Russell Andrews - Hades

"What the fuck is there to tell?" Kelley said.

"Quite a bit," Reggie said. "It was used to torture a murder victim and certainly contributed to his death. And it was found in your possession after the murder."

"Yeah, I know where the fuck it was found. There's nothin' you're tellin' me or askin' me that's even the tiniest fuckin' bit new. I told everything to the lawyers and the cops and nobody fuckin' believes one fuckin' thing I say."

"Maybe it's because you're too eloquent and sophisticated for them," Justin said.

"Fuck you," Kelley spat back.

"Case in point," Justin said.

"Look, my own damn lawyers want me to plead guilty to somethin' I didn't do. You know how fuckin' insane that is?"

"Dave," Reggie said, "we believe you. Or at least we'd like to believe you. But you're not making this easy."

"Yeah," Kelley said and jerked his head at Justin. "I'm gonna trust this guy 'cause I know he's really rootin' for me since we're both bangin' the same bimbo."

"Dave," Justin said quietly and calmly, "let me try to explain it to you in a way even you might understand. I don't think you're an idiot, even though you're doing a really good impersonation of one. I think you're getting screwed-by the cops, by the DA, by your lawyers, and probably by the Harmon family. They all want to nail somebody-and they want to nail him quickly-and you're the prime candidate. But we know things they don't. And those things make us think that even though you're clearly a total asshole, you're an innocent asshole, at least as far as this murder's concerned. And as far as the bimbo's concerned, I don't think she's involved in this either. So the best way I can help her is to also help you. Even though I personally couldn't care less if you spend the rest of your life in jail or even if they stick a needle in your veins and put you out of your misery. But I don't want to see the wrong man-or woman-go down for this. So the way I see it, we're kind of your last hope. We're the only thing standing between you and twenty to life. Or worse. So what do you have to lose by talking to us without all the bluster and the swagger and the pretense?"

Kelley stared at Justin, his mouth slightly agape, and said nothing.

"Okay," Justin said to Reggie. "Let's go. This guy actually is as stupid as everybody thinks."

They both started to stand, but Kelley said, "Wait." And when they shifted back to him, he said, "What do you want to know?"

Justin and Reggie settled back into their seats across the small table from the imprisoned contractor.

"Tell us about the stun gun," Reggie said.

"It's mine," Kelley said.

"According to the arrest transcripts, you denied that at first."

"Well, what the fuck do you…" He glanced over at Justin and immediately he lowered his voice and softened his tone. "Yeah. I know. It was stupid. I was scared out of my freakin' mind and they were tellin' me it was the murder weapon, so I did the first thing I could think of and said it wasn't mine."

"Why'd you have one in the first place?" Justin asked.

"Animals. That's all, I swear to God. You know I don't just work out here-I do some work in the city and you start breakin' down walls and diggin' there and you got no idea what's gonna come out at you. Rats, bats… I hate fuckin' rats. So I got myself one of those things so I could torture the little bastards."

"You ever use it out here?"

"Yeah, sometimes. On raccoons and shit."

"You ever use it at the Harmons'?"

Kelley nodded. "Hey, you got a piece of gum or somethin'?"

Justin shook his head, but Reggie reached into her pocket and flipped a piece of sugarless Juicy Fruit across the table.

Kelley popped it in his mouth and chewed vigorously for a few seconds, then he said, "Yeah. I used it at the Harmons'."

"Keep going."

"Look, I kept it there sometimes. I kept all my tools there, so I just stuck it in with them. This was a big job for me, I mean the biggest I ever had. And I had a crew and everything, it was a lotta work, but sometimes I worked by myself. I figured why pay to get stuff done I could do, you know? So I was up there alone a decent amount of the time. Or alone with the two of them…"

"Abby and Evan?" Justin asked.

"Yeah. Or just one of 'em. Or with the greaseballs."

"You're referring to the housekeeper and butler?"

"Yeah. Great fuckin' butler-the guy could barely speak a word of English. You'd say, 'Hey, Pepe, can I get some ice water or somethin'?' and he'd stare at you like what the fuck are you talkin' about?"

"Did Pepe or his wife ever see you use the stun gun?"

"No."

"How can you be sure?"

"'Cause I only used it once up there and they weren't around."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. They don't drive and I gave 'em a lift to that taco place in East Hampton, you know, that little stand. They were meetin' some friends there for their night off. Try ordering dinner in less than half an hour. Nobody in that fuckin' place speaks English either."

"So how'd you happen to use the gun at the Harmons' that day?"

"I dropped off the beaners, came back to do some work. I was puttin' in the pond, which is a hell of a lot of work, and I wanted to check some dimensions 'cause if you don't get that right, it's a disaster. Anyway, I was actually measuring some of the land that needed to get filled in and there were, like, rabbits all over the place. I kept the gun there for raccoons 'cause those guys can be mean as hell. But I thought, well, I'll have some fun with the little bunnies."

"The good times, huh?" Justin said.

"Hey, to each his own. But I got one of the little guys."

"What did it do to them?" Reggie asked.

"Well, with the raccoons, it really did just stun 'em, you know? They're big. But with the rabbits, they don't got a lot of fat on 'em. So it fried this little fucker, I gotta say. And I look up and Evan and Abby are there watchin'."

"What did they do?"

"Evan was pretty interested. He'd never seen one, I guess a lotta people haven't. He wanted to see if I'd do it again."

"Did you?"

"Sure. Got another little Thumper in about five or ten minutes."

"What was Evan's reaction?"

"I think he kinda liked it. Thought it was cool."

"How about Mrs. Harmon?" Reggie asked. "Did she like it, too?"

"Abby? Hard to know. She's not one to, like, show her emotions, you know?"

"Was she squeamish about it?"

"She ain't the squeamish type. I don't know what the hell she thought; she didn't say much."

"And nobody else saw you?"

"Nobody."

"You're absolutely sure."

"I'm tellin' you, there wasn't nobody else around. And that was the only time I ever used it up there."

"You know that the DA is saying he's got a witness that saw you use the gun there. Somebody called in the tip. That's how they found it in your house."

"I know. And I swear to God, the only two people who saw me were Abby and Evan. And I don't think Evan's gonna call nobody to report on the thing that fuckin' killed him."

"Actually, the stun gun didn't kill him," Justin said. "It didn't help him much, but his skull was crushed by a bat or some kind of blunt object."

"Well, they didn't find that at my house, did they?"

"No. They haven't found it at all yet."

There was a brief silence. Then Kelley said, "So what else do you want me to say?"

"Who called Silverbush and gave him the tip?"

"Either somebody's lyin' or it's Abby."

"Why would Abby implicate you if it weren't true?"

"Who knows? I'm not kiddin' myself I could ever understand anything she does."

"You think it's possible?" Reggie asked.

"I think anythin's possible with her."

"You know there's also a witness that says you told him that Abby talked to you about killing Evan."