Stuart Woods - Worst Fears Realized

“No,” the man said. “I am not knowing this place.”

Stone took the legal pad from the table, tore off a sheet of paper, and wrote on it. “Check to see if Ernst Hausman is still in Hamburg. Find out his address and his mother’s name. Find out if there are any siblings.” He handed it to Dino, who looked at it, then handed it to Anderson. Anderson left the room.

“I don’t understand,” Dino said. “You’ve admitted killing all these people, but you deny killing Susan Bean. Why?”

“You must be listening better,” the man replied. “I am not knowing this lady.”

Anderson returned to the room. “It’s being done,” he said, handing Dino a note.

Dino read it and handed it to Stone.

Stone read it aloud. “No fingerprint record in this country. Have sent request to Interpol.”

“How long have you been in this country?” Dino asked.

The man shrugged. “Few weeks, I think.”

“Did you enter the country legally?”

“Oh, yes,” the man said. “I am being very legal always.”

“Except when you are killing people.”

“Except at this time.” He smiled.

“You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you?” Dino asked.

The man shrugged.

“Let me acquaint you with a point of the law in the state of New York,” Dino said. “We have the death penalty here. You understand the death penalty?”

The man shrugged and said nothing.

“They take a needle,” Dino said, pointing at his arm, “and put it here, in the vein. That’s all; lights out; kaput. ”

“In Deutschland is being no death,” the man said. “Deutschland is being civilized.”

“Well, here, we’re still barbarians, I guess,” Dino replied.” Here we still put murderers to death, and you are a murderer. You have confessed to killing seven people.”

“Six only,” the man said. “Not this lady Bean.”

“Bad news,” Dino said. “Six is enough for the death penalty, the needle. Of course, before that happens, you’ll spend many years in a small cell, talking to nobody. We have prisons like that in this country. Dangerous people like you are put into special cells where they see nobody, talk to nobody for twenty-three hours a day. One hour a day, you get to exercise alone. Once a week, you get to shower. Then, after a few years, when you’re already crazy from being alone, they take you to a little room and they put the needle in your arm, you understand?”

The man said nothing, but his face had become grim.

“Now,” Dino said, “maybe there is a way for you to live. You see, we know that you did these murders because Mitteldorfer wanted you to. You had nothing against these people, right? Maybe Mitteldorfer made you kill them. If you tell us about that, if you testify to that in court, then maybe we can ask the district attorney not to go for the death penalty.”

“But I am being in the place alone?” the man said. “I am not speaking to any person? I am not seeing any person?”

“Maybe,” Dino said. “If you’re real helpful, maybe we can make that better, too.”

“I am not believing you,” the man said. “You will be putting me in this room all the time.”

“I’m offering you a deal,” Dino said. “You understand deal?”

“No.”

“You help me, I help you.”

“How am I helping you?”

“You tell me where to find Mitteldorfer. You tell me why Mitteldorfer wanted these people dead. You say this in a court of law.”

The man shook his head. “If you are not killing me, he is killing me.”

“No,” Dino said. “We will protect you from Mitteldorfer.”

To Stone’s astonishment, the man began to cry.

Dino gaped at him, startled.

The man stood up. “I must have toilet,” he said.

“Later,” Dino replied.

The man began unzipping his fly.

“All right, all right,” Dino said. He handcuffed the man with his hands in front of him, so that he could use the toilet. “Let’s go,” he said.

Stone followed the two into the hallway outside the interrogation room. It was a narrow hallway, and momentarily crowded. Dino held the man against the wall to allow two police officers to pass.

Stone saw it coming and opened his mouth to yell, but too late. The man reached out and plucked the pistol from an officer’s belt, elbowed Dino out of the way, and pointed the weapon at Stone.

“Gun!” Stone yelled, diving for the floor. From behind him he heard two shots, and he looked up to see the suspect fall to the floor beside him. A good part of his head was missing. Stone looked back down the hallway. Andy Anderson was still in a combat crouch, with his weapon pointed at the dead man.

“Oh, shit!” Dino said.

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE IN THE HALLWAY. Half a dozen cops had their weapons out, pointing them in every direction. Andy Anderson was leaning against the wall, vomiting. The cop whose gun had been taken was screaming, over and over, “It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault!”

Dino, who was lying on top of the dead man, got to his feet. “Nobody shoot!” he yelled. “Everybody shut up!” Gradually, the noise died down. “The perp is dead,” Dino said. “Everybody holster your weapons right now.”

Stone took Andy’s pistol and handed it to Dino, then got Andy headed toward the locker room. “Go in there and splash some cold water on your face,” he said to the young cop.

“All right,” Dino said, pointing at various cops, “you call the medical examiner and get him over here; you get a blanket and cover the body; everybody go and write down exactly what you saw, and do it now, before it gets cold.” The hallway emptied of policemen. “Jesus Christ, did I fuck this up,” Dino said. “We had the guy.”

“It’s okay, Dino,” Stone said.” He wasn’t going to give us Mitteldorfer, anyway. He was going to jerk us around for the fun of it, that’s all.”

“At least, we got a confession on tape,” Dino said. “That’s something, anyway”

Shortly, the ME arrived, did his work, and had the body removed. The precinct janitor arrived with a mop and cleaned up the bloody mess on the hallway floor. Dino and Stone repaired to Dino’s glassed-in office, and Dino pulled the blinds.

“Now we’re back where we started,” Dino said.

“No, we’re not. The guy who was doing the killings is gone, so we don’t have to watch our backs anymore. Somehow, I don’t think Mitteldorfer is up to doing his own killing.”

“You think this guy was his son?”

“Apparently, he had two – Ernst, who works at the cigarette factory, and this one. Remind me to thank Andy Anderson,” he said. “He was very quick; the guy didn’t even have a chance to get off a round.”

“I’ll get him decorated for that,” Dino said.

“If you need an affidavit, let me know.”

Andy Anderson knocked on the door, came in, and set some papers on Dino’s desk. “There’s my account of what happened, Lieutenant,” he said.

“Andy,” Stone said, “thanks for being so quick. You saved my ass.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Andy said. “What can I do now?”

“I don’t guess you’ve heard anything from Hamburg yet,” Dino said.

“Not yet; I’ll call again.”

Stone spoke up. “Andy, when you brought the guy in, you emptied his pockets, didn’t you?”

“Yes; everything’s deposited with the desk sergeant.”

“Get the envelope; let’s see what he had on him,” Dino said.

Andy disappeared.

“What’s our next move?” Dino asked Stone.

“Let’s start at the dry cleaner’s and work outward, distributing the guy’s picture,” Stone said. “If we can find out where he lives, maybe he has some stuff there that will tell us something.”