Marty Polhemus

Marty Polhemus, Carolyn Polhemus’s son, is a young man whose encounters with Rusty Sabich reveal both the unsettled history of Carolyn’s family and the personal cost of turning her murder into an investigation. He does not solve the case or claim knowledge of the killer. His importance lies instead in what he can offer about Carolyn’s past, what he cannot know about her private life, and the moral judgment he eventually makes about Rusty.

Introduction and first meetings

At Carolyn’s funeral, Marty is a late-teenage boy seated beside the mayor, directly at the foot of her coffin. Rusty, attending as a representative of the prosecutor’s office, initially wonders whether the young man is a cousin or nephew; he had understood that Carolyn’s family was back East. Marty’s presence therefore makes family ties tangible at an occasion where Rusty is also confronting the political and professional consequences of Carolyn’s death.

Rusty later goes to the Art Center to speak with him. Marty is working at an easel when Rusty identifies him, and he immediately asks whether Rusty is from the police. The exchange establishes the uneasy overlap between Marty’s bereavement and the investigation: Rusty has come in an official capacity, but his questions cannot be separated from the private history he had with Carolyn. Marty answers him without presenting himself as a source who can explain the murder.

Family history and Carolyn’s departure

Marty explains that Kenneth, his father, is married to Muriel, whom Marty calls his mother. The two have been married for fifteen years. His answer corrects Rusty’s assumption that Kenneth and Carolyn were divorced, while also making clear that Marty’s family life is organized around a household Carolyn left behind.

In Marty’s account, Kenneth was a high-school English teacher in a small New Jersey town, and Carolyn had been his pupil. Marty believes his father began seeing her while she was still at school, and imagines their relationship as a passionate romance, especially from Kenneth’s side. He qualifies this reconstruction: Kenneth was quiet, and Marty admits he does not know enough to guess what Carolyn felt. His account is therefore valuable as family history, but limited by the fact that he knows it largely through his father.

Marty says Kenneth described Carolyn as too young when they married; as she grew older, she wanted another life and eventually left. Kenneth reportedly regarded the separation as probably for the best. Marty presents his father as someone who says such things sincerely, not as a man eager to condemn Carolyn. The account gives Rusty a view of a relationship that predates his own, while underscoring how little Marty can say about Carolyn’s motives from her perspective.

Rusty’s disclosure

Marty recognizes that Rusty’s visit is not simply routine work. He asks whether Carolyn had been Rusty’s girlfriend, having apparently noticed Rusty’s wedding band. Rusty admits that they had been involved briefly late the previous year. The disclosure turns the interview into a meeting between two people connected to Carolyn in different ways: one her son, the other an investigator who had also been her lover.

Marty’s questions do not establish that he knows more about the murder. He says he has no idea who killed Carolyn and assumes that is why Rusty has come. He also asks whether the killer might have been someone she knew; the available account does not record an answer. His uncertainty matters because it resists the temptation to treat family proximity as knowledge. Marty can describe parts of Carolyn’s history, but he cannot supply the explanation Rusty seeks for her death.

Return to Carolyn’s apartment

Months later, Marty encounters Rusty in the hallway outside Carolyn’s apartment, where Rusty is preparing to inspect her belongings under a judge’s order. Marty has received a copy of the order through Jack Buckley, the lawyer for the estate, and remains there even though he was only being notified so that he could object. His presence brings Carolyn’s son back into a place Rusty is entering for investigative purposes.

Marty tells Rusty that he was suspended from school after failing physics and receiving a D in English. He had gone home six weeks earlier and returned the previous day to collect his belongings. Rusty had assumed things had worked out for him; Marty’s reply is qualified, suggesting that, at least from his point of view, matters have worked out so far. The exchange supplies a concrete change in his circumstances without resolving what he plans to do next.

Marty also reports that the police have asked him about Rusty, specifically about the earlier visit. The conversation gives no account of what Marty told them, only that he spoke with them. Rusty, meanwhile, is thinking about the glassware by the bar. Their attention falls on different parts of the apartment and the investigation: Marty brings news of police interest in their contact, while Rusty remains alert to objects that may matter as evidence.

Judgment and narrative significance

Before leaving, Marty tells Rusty that he does not think Rusty killed Carolyn and says the accusation is not right, expressing the judgment through the idea of karma. This is not evidence about who committed the murder, nor does Marty claim to possess such evidence. It is a personal assessment offered by someone who has heard Rusty’s admission and has also been questioned by the police about him.

Across his appearances, Marty occupies a careful middle ground between family connection and incomplete knowledge. He can recount Kenneth’s version of Carolyn’s early relationship and departure, but acknowledges that her feelings remain beyond his reach. He can identify Rusty’s personal connection to her and later express trust in him, but cannot explain her murder. That combination makes Marty more than a source of background information: his scenes show the investigation passing through the lives of people whose ties to Carolyn are intimate yet partial, and whose judgments do not necessarily match the suspicions of the authorities.