Edward Lee - Dahmer's Not Dead

Helen fought hard not to laugh at the title. “I’ll pass, thank you, Mr. North.” She had to regain her composure. “Let me give it to you fast. I ran what we call a free-rove search in the state’s criminal index computer, connected to a name pulled up by the Madison bust. Glen Kussler. Your name came up right alongside his. He was a steady client of yours.”

“All right, I’m not gonna lie.” North’s impressive pectorals flexed when he raised his hands again. “You got it all in your records—Christ, I can’t believe the service would be so stupid to keep client records in a goddamn computer.”

“Well, they were that stupid, Mr. North,” Helen authenticated. “So tell me more.”

“You want to know about Glen Kussler—I’ll tell you. He was a steady bi-month trick, and, yeah, he wanted top service. In case you don’t know what that means—I was the top. He was the bottom. He gets into a little S&M and B/D. I’d tie him up, rough him around a little, call him names—that’s what the guy wanted, and that’s what he paid for, and I can’t believe Glen would level charges against me.”

“He didn’t, Mr. North,” Helen said. “He’s dead.”

North’s eyes locked with hers—genuine despair. “Was he—”

“Yes, Mr. North, he was murdered. I can’t tell you all the potential details revolving around the case, but I can tell you that. He was murdered quite brutally. You’ll probably see it in the papers tomorrow.”

“Fuck!” North crudely exclaimed. “Jesus! I mean, sure, Glen was a little bit of a flake, but he never did anything bad to anyone. That really sucks someone killed him. I knew the guy well, I can’t see him going to another top.”

“You think it was another prostitute who did this?” Helen took a cheap stab at baiting him.

“How do I know? I don’t know anything about it. All I know is he was a decent guy, and a steady trick.”

“How much did you charge him to ‘rough him around a little’?”

“Standard service fee, a hundred and fifty bucks, and he’d always lay a fifty-buck tip on me.”

“And this was twice a month, you say?”

“Yeah, about that. Er, what I mean is when he was on the rocks with his lover, which was pretty regular.”

Helen slipped out a 5x7 print copy of Glen Kussler’s county records photo—definitely not the same man she’d interviewed at Kussler’s apartment. “Is this Glen Kussler?”

North only needed a one-second glance. “Yeah, sure. That’s Glen. And like I said, he was a decent trick. He was an electrician for the county prison.”

“And what were you saying a moment ago, something about him having a lover?”

“Yeah, Glen Kussler had a lover, off and on, a guy he referred to as Cam.”

“Cam?”

“That’s right. You ask me, this Cam guy was jerking Glen around, playing the mind games—you know. I mean, shit—you’re probably straight, but I’m sure guys have played mind games with you, haven’t they?”

Helen forestalled on an answer, thinking, Yeah I guess you could say that. “But if Kussler had a steady lover, why did he—well—need to hire you?”

“That’s what I’m trying to explain. This guy, this guy Cam. He was always breaking up with Glen, jerking him around. This guy was a top, all right, but he took advantage. Jerked Glen around like you wouldn’t believe, at least that’s what Glen told me. What I mean is, he’d break up with Glen just for kicks, toy with him a while, then take him back. It was during those break ups that Glen hired me.”

Cam, Helen thought. “Describe Cam, Mr. North.”

“Well, I only saw him once. He was coming around to Glen’s place right after I did a trick. I mean, I can’t even be sure it was Cam, it was just some guy coming around, but Glen didn’t have any other lovers that he ever mentioned.”

“This person you saw. What did he look like?”

“Well, I’ll tell you that, Captain. But, well, didn’t you say something earlier about a deal?”

Helen’s lips set. But why shouldn’t she expect it? Nothing’s free. “Cooperate with me, Mr. North, and I will request that the district attorney’s office drop any and all currently pending charges against you. I can’t guarantee you they’ll drop charges, but I can tell you they’ve never denied me in the past.”

“This guy I saw,” North propelled without pause, “he was about 5’-10”, one-seventy. Slim frame.”

“Hair color, Mr. North?”

“Sandy blond.”

Sandy blond, Helen remembered. Same as the guy I talked to, who claimed to be Kussler. North was being cool, but she still had to pressure him some more. “That’s good, Mr. North. But not good enough. I need more if you want to skate. I need to know more about this person Cam. Anything you might know, anything Kussler may have told you about him.”

“Aw, shit, Captain! There ain’t much more! I mean—shit—let me think.” North leaned back in the couch, closing his eyes, thinking. “Oh, yeah—aside from rough sex, Glen told me the guy was into computers.”

“Computers?”

“Yeah, he had a big fancy computer, according to Glen. Me, I don’t own one, don’t like ‘em. But Glen told me Cam was like all big into these new computer and CD-ROM games.”

Helen’s thoughts stilled for a moment.

“He dug a lot of these underground games, obscene ones you can’t buy in the stores—Glen told me about them. Really violent games—torture, murder, stuff like that.”

Tom plays a lot of— But, no, that was absurd. Some of his games were a bit violent, but nothing like what North was referring to. Get back on track, Helen.

“And also a lot of really hardcore videos,” North continued, “the illegal, unlicensed stuff you gotta buy through mail drops and shit. Bondage, corporal punishment, ‘wet’ S&M.”

“ ‘Wet’ S&M?” Helen felt vaguely inept. “I know what S&M is, of course, but…”

“‘Wet’ means it’s the real McCoy. Pins, needles, barbed whips—if it’s wet, they draw blood.”

The slightest image shimmied Helen’s stomach.

“Glen told me Cam even had a real snuff film—”

Another, harder shimmy.

“So you get the gist,” North was saying. “This guy Cam—real sick pup material.”

“A genuine sadist.”

“Genuine and then some. Abused the living hell out of Glen.”

Helen’s eyes narrowed in the contemplation. “So why was Glen Kussler in love with this man, if he was so abusive?”

“That’s how it works sometimes,” North explained matter-of-factly. “Guys like Glen—introverted, shy, non-assertive—they frequently fall for abusive guys. Tricks like Glen are a dime a dozen; I hear the stories all the time. Being abused and exploited by lovers is a focal point in their lives; it’s the only thing that reinforces their self-worth. Why do so many battered wives return to their abusive husbands?”

At once, Helen saw the inference. It was the same thing.

“So what about that deal?”

Helen never liked to play the heavy. Talk about exploitation. She still needed to make him sweat a bit, just to be certain he was coming clean. “Not enough, Mr. North. My name is Closs, not Claus. I still need more.”

North’s big, manicured hand slapped his jean-covered thighs. “I knew this was a crock! Come on, Captain! I am a bad guy? What, just ’cos I turn tricks?”

“Prostitution’s against the law, Mr. North.”

“So is letting your dog poop on the sidewalk. So is driving one mile over the speed limit. You ever done that, Captain?” North wiped genuine sweat off his brow. “Christ, my lawyer’s telling me I could go to the joint for a year. You know what’ll happen to a guy like me in the Madison slam? Christ, those bulls’ll be on me like Rock Hudson on a fucking boy scout! And for what? Because I have sex for money with consenting adults. Because I provide a service to guys who are mostly lonely, maladjusted, or dumped by their lovers. Yeah, some big crime. Matt North, the big bad criminal. You got rapists getting off on plea bargains, drug dealers walking on PBJ, S&L con men ripping off billions and posting bail with the same money, but you’re gonna put me in the can ’cos I turn a few tricks to pay the bills.”