The Web

'Me, neither. First day he got here, he hit on my mother. She straightened him out soon enough.'

He trained his eyes on me. He was a handsome man but I thought of a rhino, ready to charge.

'So tell me, doc, is Ben one of those guys, when you hear about his killing someone you say, 'No way, couldn't be'?'

'I don't know him well enough to answer that.'

He laughed. 'Got my answer. Not that I've got any grudge against him. I've always admired him for the way he pulled himself up. I grew up without a father, but my mother's good enough for ten parents. Ben's mom was a dirty drunk and his dad was a real asshole, beat the hell out of him just for laughs. According to you guys, isn't that exactly the kind of thing that grows killers?'

'It helps,' I said. 'But there are plenty of abused kids who don't end up violent, and people from good homes who turn bad.'

'Sure,' he said, 'anything's possible. But we're talking odds. I took psychology, learned about early influences. Someone like Ben, I guess it's no surprise he cracked. I guess the big surprise is the time he had in between, acting normal.'

'In between what?'

Instead of answering, he finished his coffee. I'd barely touched mine and he noticed.

'Yeah, it's lousy- want some tea instead?'

'No, thanks.'

'The situation's really bad,' he said into his empty cup. 'Betty's family, Mauricio. Claire, her kids. Everyone thrown together, people can't escape each other.'

The phone rang again. He got rid of the caller with a couple of barks.

'Everyone wants to know everything.' He looked above me, at the bikini girl. 'I should take that down. Ed and Elijah like it, but it's disrespectful.'

He got up and came toward me. 'I've seen plenty, doctor, but never anything like what happened to those two women.'

'One thing you might want to know,' I said. 'After I read the Valdos file I called my detective friend. He ran a search for similar murders and came up with one, ten years old, in Maryland.'

'Why'd you ask him to look?'

'I didn't. He did it on his own.'

'Why?'

'He's a curious guy.'

'Checking out the island savages, huh? Yeah, I know about that one. Two satanists ate a working girl.' He shot out some details. 'My computer rarely works right, but I phone stuff in to the MPs on Guam and they hook into NCIC.'

'What do you think of the similarities?'

'I think satanic psychos have some sort of script.'

'Any evidence Ben was into satanism?'

'Nope.'

'Have you ever seen evidence of satanism on Aruk?'

'Not a trace, everyone's Catholic. But Ben was in Hawaii ten years ago- who knows what kind of shit he picked up?'

'Did he take any side trips to the mainland?'

'Like to Maryland? Good question. I'll look into it. For all I know, he killed girls in Hawaii and never got caught. For all I know, he was lucky the only thing they got him for was indecent exposure.'

The look on my face made him smile.

'That's what I meant by acting normal in between.'

'When?' I said.

'Ten years ago. He peeped in some lady's window with his pants down and his dick out. He was in the Guard and they handled it. Ninety days in the brig. That's how a lot of sex killers get started, isn't it? Watching and beating off, then moving on to the heavy stuff?'

'Sometimes.'

'This time.' He looked disgusted. 'Okay, have your hour with him. Give him his moral support.'

27

Behind the battered door was a warren of small, dim rooms and narrow corridors. At the back was a dented sheet-metal door bolted by a stout iron bar.

Laurent removed my watch and emptied my pockets, placed my belongings on a table along with his gun, then unlocked the bar, raised it, and pocketed the key. Pushing the door open, he let me pass, and I came up against grimy gray bars and the sulfur-stink of excreta.

A two-cell jail, a pair of three-pace cages, each with a cement floor, a grated, translucent window, a double bunk chained to the wall, a crusted hole with heel-rests for a toilet.

The ceilings were six and a half feet high. Black mold grew in cracks and corners. The plaster had been scored by decades of fingernail calligraphy.

Laurent saw the revulsion on my face.

'Welcome to Istanbul West,' he said, with no satisfaction. 'Usually guys don't stay here for more than a few hours, sleeping off a drunk.'

The nearer cell was empty. Ben sat on the lower bunk of the other, chin in hand.

'Well, well, looks like we've had some movement,' said Laurent, loudly.

Ben didn't budge.

The keys jangled again and soon I was in the cell, locked in, and Laurent was outside saying, 'Trust me with your wallet and your watch, doc?'

I smiled. 'Do I have a choice?'

'Thanks for the vote of confidence. One hour.' Tapping his own watch. 'I'll leave the door open so you can shout.'

He left. Inside the cell, the stink was stronger, the heat almost unbearable.

I tried to find a place to stand that allowed me some distance from Ben, but the cramped space prevented it- so I contented myself with keeping maximum distance from the floor latrine as I scanned the graffiti. Names, dates, none of them recent. A large depiction of exaggerated female genitalia above the bunk. Sgraffito message: Get me out of this hole!

Ben didn't move. His eyes were unfocused.

'Hello,' I said softly. Though my five-ten height missed the ceiling by a few inches, I found myself hunching.

Silence. As complete as at the estate but not at all peaceful. After only seconds in here, my nerves screamed for some noise.

'Dr. Bill sent me to see if there's anything I can do for you, Ben.'

He kept perfectly still, not even a blink, hair greasy, face streaked with sweat tracks. My armpits were already sodden.

'Ben?'

I took hold of his right arm and moved it from under his chin. Stiff and unyielding, as he resisted me.

No catatonia.

I let go. Repeated my greeting.

He continued to tune me out.

Three more attempts.

Five minutes passed.