11
12
13
No matter what it might sound like, I hadn’t become C 14
heartless. For the next three days, I fed Bennet porridge, 15
bananas, and other soft foods that would strengthen him.
16
I sat with him for hours just talking and keeping him 17
company. We played chess (which he always won) and 18
talked about stock investments that I should consider.
19
He got back some of his color and gained a pound or two.
20
One afternoon I went to an electronics store and 21
bought a long-play tape recorder that was small enough 22
to strap to my back. The tape had a two-hour capacity 23
and I could pin the microphone to the sleeve of my shirt.
24
25
26
“Okay,” I told my prisoner on the fourth day, the secret tape S 27
recorder running, “let’s go over everything you’ve done.”
R 28
3rd Pass Pages
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Walter Mosley
1
“Why do you want this?” he asked.
2
“Because you forced your way down here and got all in 3
my life. You know everything about my crimes and misde-4
meanors. You tell me that my cellar is your prison. Well all 5
right, fine, what are you in here for? What have you done?”
6
He smiled slightly. That’s how it began.
7
I have his confessions on tape in a secret place in the 8
basement. I keep it hidden behind a stone in the wall.
9
The crimes he detailed to me were fantastic and sick. He 10
robbed Peter to kill Paul. He was at the center of much 11
suffering that I never even knew existed.
12
“You think that you can have the easy life of TV and 13
gasoline without someone suffering and dying some-14
where?” he asked me. Then he told me about the execu-15
tion of three hundred loyal officers that one dictator 16
realized might turn against him one day. He had nothing 17
to do with the killings, but he was in that Central Amer-18
