Today’s excerpt is from Too
Many Women, the first of three Bob Becker books. Bob tricks thug into telling him who killed
the woman in Terri’s home. Enjoy and
have a great day.
m.j.
On arriving at
the emergency section, he spotted Gus, who quickly filled him in. “He’s out of surgery. Doctor says he’ll be paralyzed for life, but
should otherwise recover. He’s still
out, but I was told a few minutes ago he could be coming up for air sometime
soon.”
“Lead me to
him. Make sure we aren’t interrupted—including
any doctors or nurses.”
“Be a bit hard
to do—they do have the first say.”
“Was easy, I’d
get a patrolman to handle it…Detective Lieutenant. I want a few minutes with him, before he
knows he’s paralyzed.”
“Yeah, okay—I’ll
try.”
As those two
reached Dingy Reid’s room, a doctor and nurse were headed to the room. Gus intercepted them and quickly asked for a
few minutes alone with the suspect. He
explained about the murder he had been involved in, then added, “We’re hoping
to get him to implicate the husband in the murder, so the wife doesn’t have to
hide out, forever in fear of her life.”
The doctor had
been ready to dismiss the request until being told about the murder. While he was a doctor first, he was also a
citizen who didn’t like the idea of helping a cold-blooded killer escape
justice. “I’ll give you five minutes.”
Gus thanked him
before he went into the room with Bob.
Inside, he saw Reid was awake.
“I’m Detective Lieutenant Mantia.
This fella over here is Sergeant Becker.”
Bob grumbled,
“One thing before we ask you a few questions.
The doctor told us to tell you to be very still. Any movement on your part and you could
paralyze yourself—got it?”
Reid started to
nod his head, then remembered what Bob had said, so he whispered, “Yeah, I understand.”
“Good. Okay, your friend Brown is dead. Your boss, Jay Durbin, is in custody in Los Angeles . He said you killed a woman in his house, then
you and Brown disposed of the body. Said
he doesn’t know where. The LAPD
detectives don’t believe him, but have nothing to disprove his words. The wife…Durbin’s wife…told us you three were
with the woman, and she doesn’t know which of you killed her. Is Durbin’s story the right version of what
happened?”
“No,” came the
agitated response from Reid, “it ain’t right. He killed her.”
“Durbin did?”
“Yes.”
“What about the
body?”
“Me and Moonbeam
got rid of it, but we sure didn’t kill her.
Durbin’s nuts, and a damned liar.”
Bob asked,
“Where did you dump the body?”
Reid told them,
then Bob looked at Gus and gave a slight nod.
Both men turned and left the room.
Standing outside were the doctor and nurse.
Gus looked at
the doctor. “Thanks. He claims the husband did the murder. Appreciate your help.”
“You’re
welcome…and nice work Detective.”
As they walked
away, Bob asked, “Any way you can let the media keep on the wrong track about
both guys being killed?”
“Boy, I don’t
know. We’ve a horde of reporters and TV
people hanging around. I’d bet against
it. But before you ask your next
question, I’ll have someone on his room around the clock. Two
someones, for that matter.”
“Good
enough. Thanks for letting me handle it
back there. Do you happen to want a copy
of the tape I had playing in my pocket while we talked to him?”
“Hell yes.”
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