Page 104 of An Evil Heart
My eyes have adjusted to the thin light. I can just make out the outline of my pistol beneath the bed. I’m not sure I can reach it from this side. Graber stands between me and the radio.
“I know he hurt people,” I say quietly.
“Hurt them?” A horrible laugh pours from his throat. “He didn’t justhurtthem. He…” His voice breaks. “The guy was a monster. There was something wrong with him. Some part of his brain was just… gone.”
Keep him talking, Kate. Buy some time. Mona is on the way.
“Tell me what he did,” I say.
“He’d go on the prowl. Pick up a woman in a bar. Or some dumbshit kid who wanted to party. He’d take them out to the gas station. Get them drunk or high or both, and when they were passed out, he… Made me sick.” He spits the words out as if they’re razor blades. “Did Emily that way. Sweet, innocent Em. Can you believe that?”
“You were there?” I ask.
“I took her home that first night. She was… in an awful way.” He chokes back a sob, swipes at tears. “They all climbed on her at the same time.”
“Who else?”
“The sons of bitches at the gas station. It was a game to them. Find a woman. Pump her full of booze. Then they’d take turns with her. They were a bunch of animals.”
“What about Paige Rossberger?” I ask.
Graber’s expression darkens. “Karn had had her out there before. Gave her a hundred bucks. For sex. She trusted him, I guess.” His mouth twists. “She liked to party. So he took her out there. Got her high. Everyone… did her. After they left…” His voice trails and for a moment he looks asif he might throw up. “She was just… lying there, passed out on that old cot, and Karn went over to her and started messing with her. She came to, cussed him out, pissed him off, so he gets this… plastic bag and he… puts it over her head She hit him, kicked him, so he fucking tied her up, and he kept putting that bag over her head.Playingwith her. By then she was… going nuts. Scared, you know. So he put tape on her mouth.”
Tears creep down his cheeks. This time, he doesn’t seem to notice. “I knew he was going to take it too far. I told him to stop. He wouldn’t listen. He was like… getting off on it. Couldn’t stop. And then she started… turning blue. She stopped moving…”
With half an ear, I listen for Mona’s cruiser in the driveway. As he speaks, I let my eyes glide to my pistol. I might be able to jam my arm and shoulder beneath the bed and reach it. Put him down before he can get the crossbow into position…
“Karn brought out the devil in people.” The timbre of his voice softens, deepens. “He liked it when the others joined in. He tried to get me to…” He shakes his head. “If you didn’t join in, you watched. If he got inside your head, though…” He grimaces. “He could make you want. Make you lust.”
He stares at me and in that moment I know he isn’t without guilt. He was there, after all. How else could he recount what happened?
Engage him. Keep him talking.…
“You stopped him,” I say.
“I guess I did.”
“Wayne, why didn’t you go to the police?”
“They were all against me,” he said. “All of them. Fisher. The rest. They said they’d tell the copsIwas the one who killed her.”
“So you took matters into your own hands,” I say.
“I knew he wouldn’t stop. He liked it too much. I couldn’t deal with it. I mean, he was going to take me down with him.”
His expression changes, as if he’s remembering I’m not an ally and he still has to deal with me. He knows he’s already crossed the point of no return.
I keep talking. “You knew his routine. You met him out on Hansbarger Road. And you stopped him.”
“I’m not going to talk about that.”
“He was a killer,” I say softly. “You had a reason for what you did.”
“I’m not going to jail for it.” He jabs his thumb toward the door. “Every one of those guys who had a go at that hooker will walk into that courtroom and tell them I was the one done her. It’s their word against mine.”
“If you turn state’s evidence, the prosecutor will work with you, Wayne. It’s not too late to stop this.”
“Don’t bullshit me.” He steps closer and reaches for the crossbow. “I know I’m done. Best I can do now is run. Thanks to you.”
