CHAPTER 53

Winters, Chief Roark, and I were standing in a small room next to the state police interrogation room. Through a one-way mirror, I could see Danny sitting in one of the chairs I had sat in myself only a few days before. He didn’t look happy.

It had been three days since my run-in with Tony and Danny, a very busy three days. My stories on his crime organization had led to increased sales of the Chronicle as well as an unbelievable increase of hits on its website. People in East Hastings couldn’t seem to get enough of this story about a local boy gone bad, and it was the main topic of conversation at the Town Crier, as was to be expected, but also at the Bean Me Up, Kenny’s bar, every hair and nail salon and country club in the county and even, so I was told, at the Wayside Tavern. Within twelve hours of my first article, the story was picked up nationally and within twenty-four hours The Chronicle was fielding calls from reporters throughout the world. Stevie’s death had barely rated a mention on page four of the Chronicle, but once people found out his killer was the wealthy founder of TSN, they couldn’t get enough of the story.

In addition to the straight news stories that filled the front pages of the paper and website, Hoppy made sure I was creating items on every imaginable aspect of Tony’s operation. The Business Section had articles about the economic impact of TSN being shut down--if only during the crime investigation--on Hastings County, a retrospective on how TSN revolutionized shoppers’ buying habits, and even a piece on what the future held for the television shopping networks versus the increased popularity of the Internet for consumers. For the Sunday Automotive Section, I wrote an article about the most popular stolen cars in America. For the Society Page, I developed a story about the effect closer scrutiny on the TSN operation might have on non-profit organizations and charitable events in Hastings County that over the years had enjoyed tremendous financial support from the company, like the annual People For Paws Dinner Dance that raised money for animal welfare. I even did a piece in the Sports Section about a pee-wee football team that was sponsored by TSN and nicknamed “Tony’s Tigers,” and the predicament of coming up with a new sponsor and team name in time for the upcoming fall season. My story generated an outpouring of support and the season was saved when a new sponsor came forward and the team got a new name  Dom’s Dynamos.

Over every word I wrote, however, hung the ominous threat from Ferdie Crawford to get out of East Hastings, and, although I had no plans set in stone for my future, staying alive was a very high priority. Even if Ferdie himself, whom I had personally seen taken into custody--resulting in a front-page account of his arrest--could not perform the deed, I was sure any one of his family members would gladly do it for him.

However, more important matters were at hand, and amazingly enough, Captain Winters and I were on the same team, at least as far as Danny was concerned.

“Well, we’re ready for you to talk to Sullivan. You know I’m against this. You screw up and we might lose whatever leverage we have in this case against Tony--and Ferd Crawford,” Winters said.

“Thanks for the show of support,” I answered.

“Captain, I agree with Wes’s suggestion,” Roark said, talking to Winters as if I wasn’t in the room. “We’ve been talking to Danny for several days, and he won’t give us anything. Maybe we can use the way he feels about Wes to get him off guard, get him to finally open up.”

“Yeah, take advantage of the fact that he hates me so much,” I added.

“Okay, Okay. I just want my reservations on record. Let’s go,” he replied. He turned and led Roark and me out of the room, into the hallway and through the door into the interrogation room.

Danny looked up as we entered. He looked at Winters and Roark blankly, but, when he saw me, that damn sneer appeared. Man, I hated that sneer.

“What’s he doing here?” he asked the two officers as they sat at the table across from him, ignoring me completely.

“Wes? He’s just following up on a few things for an article he’s writing. We thought as much help as he’s been, we couldn’t say no,” Winters answered.

“Well, I ain’t going to talk to him. Take me back to my cell,” Danny said.

I really didn’t think he’d want to cooperate, at least not without a little prodding.

“How’s the jaw, Danny?” I asked. “You know, all these years, I thought you were so tough, but you crumpled like a dry brick.”

Danny eyes flashed. “Go to hell--” he said.

“Of course, of course, you don’t have to talk to him,” Captain Winters interrupted in a calm tone, “and if you do, I suggest you have an attorney present. I mean, after all he’s done to put you here--the way he’s outsmarted you--I wouldn’t want to talk to him either. Would you, Chief?”

“No, no. Not me. I’d know when I was beaten, take my lumps, and stay as far away from Mr. Byrne as possible,” Roark answered. “For once, it appears you’re doing the right thing, Danny.”

“I ain’t afraid of him, and I don’t need no attorney. This is all some kind of conspiracy. You’ve got nothing on me that’ll stand up in court,” Danny answered.

Winters, Roark, and I had discussed the best way to approach Danny to get him to talk. Basically, it came down to good cops, bad reporter, using the way Danny felt about me to get him to waive his rights and let me poke and prod until he burst.

“Well, that’s not exactly right, is it?” Winters replied, opening the file folder he had carried with him into the room. “We have you for kidnapping, aiding and abetting in a murder attempt--oh, and we found some traces of Puddy’s blood on that jacket you were wearing the night of his murder, found some on your shoes and trousers, as well.”

If Danny was worried, he did a good job of hiding it. “Of course, I had some of his blood on me. I must have gotten it when I was checking his vitals when I found him on the floor,” he answered.

“Sure, that makes sense. But how did it get on the inside of your jacket?” Winters asked.

Danny was caught off-guard. “Well, um, you see...” he began to answer.

“Checking for the blood inside the jacket was my idea,” I said, still standing. “I thought it was kind of odd how disheveled you looked that night. You were always so neat, every hair in place, shoes shined. And then, there you are--hair all messed up, wearing a jacket in that humidity. It just didn’t look right.”

“I told you, I had the flu,” Danny answered, glaring at me. “Guys going to look a little messed up when he’s been sick all day.”

“That doesn’t explain the blood, Danny,” Chief Roark said.

“You know what I think, Danny?” I said. “I think you got Puddy’s blood on your shirt when you stabbed him. Then you put the jacket on to cover it up. You’ve probably gotten rid of the shirt by now, but you didn’t consider that some of the blood would get on the inside of the jacket.”

That was one of the other things we discussed, the way we’d take turns going at him, keep him looking from one of us to the other, keep him off balance, dealing with different levels of authority and trust, and in my case, hate.

“It was self-defense,” he countered quickly. “Puddy came at me with a knife. I didn’t try to cover anything up. I really had the flu. That’s why I had the jacket on.”

Roark looked at Winters and nodded.

“That makes sense. After all, Mr. Salvatore did attack Mr. Byrne only the night before, and Mr. Byrne said that Puddy was scared, afraid someone was after him.”

Winters made a notation on the top sheet in the file. Danny looked at him with a look of satisfaction.

“Of course, what I can’t understand is why you were even there in the first place,” I said.

Danny ignored me and addressed Captain Winters.

“See, I had a feeling Wes was going to go out there, the way he was poking around, figured it was just a matter of time before he went out to Darby’s place. Figured I catch him in the act--breaking and entering.”

Winters made another notation, nodding.

“So you sat out there all by yourself, just on a hunch? What if I hadn’t shown up? Wouldn’t it have been smarter to just follow me?” I said.

“What do you know about police work?” Danny said, looking at me with that sneer again on his face before looking back at the two officers for confirmation.

“And yet Puddy still got into the house without you seeing him. Then he got the drop on you, little old Puddy Salvatore got the drop on you when you entered the house. Sounds like real good police work to me,” I said, not even trying to hide my derision.

Danny looked like he wanted to leap across the table and wrap his hands around my neck. He turned back to the officers. “He came in the back way. I found the canoe he used to row up to the house. He was quiet,” Danny said to Chief Roark.

Again, she looked at Winters and nodded, giving her shoulders a slight shrug. He nodded back and closed the file.

“I think we’ve got all the answers we need--” Winters began.

“What about the gas, Danny? When you came into the kitchen we could all smell gasoline on you,” I said, interrupting him. We’d set this up too.

“Huh? What? Um, I told you, I kicked a gas can over in Darby’s garage, must have spilled some on my clothes, so what?” Danny said to me quickly.

“Actually, what you said was you kicked over an old gas can. Thing is, the only gas can I found in the garage was brand new,” I said.

“New can...old can...what’s the difference? Gas spilled on my clothes. That’s the way it happened,” Danny answered.

“And the cap was screwed on tight,” I answered, realizing that Stacey had used the can to fill my car’s tank and closed the can. Of course, Danny didn’t know that.

“Yeah? So what?” Danny answered indignantly.

“It’s just that I can’t see how any gas spilled out of it, it being closed up tight and all,” I answered.

For the first time, Danny looked a little flustered. He looked at Roark and Winters, as if looking for a little help.

Winters opened the file folder again and turned over the top sheet, pulling the one below it out of the file. “Well, Danny, it seems like the can was so new it still had the price sticker from Kelger’s Hardware on it. We sent an officer around there to check on it. Seems you bought the can the day Puddy was killed.”

“So I bought a gas can, so what?” Danny answered, and I sensed just the slightest bit of panic in his voice.

“It was a five gallon can--” Winters continued, again consulting his file and pulling out another sheet. “--and we also found a receipt in your wallet for a gas purchase later that day, just a few hours before you must have gone out to Darby’s place, for five gallons of gas. You used your credit card to buy it.”

“Actually, well, let’s see...” I said, following up quickly on the information Winters had just hit Danny with, “I’ve never been real good at math, but the gas cost two dollars and thirty-five cents a gallon, so you should have paid eleven dollars and seventy-five cents or less to fill the can. The receipt is for twelve dollars and fifteen cents. That means there’s a good chance the can overflowed. Easy thing to do. And some of the gas got on your pants and shoes when it did. You went out to Stevie’s to burn the place down, didn’t you? Who told you to do that? Tony? He did, right? He knew Stevie had something to blackmail him with and knew that Stevie probably had it at his house. Burn the house, destroy the evidence. That’s what happened, isn’t it?” I said, my voice rising as I took a confrontational step closer to my side of the table.

Danny’s eyes bulged and, for the first time ever, I saw actual terror on his face.

“I don’t want to talk to him,” he said, pointing at me. “I told you that when you came into the room.”

“Danny,” Chief Roark said quietly, confidingly, “it’s really better for you if you tell us everything now. We--” She looked at Captain Winters, conspicuously leaving me out, “--know you wouldn’t do something like that on your own. Tony put you up to it, didn’t he?”

Danny turned to her. He had the look of a cornered animal on his face.

“Actually,” I said rather calmly from behind the officers, “there’s more to it than that, isn’t there? You were waiting for me, weren’t you? You were going to kill me and let my body burn in the fire, weren’t you? You could blame it all on Puddy Salvatore. He’d already threatened me. That’s what Tony wanted you to do, isn’t it? You saw the light from Puddy’s flashlight and thought it was me. Must have been a surprise to find him and not me. You fought, killed him, and realized your whole plan was shot to pieces. Then you heard us coming up to the house. We made enough noise. It was your flashlight Dom saw in the window.”

“What flashlight in the window?” Roark asked.

“Um, I’ll explain later,” I said to her, realizing I may have drawn Dom into things. I turned back to Danny. “You heard us, realized you didn’t have time to get rid of the body or burn the place down, so you slipped out the back door while we came in the front. Probably cleaned the blood off your hands at the dock and then went to your car and put on the jacket. When you saw the light come on in the house, you realized we’d find the body and that’s when you came bursting in--to shift all suspicion to us. Only thing I don’t know is who told you I would be there?”

I had gone off script and both Roark and Winters turned to look at me. Neither seemed too happy with the direction I’d taken the interrogation. In fact, I’d only thought of it that minute.

Danny sat silent but he was breathing hard and sweat was beginning to appear on his forehead. I’d hit a nerve. I pressed on. “C’mon, admit it. You’d never killed a man before, had you? That’s why you were so pale and clammy in the kitchen that night. C’mon, tell me, who told you I would be there.”

I thought I’d seen hate in Danny’s eyes before, but nothing compared to the way he looked at me now. Then the slightest of smiles appeared on his face. “It was Bob, your good friend Bob. He’s the one who told us,” he said.

I’d had my suspicions once Danny said he was waiting for me. Bob knew I was going out there. He was at Tim’s when I said I was. Of course, he left before the others decided to come along, so he didn’t know they’d be with me. Still, actually hearing it was a bit of a shock.

“Bob was a part of all this? He was working with you and Tony and the Crawfords?” I said.

“What? No. Tony wouldn’t trust that fat tub of lard as far as he could throw him. Tony knew Keith was worried that if you started writing articles about the murders, it would look bad for the town. He was worried about some new housing development him and Tony were working on, thought it would frighten people away. We convinced him I would just threaten to arrest you for breaking and entering unless you agreed to leave town. He just wanted you gone.”

Roark and Winters had turned their heads to look at me again. There was just the slightest, and almost imperceptible, trace of admiration in Roark’s eyes. Winters mouth was agape.

“But I’ll never admit any of this in court. I know my rights. I’ve been coerced,” Danny said.

Winters regained his composure and turned back to Danny. “Actually, you waived your right to an attorney, but if you won’t testify, that’s not really that important. We’ll take what you told us to Augustino, get his side of the story,” Winters said.

“Danny,” I said, and again Winters turned to look at me. I had a feeling that he thought I’d said enough, but I wasn’t through yet. “You know Tony as well as anyone. What do you think he’s going to do? You think he’s going to stand by you? You know that’s not the way he operates. He’s going to trade whatever he can to get a better deal, even if that means hanging you out to dry. If I was you, I’d be the one making the deal.”

Danny looked from Roark to Winters. Each nodded their heads in agreement. Danny lowered his head. “Okay,” he said, almost so quietly it was hard to hear him.

“Trooper,” Captain Winters called out. The stoic officer who had stood guard over Tim, Denny, Dom, and me at Stevie’s place the night of Puddy’s murder entered the room. Winters and Roark both stood up. Winters left the file on the table. “I want you to take this man’s statement. Make sure he signs it.”

“Yes, Captain,” the trooper answered. He sat down across from Danny, gave him a pen, pulled an empty sheet of paper from the file, and turned it to him.

I began to follow Roark and Winters out of the room.

“Wus,” Danny called out. “I won’t forget this.”

“Neither will I,” I answered. “And it’s Wes.”

I left the room, but before I did, I couldn’t resist giving Danny a little smirk of my own.