John Leydecker
John Leydecker is the Derry Police detective who first arrests Ed Deepneau for domestic assault, investigates the suspicious death of May Locher, and later coordinates security for Susan Day's controversial speech at the Civic Center. A pragmatic, weary Catholic cop with a dark sense of humor and a deep aversion to fanaticism on both sides of the abortion debate, he becomes a key ally to Ralph Roberts, respecting Ralph's courage while remaining skeptical of the supernatural dimensions of the case. His own near-death during the High Ridge attack and his survival of the Civic Center explosion mark him as a man who operates in the violent, uncertain middle ground between the Purpose and the Random.
Identity and Background
Leydecker is a burly, broad-shouldered detective with a blond mustache and sideburns that Ralph Roberts mentally labels "Early American Singles Bar." He wears a University of Maine football sweater and carries a tube of toothpicks, a substitute for the cigarettes he is trying to quit. He is a lifelong Catholic who wears a gold medallion of Mary, mother of Jesus, around his neck, but his faith is tested by the horrors he sees: he once arrested a man wearing a similar medallion who had boiled his two-year-old stepson alive. Leydecker is a former student of Bill McGovern at the Community College, where he wrote an excellent term paper on the Children's Crusade, and McGovern still calls him "Johnny." He works out of a cluttered cubbyhole of an office, where a poster of Dumbo with Susan Day's face pasted over it once hung as a prank from his colleagues.
Role in the Deepneau Case
Leydecker is the arresting officer when Ed Deepneau beats his wife Helen, and he immediately reads Ed his rights, cutting through Ed's charming, manipulative demeanor. He explains to Ralph that under Maine's Domestic Violence law, the assault is only a misdemeanor, but that a no-contact bail agreement can keep Ed away from Helen. He later investigates the death of May Locher, the elderly neighbor whose house Ralph saw two mysterious figures leaving in the dead of night. Leydecker tells Ralph that the doors were locked from the inside, there were no signs of violence, and the preliminary medical report indicated heart failure. He treats the 911 call as a crank, but seals the house for a state forensics examination, showing his thoroughness. He also keeps Ralph's name out of the newspaper after Charlie Pickering's attack, explaining that favors between the police and the press are how things work in the real world.
Security Detail for Susan Day
Leydecker is appointed to head the special detail protecting Susan Day during her visit to Derry, a job he despises. He tells Ralph that he hates the assignment because he is a Catholic who has seen the worst of domestic violence and believes the pro-choice advocates are as self-righteous as the pro-life fanatics. He is terrified of something going wrong on his watch, and he admits that on a community level, he is "fucking terrified" of what might happen if a confrontation unleashes the city's violent potential. He is present at the Civic Center when Ed Deepneau's plane crashes into the parking lot; he is thrown through the lobby doors by the blast and knocked unconscious, surviving while the state trooper standing beside him is killed.
Relationship with Ralph Roberts
Leydecker develops a genuine respect for Ralph, calling him "a class act" after Ralph survives Charlie Pickering's knife attack. He offers to assign a police officer to watch Ralph's back, but Ralph refuses. Leydecker is also the one who tells Ralph that Ed Deepneau posted the eighty-thousand-dollar bail for Charlie Pickering, a fact that deeply alarms Ralph. After the Civic Center explosion, Leydecker serves as Ralph's best man at his wedding to Lois Chasse, still wearing a cast on his right arm from the injuries he sustained in the blast. His presence at the wedding underscores the bond forged between the two men through the violence and chaos of Derry's long, hot autumn.
