end of the show.
Detective Beckwith: What else was part of the plan?
Cherie Atkinson: That Janet would mess up blocking so that people would be in the wrong places, that sort of thing.
Detective Magee: Was switching Erv out of the medical group with Neal part of the sabotage?
Cherie Atkinson: Hell, no! I didn't want to be in that rehearsal as it was, let alone spend the whole day with Erv!
Detective Beckwith: So after the show was sabotaged, what was your plan in the aftermath?
Cherie Atkinson: I was going to badmouth the show until the next board meeting. Then, at that meeting, I was going to move to fire Kessler and Goodman. If Janet had turned on me, I would blame her for all the things that went wrong in the rehearsal and have her fired too.
Detective Magee: Pretty cold.
Cherie Atkinson: It's what it takes to stay on top.
Detective Beckwith: Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore.
Cherie Atkinson: What do you mean?
Detective Beckwith: Glenn's will also removes drug possessors like you from the theater's Board of Directors.
Cherie Atkinson: But, no … wait, we had a deal. I would tell you the truth, and you wouldn't run me in for the 'shrooms.
Detective Beckwith: Jo, do you remember me making any deal?
Detective Magee: Can't say that I do.
Cherie Atkinson: A**hole!
Detective Magee: No! Stop!
Detective Beckwith: Don't… Don't—
Detective Magee: Give me your arm!
Detective Beckwith: Montoya, some help in here!
Detective Magee: Give me your arm!
Cherie Atkinson: Get off me!
Lieutenant Montoya: Hold on, hold on.
Detective Beckwith: I'm okay… get her cuffed.
Lieutenant Montoya: Stop resisting. Stop resisting, or you will be tased.
Detective Magee: That was sure stupid. Get up. Lieutenant, you got someone who can take her to booking?
Lieutenant Montoya: Sure thing. Come with me, ma'am. You seem like you know the way.
Interview ended – 5:01 p.m.
