House Infernal by Edward Lee Read Online Free PDF Page B

drive all this way to see this
guy's dick, Sergeant."

    "Freddie, please. just the tattoo. I'll Taser anything else
you whip out."
    "I believe you would, Sarge." Johnson grinned. "I believe you would."
    Johnson pulled the utilities past his navel and stopped
just above his pubic hair. "Check it out..."
    The tattoo, the size of an index card, was between Johnson's navel and crotch:

    Berns didn't know why but there was something sinister about it. "See what I mean?" Lee said, then, "Art
show's over, Freddie. Hoist 'em back up."
    "Is that cool or what?" Johnson shouldered back into
the jail-cell pajamas.
    "It looks new."
    "Got it less than a year ago. Hurt like hell, too, and I
think the chick doing the work was digging that."
    "Fine. So what is it?" Berns asked.
    "It's ... my trademark, man." That gold-toothed grin
seemed to hang in the air. "And that's all you need to
know. So how about it? I've leveled with you. Level with
me. You gonna help me out?"
    "Believe it or not, I'm thinking about it," Berns told him.
    "I mean, come on. You guys are cops. Cops hate the idea
of murderers having rights, and I'm a murderer. Dudes
like you believe all hard criminals should be executed
without trial-save tax dollars for better things. Get the
shit out of the gene pool, right?"
    Berns and Lee traded smiles.
    "You're speaking our language, Freddie."
    "Well, here I am. I confess to the Wammsport murders.
Transport me to New Hampshire and charge me. I'll
plead guilty and deny my appeals. And since I'll be on death row I'll be on the PC block. They'll punch my ticket
in a month, and I'll have a smile on my face."

    Berns stroked his goatee. I don't think this scumbag is lying....
    For the first time, Johnson seemed distraught. "Captain, in two days they're gonna haul me out of here and
take me to my arraignment. Then my ass lands in centralprocessing at the Warren supermax until my trial. Warren's the worst state cut in the East-I'll be hamburger
there after five minutes."
    "I know," Berns said.
    Johnson's eyes beseeched Berns with an earnest plea.
"Help me out, man. And you get the collar for busting a
guy who murdered a nun. You'll be the local hero."
    "You really do want to die, don't you?" Berns leaned
closer. "Why? You're not crazy. You're not suicidal."
    Johnson sighed, as if exhaling cigarette smoke. "When
the party's over, it's over, man. That's my philosophy. But
don't make me off myself in Warren. Help me out, Captain." Freddie paused, grinning again. "Who knows? You
might be rewarded someday."
    Berns let his thoughts tick. Then he said this: "I'm going
to come back and see you in a week, Freddie. And in the
meantime, I'm going to ask the Sarge here to request an arraignment delay for pending evidence analysis. I'll fax up
your confession tomorrow, and you sign it, and then I'll talk
to the New Hampshire state attorney's office and have
them prioritize your charge. Then your smiling redneck ass
gets to stay in this cushy cell until you're transported to
protective custody in New Hampshire. How's that sound?"
    Freddie's grin turned huge. "I knew you were a cool guy!"
    "You can thank me at your execution."
    "Damn straight!"
    Lee added, "And maybe I can even scrounge up a TV so
you won't have to watch any more paint peel."
    Johnson clapped his hands and whistled. "You guys are
the bomb!"
    "When I come back here next week, I'll have some more
questions, all right, Freddie?" Berns said.

    "Hell yes, Captain."
    "I'm gonna want to know about your accomplices on
the Wammsport job."
    Johnson leaned forward on the cot, hands clasped.
"Captain, those flunkies don't matter for shit. I did the cutting. I'm the murderer. I don't even know their last
names-that's how we worked. You want descriptions, I'll
give 'em to you, but you won't be able to find 'em anyway."
    .Why?"
    "The day after the murders, we all split."
    "All three of you left the state?"
    "That's right. That's what we agreed, and we agreed not
to