Free Blossom by Andrew Vachss Page B

for my throat. I jammed the stiffened fingers of my right hand into his diaphragm, shifted my hands to the back of his neck as the breath shot out his mouth, snapped his face hard into the top of the table. By the time I felt the young lawyer's hands reaching around my chest to pull me off I was done.
    I was faster then. Smarter now.

30
    I COULDN'T WATCH his eyes, so I listened to his breathing. Feeling the rhythm, waiting for ragged to go smooth. For that twilight sleep to settle into REM. That's why they do surgery past midnight and before dawn—it's when the body shuts down, goes limp inside. The knife goes in easier.
    The luminous dial of my fancy watch said 3:45. The kid was under, quiet now. I fished a quarter from my pocket, tapped it softly against the leg of my cot. An answering tap from Virgil. Awake, and ready. I flexed my upper body, pulling into a sitting position without using my hands. The kid didn't stir. Virgil sat up too—I could see his shape in the darkness. He followed me around the corner to the furnace. A whispered conversation, and we were ready to work.

31
    "G ET UP, Lloyd." Virgil gripped the kid's shoulders, shook him gently.
    The kid moaned, whimpering something, still half asleep. I wouldn't want his dreams. We let him use the bathroom, throw some cold water on his face. Not saying anything, letting him feel the pressure. When he came back to the main room, we had a straight chair set up. It wouldn't be light for a couple of hours. I sat directly across from the kid, within whispering distance. Virgil was a few feet away, sitting on an angle to us, something dark on his lap.
    "Here's the way it works, Lloyd," I told him, neutral–voiced. Working it flexible: soft to hard, hard to soft. First the shell, then the center. "You and I have a talk. About all this stuff that's been going on. And you tell me the truth. You always tell me the truth. About everything. Every single time. You know why?"
    "I told the truth, I…"
    "You know
why,
Lloyd?" Shifting my voice a notch closer to hard. His eyes flicked up to mine, sulky. Dropped. "Because that's the way I'll know, see?" I said. "I find out you lied about one thing…
any
thing…then you're a liar, understand? And you didn't shoot those kids, did you?"
    "No!"
    "And that's the truth, isn't it?"
    "Yes. I swear."
    "Cross your heart and hope to die?"
    "Yes!"
    "Lloyd," I said, my voice laced with a tinge of sorrow, like it was out of my hands. "That's what you're doing, boy. Don't lie. Don't let me catch you in a lie. No matter what the truth is, tell it to me." I leaned forward. "Nothing's as bad as dying, Lloyd. Anything else, me and Virgil, we could fix it. But don't lie."
    "I…won't."
    I leaned back, lit a smoke, nodding my head to seal the deal. He didn't ask for one. Virgil didn't move.
    "You got friends at school?"
    "Yes. I mean, maybe…not really. Friends. I mean, guys I talk to but…"
    "But you work alone?"
    "At the store?"
    "No, Lloyd. When you go out at night. You walk by yourself?"
    "Sometimes…"
    "You look in windows?"
    "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…"
    "It's all right, Lloyd. I know about the windows. Nobody ever sees you, huh?"
    "No."
    "You do that at home too? Before you moved up here?"
    "Just a couple of times."
    "It's okay. Take it easy. You're telling the truth. Nothing to worry about. You ever take your rifle with you? When you go out walking?"
    "No. I never did. I swear."
    "You ever let them see you?"
    "Who?"
    "The women. The women in the windows."
    "No. I wouldn't want…"
    "You ever take it out, play with it…while you watch?"
    "Nooo. No. I just wanted to…
see
them…see what they look like…just…"
    "Okay. You were scared…when you went out walking?"
    "Not…scared. Like, uh…nervous, you know?"
    "I know." Shifting gears—same highway. "Those magazines. The ones the cops found in your room. Where'd you get them?"
    "I sent away for them."
    "What kind of magazines were they?"
    "About…women. I…"
    "There's more of 'em over