Morphy and Grip each held one of Koss’s heavy arms. Koss was conscious and staggered along as they pulled him through the shantytown alleys. Westermann walked in front and the uniform took up the rear. The crowd noise from outside had everyone on edge.
Where is Vesterhue?
Something is in my blood.
Big Rolf looking back, scared.
Koss’s senses returned. He began muttering to Morphy and, especially, Grip. “Let me go. You’re really going to arrest me for killing that Negro demon? That demon that followed me here from Africa? I was doing the Lord’s work. He walked Godtown every night, a soldier of the devil. A soldier of Womé.”
Westermann registered that Grip was letting Koss talk, which wasn’t Grip’s way. Grip’s patience for perps sounding off was minimal; but he let Koss run his mouth. Westermann didn’t like it.
“Shut him up,” Westermann said over his shoulder.
“You’d like that,” Koss spit back.
Westermann waited to hear Koss grunt from a Grip kidney-punch, but it didn’t come.
Lenore’s body slowly rotating as it floats downstream.
Jane Does on coroner’s tables, covered in sores.
“Yeah, you’ve got some things to answer for,” Koss taunted.
Still no move by Morphy or Grip to silence him. Westermann kept moving, at a loss about what to do. Koss was going to talk at some point. Maybe it was better to get it out now, get a handle on what Koss had on him before everything was on the record. But he was showing weakness in front of Morphy and Grip. Worse, they were abetting his humiliation.
“I’m going to take the juice,” Koss continued. “I have no problem with that. I’m good with the Lord. But I’m not going to leave any secrets, Lieutenant. I’m going to tell what I know.”
“You’ll have your chance” was all Westermann could think to say.
“I’ll have my chance,” Koss said, mocking Westermann. “You want to know what I’m going to say? You want to know what I have on you, Lieutenant? Red Lieutenant? I bet you Grip, here, would like to hear; wouldn’t you, Torsten?”
We can just push her back into the river.
Front-page photo of Mel Washington talking to him.
The twins singing, Brother Allison sweating piously.
“You’re just digging yourself a hole,” Westermann said.
“A hole? How about this hole: I killed Vesterhue; I killed Jimmy Symmes; I killed three of those whores. That’s enough to see me burn. But you know who I didn’t kill? I didn’t kill Lenore Ivanova. And you know what, Lieutenant? I know where she was killed and it wasn’t where you found her; but you know that, don’t you? I did what I could to point you in the right direction. How many bodies do you need to find before you start looking in the Uhuru Community?
“It got me wondering, why is Lieutenant Westermann poking around Godtown when all the bodies are by the Uhuru Community? It didn’t make sense.”
Westermann turned on Koss, fists balled. Grip put a hand in Westermann’s chest, holding him away from Koss. Westermann’s heart hammered.
Grip’s voice was subdued. “Let’s do this here. Before we go out, Lieut. It’ll be easier that way.”
Morphy turned to the uniform. “Get out of here, and you didn’t hear anything.”
The uniform nodded and hurried off.
The enemy among us.
Big Rolf walking with his arm around Vic Truffant.
Grip and Morphy weren’t holding Koss now, and even with his hands cuffed behind his back, he exuded physical strength. He tilted his chin up and showed Westermann a cocky smirk.
“Like I said, I was wondering why you were in Godtown. But then I found out you were spending time flapping your gums with Frank Frings and maybe his little girlfriend Red Carla. That’s kind of interesting. And those two, well, it’s no secret that Red Carla is close with Mel Washington and spends time down in the shanties. You connect the dots.”
Westermann tried a confident laugh, but it came out false. He tried changing the subject. “You’re confessing to, what, five murders? Six? Seven? Where are the bodies?”
“You found two on the river. The others are hidden. Look, I’ll bring you to them, don’t worry. I’ve got nothing to hide. It’s all done in the Lord’s name. All of it. But you, Lieutenant, I don’t know why you do what you do, but you are about to reap what you’ve sown. The Lord does not reward subterfuge and abetting the godless. You knew that somebody moved Lenore Ivanova’s body. You might have done it yourself. But whether it was you or someone else, it was done to get that body away from the shanties because you and your Red friends didn’t want this murder tied to the Community.”
Westermann fought panic, his words coming out without thought. “You’re lying. You’re trying to pin that murder on someone else.”
“I’ve just confessed to five. You said so yourself. I’m going to lie about this one?”
Westermann glanced from Morphy to Grip. They stared back. He’d lost them.
“Then who killed her?”
Koss shrugged his massive shoulders. “That’s on you, Lieutenant.”
They stood in silence for a moment, Westermann feeling the heat in his face, the wobble in his knees. It was coming apart.
Grip said, “Lieut, you haven’t denied it. Did you move the body?”
Westermann stared back at him, debating the lie.
Are you good with the Lord?
“You’ve got to say something,” Grip pleaded.
Westermann looked to Morphy and saw the hate. Grip was looking at Koss, who smiled, pleased with himself.
Are you good with the Lord?
Are you good with Legba?
Westermann pulled the badge from his pocket, threw it at Grip’s feet, and walked away.