Free Season of the Assassin by Thomas Laird Page B

vicinity.’
    ‘Well, I’m glad you came anyway. I have this unavoidable desire to get you to believe I’m not the guy you think I am.’
    ‘Who do I think you are?’
    He smiles and flashes a stare at me.
    ‘I’m the guy in the ninth concentric ring. I am Legion, I am the Antichrist! There! Satisfied?’
    ‘When they fit the hood over your face, I’ll be satisfied. When they turn on the circuits and the smoke rises from all of your facial orifices, then I’ll be at peace.’
    ‘I’m getting out on bond. My lawyer’s in there now. I’ll be out by lunch.’
    ‘I’m sure you will be…I just saw someone who knows all about your innocence.’
    ‘Yeah? Who’s that?’
    ‘The nurse you left behind.’
    ‘You keep insisting that there was someone who actually saw me do those seven young ladies. I keep telling you she saw someone else. Why is it impossible for you to come to terms with the notion that you got the wrong man?’
    ‘When she comes out of it, we’ll have you back here. But your bondsman won’t be able to afford you when I come for you then…By the way — ’
    ‘Yeah?’
    ‘Why’d you kill them? I mean you could’ve raped them and done your disappearing act. The way they trained you in Special Forces.’
    ‘I don’t know anything about Special — ’
    ‘You could’ve had them and you could’ve let them live. You know how to leave the scene of a crime, like I said. So why not just have all that sex and leave?’
    ‘I told you I don’t know what you’re talking about…But as far as rapists go — and I only know what I’ve read — they sometimes can’t get the full effect with just a normal climax. Some of them enjoy the thrill of control. The control over the very life of the victim…But then, you’re a Homicide lieutenant. You don’t need me to explain basic criminal psychology to you. You know about control. How many rape/murders have you presided over, Lieutenant?’
    ‘I just wanted to hear your slant, your version.’
    ‘Very clever, Detective. Very clever indeed. Astute, even. But I didn’t do those girls. There are all kinds of killers out there, and the man who did the nurses is still out there.’
    Anglin’s wearing a T-shirt with the American flag all over the front. It’s obvious he doesn’t plan on staying here very often.
    ‘The food’s lousy in jail,’ I tell him. ‘You’ll have to make adjustments to your sexual habits when we lock you up the next time, the final time. By then you’ll be hoping they give you death. Everybody’s gonna want a piece of your scrawny ass when they hear there’s a celebrity in the jailhouse…Wherever you turn, you’ll see me out the corner of an eye. I’ll be there, right there. When they spring you, I’ll be behind you or just off to the side — ’
    ‘My lawyer has already told you that — ’
    ‘I don’t give a shit what your lawyer said or who he said it to. So sue me, shitbird. I’ll never give you up. Maybe you better do one of your jungle ops on me when you get out.’
    ‘You got the wrong guy, Lieutenant. You just made a mistake and you’re having trouble living with it. So I like pussy. I don’t need to force them to fuck me…You got the wrong perpetrator. You’ll see, if you ever go after the real guy,
    ‘Remember what I told you.’
    I turn and walk away from his cage. I hear what sounds like soft, almost gentle laughter following me on my way out of the lockup.
    *
    Jimmy’s been hit. Not badly enough to be sent home. Says it was just some hot shrapnel that cut through the bottom of his Chinook helicopter when they were sent into the bush for an engagement with the NVA and the Viet Cong. Jimmy says he didn’t even feel the piece of metal that hit him and didn’t realize he’d been wounded until he saw the red stain on the knee of his pants.
    Eleanor cries when she reads Jimmy’s note. But I tell her that he’ll get some time off in the hospital. Maybe even some R-and-R in Japan. She looks up