By now I've forgotten many of the mysteries of the O.J. Simpson case, but a few of them linger in a sort of quiescent way. For example, I have never really understood those three thumps on Kato Kaelin's wall, but I don't lose sleep over them. I certainly used to, though. Back in 1995, the Simpson case threw the country (and me) into a national dither, and it took the place of life, conversation and community. While it lasted, it became a form of bliss. To this day, when I drive the south-north route on Bundy Drive that O.J. took on his way home from having murdered Nicole, I'm in Nancy Drew mode - I look carefully on both sides of the street along the way just in case I spot O.J.'s bloody clothes that have been missing for twelve years now. You never know. I might find them. And then I too could become part of the story.
All sorts of people have become part of the O.J. story; in fact, many of them have careers almost entirely because Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered. I like to amuse myself by wondering -- if those people could be given the magical power to bring Nicole and Ron back to life, would they do it, given that their careers would never have happened? Oh well. Why even ask the question?
In any case, the Simpson case Cast of Characters now has a new member, and I would like to take this moment to welcome her to the mix. She is, as you no doubt know, the publisher Judith Regan, who announced this week that she would be publishing a book (and interviewing O.J. in connection with it) called If I Did It. Apparently it's a confession of sorts.
I should declare a bias - I've met Judith Regan on several occasions, and we have something in common: we both survived bad divorces without having to move to Connecticut. She has spent her life working hard and (as a sideline, or is it the other way around?) popping up in many dramas, the most compelling of which is her own personal life, which has contained a number of exciting episodes including her bad divorce, a major run-in with the New York police over a parking space that led (as I recall) to a night in jail, and a very messy affair with the former (now discredited) New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik (whom she also published), which, in its happy beginnings, included his dispatching the police department to retrieve her lost cell phone, and which, at its end, involved stalking (on his part), once again with the help of the police. (Along the way, there were a series of trysts in a downtown apartment that was donated to the city in order to give Kerik a place to lay his weary head during his investigative work in the aftermath of 9/11.)
In any case, I like Judith Regan, I can't help it. And I was sad this week when she felt she had to defend her decision to publish and interview O.J. by issuing a 2200-word statement on the subject, most of which appeared in Friday's New York Post. (Ms. Regan's publishing house is owned by Rupert Murdoch.) In it, Regan claims that she published O.J. because, having been beaten up by a former boyfriend, she's on a personal crusade against domestic abuse:
"I did the book and sat face to face with the killer because I wanted him and the men who broke my heart and your hearts to tell the truth . . . to confess to their sins, to do penance and to amend their lives. Amen. Fifty-three years prepared me for this conversation. The men who lied and cheated and beat me. They were all there in the room. And the people who denied it, they were there, too. And though it might sound a little strange, Nicole and Ron were in my heart."
I wish Judith Regan had checked with me before issuing this statement. I'm a big believer in not explaining any more than you have to. I'm also a believer in not using the word "Amen," although I'm guilty of it from time to time. And I don't think you have to go all the way to Mein Kampf (which Regan used as an example of a book that is still in print after all these years, having also been written by a less-than-likeable author) to defend publishing whatever this thing is that O.J. and his ghostwriter have come up with. I don't really think you have to defend publishing this book at all. It's news. Just get it out there.
And while you're at it, please find out what those three thumps were on Kato Kaelin's window.
I'd really like to know.