Eddie Dooley interview

Saturday, August 16 – 4:20 p.m.

Multiple witnesses identified Eddie Dooley as being at Duffy's Bar & Grill the night Andy Fine disappeared.

Detectives Beckwith and Magee interviewed him at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.

Participants:

• Detective P. Beckwith
• Detective J. Magee
• Eddie Dooley

Detective Magee: What's up, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: Not too much.

Detective Beckwith: You know the drill, Dooley. State your name for the record.

Eddie Dooley: Edward Dooley.

Detective Beckwith: And where do you live?

Eddie Dooley: 156 Peyton Circle in Oxford.

Detective Magee: Do you know why we brought you in, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: No, I don't reckon I do.

Detective Magee: Were you at Duffy's the night of August 1st?

Eddie Dooley: I don't really recall. I guess I might have been. I spend some time there right regular.

Detective Beckwith: You don't remember?

Eddie Dooley: Well, yeah, I reckon I was at Duffy's.

Detective Magee: What time did you get there?

Eddie Dooley: I don't know. It wasn't dark yet, I don't think. 7:30? 8:00 p.m.?

Detective Magee: And what time did you leave?

Eddie Dooley: Couldn't tell you.

Detective Magee: Try.

Eddie Dooley: 10:30? 11:00 p.m.? I honestly don't recall.

Detective Magee: And what did you do while you were there?

Eddie Dooley: I drank some beer. What do you think people do in a bar?

Detective Magee: What else?

Eddie Dooley: I played a little pool. They got a jukebox, so I guess I listened to a little music. I ain't too much of a dancer though, so I don't reckon I danced none.

Detective Beckwith: Did you talk to Andy Fine during that evening?

Eddie Dooley: Oh, is that what this is about? Y'all working on Fine's case or something?

Detective Magee: Yes, Eddie.

Eddie Dooley: Okay, I gotcha.

Detective Beckwith: So did you talk to Andy Fine?

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, sure. We hung out, played some pool, drank some beer.

Detective Beckwith: Do you remember anything different about Andy that evening?

Eddie Dooley: Shoot, detective, I don't remember much of nothing from that night. I was pretty liquored up.

Detective Beckwith: Just try.

Eddie Dooley: It was a pretty typical night. Andy showed up, flashing cash and all happy, buying drinks for everyone. Then, as the night went on, he got mean and wanted to fight everyone. Hell, that was pretty much any night out with them.

Detective Magee: Did he say where he got the money?

Eddie Dooley: Just kept babbling about making some run or something. But that was well after he was drunk, so I never could tell if the money was from making some run or if he just had to run take a leak.

Detective Beckwith: You said he wanted to fight everyone. Who specifically?

Eddie Dooley: Just everyone. He got into an argument with his wife. I don't know what about. Then he turned on everyone around him. After I left, I heard he even wanted to go at me.

Detective Magee: Why would he have wanted to go at you?

Eddie Dooley: Don't know. Just mean, I suppose.

Detective Beckwith: Could it have anything to do with his watch?

Eddie Dooley: What watch?

Detective Magee: As I'm sure you're well aware, Andy Fine had a nice watch his father had given him. It was a very important possession to Andy.

Eddie Dooley: Oh yeah, I know that watch. It weren't nothing special.

Detective Magee: Did you ever see it up close?

Eddie Dooley: Nah, but you could tell it weren't all that. Andy acted like it was one of them Rolexes or something, but it was all tarnished and corroded in between the links and stuff, clicked real loud too. Annoyed me.

Detective Magee: You could hear the watch clicking in a bar?

Eddie Dooley: Well, no, not exactly. I mean, there were times when I was around Andy when it weren't so noisy. You could hear it then.

Detective Beckwith: Like when?

Eddie Dooley: Huh?

Detective Beckwith: When were you around Andy that you could hear the watch?

Eddie Dooley: Lots of times. You know.

Detective Magee: Like what?

Eddie Dooley: Well, after closing time, when the bar was quiet. And we rode out to Yocona one night a couple of years ago. I could hear it then. You know.

Detective Beckwith: Did you take that watch, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: Nah, I didn't take nothing.

Detective Magee: You're sure of that?

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, I'm sure.

Detective Magee: Even if I told you we've got witnesses who say the watch was there when you were there, and then it was gone when you were gone?

Eddie Dooley: I don't know why people'd tell you something like that. All I can say is I didn't take no watch or nothing else.

Detective Magee: Somehow, Eddie, you're just not convincing me.

Eddie Dooley: What am I supposed to do about that?

Detective Beckwith: Why don't you tell us about the night Johnny Reagle brought the package to Duffy's?

Eddie Dooley: I don't reckon I recall that.

Detective Magee: Come on! Eddie, you're trying to tell me that a man walked into a bar in Oxford, Mississippi, with a human hand in a plastic container, and you don't remember it?

Eddie Dooley: Oh, that. Well, you gotta be more specific. I mean, a package could be anything.

Detective Beckwith: Okay, the hand. The freaking hand!

Eddie Dooley: He just brung in this hand. Said it was his old lady's. No one really believed him. He passed it around, and it sure stank. But that's it. I was really drunk that night, so I don't remember much.

Detective Beckwith: You don't remember much of anything, do you, Eddie?

Eddie Dooley: I dropped out of school. Never was no good at learning.

Detective Beckwith: Get out of here. This is ridiculous.

Eddie Dooley: Whatever, man.

Detective Magee: Before you go, what kind of car do you drive?

Eddie Dooley: Why?

Detective Magee: I'm just naturally curious.

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, right. I got a Ford F-150.

Detective Magee: What color?

Eddie Dooley: Green. Is that it? Can I go?

Detective Beckwith: One more thing. We have a warrant here authorizing us to collect samples of your blood and hair. We have a technician waiting outside to—

Eddie Dooley: What the hell? You're not taking my blood! Or my hair! Are you crazy?

Detective Magee: Now, Eddie. You know how a warrant works. You give us a hard time, and this is going to get unpleasant for everyone. We don't want that. I don't think you want that. So why don't you just cooperate, and we can all get on with our lives?

Eddie Dooley: Is it gonna hurt?

Detective Beckwith: You afraid of a little pain, Dooley?

Eddie Dooley: What? No, I—

Detective Magee: Gentlemen, please. Eddie, it may hurt a little, but I feel sure a man like you can handle it. Now, just sit tight for a minute, and the technician will be right in.

Eddie Dooley: Yeah, whatever. This sucks.

Interview ended – 4:53 p.m.