The Impossible Fortress(54)
Dante asked me to state my name and my address and my date of birth. “Very good,” he said. “You’re doing great, Billy. Now, we’ve already talked to Alfred and Clark, so we have a pretty good idea of what happened. But we want to hear your version. Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out. We’d rather have too many details than too few, all right?”
I’d rehearsed my story so many times, it came out easily. I explained that we had only come for the Vanna White pictures, that we planned to act like ghosts, but Tyler and Rene had ruined everything. Dante listened attentively, but Hooper had the brim of his cap down over his eyes; I suspected he was sleeping. I finished my story by describing the escape from Zelinsky’s and the unexpected crack of the two-by-four. Then I asked if Rene was okay.
“ICU,” Dante said. “Broken back.”
“Is that serious?”
I don’t know why I said that. I knew a broken back was serious.
“Pretty serious, yeah.”
Hooper sat up and adjusted his cap. “Listen, we’re just about finished. I just need to square away a few details.”
“In case the chief asks,” Dante added.
“Sure,” I said. “I understand.”
“First question,” Hooper said. “How did you get the alarm code?”
“I saw Mary use it.”
“Mary Zelinsky?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know her?”
“She’s a friend.”
“How long have you been friends?”
“Maybe three weeks?”
“How did you meet her?”
“In the store.”
“Why were you in the store?”
“I was buying something.”
Hooper reached into his back pocket and removed a small memo pad. I recognized it from the store; it was one of those tiny spiral-bound notebooks that fit in the palm of your hand. Zelinsky sold them near the cash register for twenty-five cents a pop. “I’m going to read what your friend Alf told me,” Hooper said. “Tell me if this is right: ‘Tyler said one of us had to be nice to Mary to get the code. Flirt with her, take her to the movies, make out with her. Tyler wanted Clark to do it, but Clark said no. He thought it was too mean. But Billy said he would do it. He said he would be nice to her. He said he would screw it out of her, if he had to.’?”
“I didn’t mean that,” I said.
“But you said it?” Hooper asked.
“We were all saying crazy stuff.”
“Did you flirt with her?”
“No.”
“Did you go to the movies?”
“Well, yeah . . . but that was her idea.”
“Did you kiss her?”
“Once,” I admitted.
“To get the code,” Hooper continued.
“No,” I said.
“Then why?”
I just stared at my knees. I didn’t know how to answer.
“Do you like this girl? You want to be her boyfriend?”
I thought of Mary shoving me away. The revulsion on her face when she said I like you as a friend. My humiliation was still fresh like an open wound. I’d never tell anyone about that night; it was a secret shame I’d carry all the way to the grave.
“No,” I said, like the idea was ridiculous.
“Then why’d you kiss her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Look, we get it,” Dante interrupted. “You were messing with the fat girl, am I right?” I didn’t deny it, so he kept going. “When I was in high school, there was this one girl—Big Alice, we called her. Enormous girl! Built like a buffalo. We used to put Milk-Bone dog biscuits in her locker. Not to be mean! We weren’t trying to hurt her feelings. We were doing it for everyone else, you understand? To be funny.”
His story didn’t seem funny to me—it seemed cruel—but I nodded anyway. Dante and Hooper had been so kind, it seemed rude to disagree.
“We’ve got to get this answer on the record,” Hooper explained. “I know these questions are embarrassing, but you’ve got to answer honestly. Do you have a crush on this girl?”
“No.”
“Are you attracted to her? Have you ever been attracted to her? Do you think she’s pretty?”
“No.”
“Be honest, Billy.”
“No.”
“Then why’d you kiss her?”
I couldn’t tell him the truth. I’d never tell anyone the truth. It was too embarrassing.
“I did it for the code,” I said. “I wanted to trick her into giving up the code.”
“Bingo,” Hooper said.
“But I didn’t want to trash the place. That was all Tyler and Rene.”
They had already stopped listening. Hooper pressed Stop on the cassette recorder and removed it from the table. Dante opened the door, and Hooper followed him out.
“Can I go soon?” I called after them. I guessed it was nearly dawn, and I wanted to get home before my mother ended her shift. I still thought that if I was quick enough, I could keep the whole story from her. “How much longer do I have to wait?”
Hooper turned back at me, and his entire demeanor had changed. He was no longer slouching, no longer teetering on the edge of sleep. His eyes were alert; suddenly he was all business. “That’ll be up to the judge,” he said. “We’re talking burglary, B and E, vandalism, destruction of property. I’m going to guess three months, but honestly? I hope it’s more.”