Phillip Margolin - Heartstone

“You happy to see me, darlin’?” Willie crooned. As he talked, he switched the doubled belt against his thigh. The girl’s eyes did not leave the belt and they began to fill with tears. Willie squatted down and cupped the girl’s chin in his hand, forcing her to look into his eyes.

“I asked if you was glad to see me.”

The girl croaked an answer that sounded like yes.

Willie chuckled and released the girl’s chin.

“I knew you was. I knew you was. ’Cause you know what’s behind these shorts, don’t you? You know what good stuff’s there.”

The girl bit her lip to try to hold back her tears, but the effort was useless. The sight of the girl’s helplessness seemed to fuel Heartstone’s sadism. He snapped the belt lazily across the girl’s hips. Eddie was certain that he had not used enough force to hurt her, yet the girl’s buttocks jumped as if she had been struck with great force.

“This here’s my friend Eddie, darlin’. I want you to show him what you got.”

Eddie wanted to stop it, right here, but he knew that one false move on his part and he would be dead. Knew it for certain.

The girl was removing her slacks with fast, jerky movements. Each effort seemed to cause her pain. When the slacks were to her ankles, Heartsone pulled them off. Underneath, she was naked.

“Now the blouse,” Willie said in a husky whisper. “Show this man those fine, fine tits.”

The girl obeyed weakly, then lay back on the mattress with her legs spread. Heartstone drew the belt down her stomach, letting the leather touch one of her nipples. The tip of the belt stopped where her curled brown pubic hair began. Willie grinned back at Eddie.

“See how well she learned her lessons. It took some doin’ to get her to lie back and spread those legs. Many a interestin’ hour.” He shook his head and closed his eyes, savoring the memories. “But she’s smart and she learns good. We even gonna feed you tomorra if you treat my friend Eddie okay.”

Despite his revulsion, Eddie could not keep his eyes off the girl’s body. He noticed how emaciated she looked. Her ribs could be seen easily and there were dark shadows under her eyes.

Eddie was certain that Willie would mount her first while he watched, but all of a sudden, Heartstone seemed to lose interest. He zipped up his pants and stepped back.

“I’m gonna pee. You have fun. If she don’t do something you want, you tell me.”

Eddie heard Heartstone’s footsteps climbing the stairs and the sound of the door closing and locking. The girl shuddered visibly with relief. For a moment Eddie was afraid that he too might be a prisoner and he started to walk toward the stairs.

“No,” the girl mumbled feebly. “Don’t go, please.”

She was begging. He turned back to her.

“Look miss, I…I don’t know what’s going on here, but I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

He was whispering. As afraid as she that Heartstone might hear them. All he wanted to do was to get away.

“Don’t talk,” she begged in a whisper. “If he hears me talking, he’ll…”

She began to sob.

“You don’t have to worry. I won’t force myself on you,” he whispered in an attempt to comfort her. She became terrified when he backed away.

“No. You have to. It will be worse for me if they find out you…I didn’t do what they said.” She turned her head away. “Just be quick.”

Toller’s voice had gotten lower and lower as he wound toward the end of his tale. As he talked, Caproni began to feel the same fear and revulsion that Toller seemed to be reexperiencing. When the prisoner stopped talking, there was a strained silence in the interview room.

“Did you have intercourse with her?” Caproni asked in a choked voice. Toller shook his head.

“I was too scared to get it up. I done some bad things in my life, but I ain’t never done anything like that to no person.”

“What did you do when Heartstone came back?”

“He didn’t come back. I had to bang on the basement door. He asked me how it was and I made up some story. Then he drove me to town after chargin’ me five more dollars for gas. I was scared all the way, but Willie didn’t do nothin’.

“The next morning, I packed up and moved out of town. A few days later I read how they found this girl’s body in a ditch by the highway. I could see it was her from the picture in the paper.”

“Why didn’t you tell the police?”

“Look, I wasn’t goin’ to no police. Not with my record and not after not reporting it first. I was scared and, besides, the cops never did anything for me. She was dead anyway.”

Yes, I suppose she was, Caproni thought. Dead long before they killed her. He tried to imagine what it must have been like for the girl, lying in the cold, damp basement, afraid to even speak.

“Did you ever see Heartstone or Ralph again?”

“No, sir. And if I had I woulda gone the other way. Like I said, I done some bad shit in my time, but nothin’ like that. I knew what they was capable of.”

“Do you know Ralph’s last name?”

“He just called him Ralph and I didn’t ask.”

Caproni made some final notes. Then, he put his pad in his attaché case and stood up.

“What you’ve told me could be of great importance, Mr. Toller. I’m going to talk to Mr. Heider. If he feels as I do, then we may be able to arrange something for you. Now I’m not promising anything, but I want you to know that I appreciate your coming forward with this information.”

Toller seemed flattered and embarrassed by Caproni’s sincerity and, for a second, he forgot the real reason he had contacted the authorities. They shook hands and Caproni left. The session with Toller had drained him and he was grateful to be, once again, in the light of day.

Shindler was in Heider’s office, as he had been each afternoon for the past week, helping Heider sort through the evidence that had been amassed during the years of investigation, when Caproni returned. Heider could see that he was excited and he motioned him into a chair.

“What happened at the jail?” Heider asked.

“Something we should look into. The Coolidges may not be guilty.”

Heider cast a quick glance at Shindler. The detective had not moved, but there was a subtle change in his bearing.

“Let’s have it, Al. Don’t keep us in suspense,” Heider said lightly. Inside, wheels were spinning. Tapes preparing to recalculate. The district attorney’s office had committed itself publicly and in the press to the theory that the Coolidges had killed Murray and Walters. Heider had been spokesman for the office and it was his credibility and his political future that would be jeopardized if the Coolidges were innocent.

“I spoke to that man at the jail, Eddie Toller. He told me that he was in Portsmouth in 1961, in mid-January. He was in a bar and he met a man named Willie Heartstone. Toller mentioned that he wanted to get laid and Heartstone said he could fix him up for a price.”

“Heartstone drove him somewhere in the country, not too far from town, to a house where someone named Ralph was living. Toller thinks Heartstone lived there too, but he is not certain.

“Ralph and Heartstone were keeping a girl locked in the basement. She had a padlocked chain around her ankle. Toller said it looked as if they were beating and starving her. He says that a day or so later, he saw Elaine Murray’s picture when her body was found and recognized her as the girl. He said he is certain she was the one. He didn’t come forward then, because he had been in trouble with the law before and didn’t like the police and because he was scared of Ralph and Heartstone and didn’t want to get involved with them again.”