When The Bough Breaks

He grunted and increased the pressure. My head felt ready to burst. My vision blurred. I struck at him helplessly. With a strange kind of delicacy he danced out of reach, squeezing me tighter. Then he started pulling my head back. A little more and I knew my neck would snap. I experienced a sudden kinship with Jeffrey Saxon, drew upon a reserve of strength and brought my heel down hard on his instep. He cried out and reflexively let go, then tried to renew the lock, but it was too late. I landed a kick that snapped his head to the side and followed it with a series of rapid straight arm punches to the lower belly. When he doubled over I chopped down on the place where his head joined his neck. He sank to his knees, but I didn't take any chances - he was strong and skilled. Another kick to the face. Now he was down. I placed one foot under the bridge of his nose. One quick forward motion and splinters of bone would lobotomize him. It turned out to be an unnecessary precaution. He was out.

I found a coil of thick nylon rope in the mountaineer's pack and trussed him as he lay on his abdomen, feet drawn up behind him, bound and secured to another piece of rope that similarly raised his arms. I checked the knots, drew them tight and dragged him clear of any weapon. I retrieved the .38, kept it in one hand, went into his kitchen and soaked a towel in cold water.

When several minutes of slapping him with the towel elicited no more than a half - conscious groan, I made another trip to the kitchen, pulled a Dutch oven out of a dish drainer, filled it with water and dumped the contents on his head. That brought him around.

"Oh, Jesus," he moaned. He tried those first struggles that all prisoners attempt, gnashed his teeth, finally realized his predicament and sank back down, gasping.

I prodded the back of one leg with the muzzle of the .38.

"You like sports, Tim. That's fortunate because they'll let you exercise in prison. Without exercise the time can go very slowly. But I'm going to ask you questions and if you don't give me satisfactory answers I'm going to maim you, bit by bit. First I'll shoot you right here." I pressed cold steel into warm flesh. "After that your leg might be good for getting you on the John. Then I'll do the same to the other leg. From there to fingers, wrists, elbows. You'll do your time as a vegetable, Tim."

I listened to myself talk, hearing a stranger. To this day I don't know if I would have followed through on the threat. I never had to find out.

"What do you want?" His speech came out in spurts, constricted with fear and hampered by the uncomfortable position.

"Where's Melody Quinn?"

"At La Casa."

"Where at La Casa?"

"The storage rooms. Near the forest."

"Those cinder block buildings - the ones you avoided discussing when you gave me the tour?"

"Uh - huh. Yes."

"Which one? There were four."

"The last one - furthest from the front."

A spreading stain darkened the carpet at my feet. He'd wet himself.

"Jesus," he said.

"Let's keep going, Tim. You're doing fine."

He nodded, seemingly eager for praise.

"Is she still alive?"

"Yes. As far as I know. Cousin Will - Doctor Towle wanted to keep her alive. Gus and the judge agreed. I don't know for how long."

"What about her mother?"

He closed his eyes and said nothing.

"Talk, Tim, or your leg goes."

"She's dead. The guy they sent to get the kid and her did it. They buried her in the Meadow."

I remembered the stretch of field at the north side of La Casa. We're planning to plant a vegetable garden this summer he'd told me…

"Who is he?"

"Some crazy guy. A gimp - kind of paralyzed on one side. Gus called him Earl."

It wasn't the name I expected but the description was right.

"Why'd he do it?"

"Leave as few loose ends as possible."

"On McCaffrey's orders?"

He was silent. I exerted pressure on the gun. His thigh quivered.

"Yeah. On his orders. Earl doesn't operate on his own."

"Where is this Earl character now?"

More hesitation. Without thinking I flicked the tip of the .38 over his kneecap. His eyes widened with surprise and hurt. Tears ran out of them.

"Oh, God!"

"Don't get religious. Just talk."

"He's gone - dead. Gus had Halstead rip him off. After they buried the woman. He was filling the grave and Halstead hit him with the shovel, pushed him in with her and covered them both with dirt. He and Gus were laughing about it later. Halstead said when he hit Earl on the head it gave off a hollow sound. They used to talk like that, behind the guy's back - call him the gimp, damaged goods…"

"Mean guy, that Halstead."

"Yeah. He is." Kruger's visage brightened, eager to please. "He's after you too. You were snooping around. Gus didn't know how much the kid told you. I'm tipping you off, man, watch your - "

"Thanks, pal, but Halstead's no threat anymore. To anyone."

He looked up at me. I answered the unspoken question with a quick nod.

"Jesus," he said, broken.

I didn't give him time to reflect.

"Why'd you kill Handler and Gutierrez?"

"I told you, I didn't. That was Halstead and Earl.