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"What do you think I ht do to you, Stevie?"
"I don’t know I don’t want to think"
"You’re so i up ways to hurt wo continuously now, Zillis said, "What do you want from me, what can I do?"
"I want to talk about what happened to Judith Kesselot up fro
"Stevie?"
"Go away"
"You know I’ to Let’s talk about Judi Kesselman"
"I don’t want to"
"I think you do" Billy didn’t go closer to Zillis, but he squatted in front of hi down almost to his level "I think you want very much to talk about it"
Zillis shook his head violently "I don’t I don’t If we talk about it, you’ll kill me for sure"
"Why do you say that, Stevie?"
"You know"
"Why do you say I’ll kill you?"
"Because then I’ll know tooto read hiroan
"Did what?"
"You killed her, and I don’t knohy, I don’t understand, but now you’re going to kill rimaced "What’ve you done?"
For an answer, Zillis only sobbed
"Stevie, what’ve you done to yourself?"
Zillis had drawn his knees to his chest Now he stretched out his legs again
"Stevie?"
The crotch of the man’s pajamas was dark with urine He had wet himself
Chapter 64
Some monsters are pathetic rather than murderous Their lairs are not lairs in the fullest sense because they do not lie in wait They take to ill-kept burroith minimal furniture and the objects of their e their mutant fantasies and live their monstrous lives in as much peace as they can find, which is precious little, for they torment themselves even when the rest of the world leaves them unmolested
Billy resisted the conclusion that Steve Zillis was one of this pathetic breed
To admit that Zillis was not a homicidal sociopath, Billy must accept that much precious time had been wasted in the pursuit of a wolf, presu
Worse, if Zillis was not the freak, Billy had no idea where to go frole conclusion The circumstantial evidence
Worst of all, if the killer was not before him now, then he had stooped to this brutality without profit
Consequently, for a while he continued to question and harass his captive, but by the minute, the contest between them seemed to be less a contest than an act of oppression Awith banderillas and lanced by the picador, loses all spirit and will pass not even listlessly at the reddespair, Billy sat on the chair once ht spring when he least expected
"Where were you earlier tonight, Steve?"
"You know Don’t you knoas at the bar, working your shift"
"Only until nine o’clock Jackie says you worked between three and nine because you had stuff to do before and after"
"I did I had stuff"
"Where were you between nine o’clock and ht?"
"What does it matter?"
"It onna hurt… you’re gonna killto kill you, and I didn’t kill Judith Kesselman I’ as true as any reaction he’d had since this had started
"You’re really good at this," Billy told hishit crazy! I never killed anyone"
"Steve, if you can convince ht, then this is over I’m out of here, and you’re free"
Zillis looked dubious "That easy?"
"Yes"
"After all this--it’s over that easy?"
"It could be Depending on the alibi"
Zillis worried over his answer
Billy began to think he was concocting it from scratch
Then Zillis said, "What if I tell you where I was, and it turns out that’s why you’re here, because you already knohere I was, and you want to hear me say it so you can beat the shit out of ht Okay I ith so for her, what’re you going to do to arded him with disbelief "You ith a woman?"
"I wasn’t with her, not like in bed It was just a date A late dinner, which had to be later ‘cause I covered for you This was our second date"
"Who?"
Steeling hie, Zillis said, "Airl"
Warily, Zillis said, "That’s it--‘She’s a nice girl’?"
The Pollards owned a successful vineyard They grew grapes on contract for one of the valley’s finest vintners Mandy was about twenty, pretty, friendly She worked in the fa by all evidence, she holesoh to have coaze travel the sleazy bedroo on the floor beside the TV to the pile of dirty laundry in one corner
"She’s never been here," Zillis said "We’ve only had two dates I’et rid of all this stuff Make a clean start"
"She’s a decent girl"
"She is," Zillis eagerly agreed "I think with her in ht thing for once"
"She ought to see this place"
"No, no Billy, no, for God’s sake This isn’t the me I want to be I want to be better for her"
"Where did you go to dinner?"
Zillis naot there about twenty past nine We left at about a quarter past eleven because ere the only people in the place by then"
"After that?"