We've got your fingerprints all over a book that we found under a third body outside your apartment. We've got you staying at the motel where we found a fourth body. And we've got you with a closetful of women's clothing and eyewitnesses that put a woman near where we found a fifth body..."
Tommy interrupted, "Actually, there's only one body in the freezer. The other is my girlfriend."
"You sick fuck." Cavuto drew back as if to hit Tommy. Rivera moved to restrain him. Tommy cowered in his chair.
Rivera led Cavuto to the far side of the room. "Let me take this for a minute." He left Cavuto grumbling to himself and went to the seat across from Tommy.
"Look, kid, we've got you cold, so to speak, on two murders. We've got circumstantial evidence on another. You are going to jail for a very long time, and at this point, the death penalty is looking pretty good. Now if you tell us everything, and don't leave anything out, we might be able to help you out, but you have to give us enough to close all the cases. Do you understand?"
Tommy nodded. "But I didn't kill anybody. I put Jody in the freezer, which I admit is inconsiderate, but I didn't kill her."
Cavuto growled. Rivera nodded in mock acceptance of the story. "Fine, but if you didn't kill them, who did? Did someone you know force you into this?"
Cavuto exploded, "Oh Christ, Rivera! What do you need, a videotape? This little bastard did it."
"Nick, please. Give me a minute here."
Cavuto moved to the table and leaned over it until his face was next to Tommy's. He whispered, raspy and gruff, "Flood, don't think you can use a wiggle and a wink to get yourself out of this. That might work down on Castro, but I'm immune to it here, you got me? I'm going to leave now, but when I come back, if you haven't told my partner your story, I'm going to cause pain. Lots of it, and I won't leave a mark on you." He stood up, smiled, then turned and left the room.
Tommy looked at Rivera. "A wiggle and a wink?"
"Nick thinks you're cute," Rivera said.
"He's gay?"
"Completely."
Tommy shook his head. "I would have never guessed."
"He's a Shriner, too." Rivera tapped a cigarette out of his pack and lit it. "Looks can be deceiving."
"Hey, I didn't think you were allowed to smoke in here."
Rivera blew smoke in Tommy's face. "You had two people in your freezer, and you're giving me shit about smoking."
"Good point."
Rivera sat down and leaned back in the chair. "Tommy, I'm going to give you one more chance to tell me how you killed those people, then I'm going to let Nick back in here and I'm going to leave. He really likes you. This room is soundproof, you know."
Tommy swallowed hard. "You're not going to believe me. It's a pretty fantastic story. There's supernatural stuff involved."
Rivera rubbed his temples. "Satan told you to do it?" he said wearily.
"No."
"Elvis?"
"I told you, it's supernatural."
"Tommy, I'm going to tell you something I've never told anyone before. If you repeat it, I'll deny I said it. Five years ago I saw a white owl with a seventy-foot wingspan swoop out of the sky and pluck a demon off a hillside and take off into the sky."
"I heard that cops get the best drugs," Tommy said.
Rivera got up. "I'm going to bring Nick in."
"No, wait. I'll tell you. It was a vampire. You can thaw Jody out and ask her."
Rivera reached over and turned on the tape recorder. "Now slow down. Start at the beginning and go until we walked you into this room."
An hour later Rivera met Cavuto behind the one-way mirror. Cavuto was not happy. "You know, I'd rather you just threaten that I would beat him up."
"It worked, didn't it?"
"There's nothing there we can use. Not a thing. If he sticks with that story he'll get off on insanity. It's too wild. I want to know how he got the blood out of the bodies."
"The kid thinks he's a writer. He's showing off his imagination. Let's let him sit awhile and get something to eat. I want to find the Emperor."
"That wacko?"
"He's been reporting seeing a vampire for weeks. Maybe he saw the kid doing one of the murders."
Chapter 29
Chapter 29
Paying Respects
Gilbert Bendetti liked his job, really liked his job. It was a government job, of sorts, so the benefits were good and the work easy. He