Guilt by Association

by Gilbert, Morris

  Candi flinched slightly, and a trace of bitterness crept into her tone as her low voice went on, “Yeah, I wish I didn’t know them so good!”

  Suddenly Dani felt the same helplessness she’d experienced when she’d talked to Frank Wilson. As she looked at Candi’s weary expression, she wanted to reach out and comfort her, but, What do I know about her kind of suffering? she asked herself. She’s no older than I am—but she’s been stripped of every precious thing a woman ought to have! How can I understand that kind of pain?

  The silence grew heavy, and finally with a desperate effort, Dani cleared her throat and said carefully, “Candi, have you ever been to church?”

  “Don’t talk to me about church!” Candi’s head went back, and her eyes glinted with anger. “You want to know who got me started living the way I do? It wasn’t some fast-talking, wild dude—it was a member in the church my folks went to!” She got up and ran toward the door, her slippers making a rapid tapping on the hard concrete.

  Dani sat there, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. Karen was there beside her. She had heard the harsh words of Candi and remarked quietly, “You can’t win them all, Dani.”

  “I can’t win any of them, it looks like.” Dani wiped her eyes quickly, then got up and went to her cot. She lay down, covered herself with the blankets, and waited for a morning she dreaded.

  “He’s coming out of it!”

  Karen bustled out the door and came over to where the others were eating lunch. Her face wore a slight smile, as if she’d won some sort of victory. “Dani, he knows you, so it might be better if you were there when he wakes up.”

  Dani tossed her ham sandwich on the table. As she hastened toward the door, Karen directed, “Don’t let him get up right away, and don’t be surprised if he acts peculiar.”

  “All right.” She passed into the women’s quarters. Ben was moving restlessly, and his eyelids fluttered. Sitting down on the chair beside him, she took his hand and said quietly, “Ben? Ben—can you hear me?”

  The eyelids blinked, opening wide, and she saw at once that they were far more alert than they had been the previous night. It was typical of him, she thought as she held his hand firmly, that he would stare at her steadily, concentrating on her features. She saw recognition come to him, and asked, “How do you feel?”

  He gave his shoulders a tentative shake, then looked around and licked his lips. “I’m okay,” he answered in a husky voice. She dropped his hand and poured him a glass of water.

  “Drink some of this—in little swallows.”

  He pulled himself into a sitting position, closing his eyes for a moment; when he was upright, he opened them and took the glass. He took a few sips, wet his lips, and studied her. A small smile touched his mouth, and he spoke in a clearer voice, “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

  His spirit lifted her own, and she smiled briefly, “Ben, I want to say something. Are you awake enough to understand me?” He nodded, and she blurted out, “I—I was wrong—about firing you.” Her cheeks burned, and she went on very rapidly, “As soon as I read your report, I knew what a fool I’d been. I went right to your room, but you were gone. I was going to find you . . ., but I got into this mess.” She swallowed and almost whispered, “Please, forgive me!”

  His dark eyebrows went up slightly, and he studied her thoughtfully. Then he shrugged. “Why, I didn’t think too much about it, Miss Ross.” Her words seemed to have caught him off guard, and he dropped his eyes, studying the glass in his hand as if he hoped to find some sort of explanation there. Finally he took another sip of the water, paused, and added, “I guess I’m so used to things fouling up, I just expect the worst. Guess that’s why I like machinery better than people. You can figure out what a machine will do.”

  “I know. When you told Dad about the air conditioner, you said, ‘Most mechanical things can be fixed.’”

  He stared at her and asked, “You ever forget anything? Have to be careful what I say around you.” He looked around the silo carefully. “Well, are we all alone in here?” She explained the situation, and he said, “Yeah, give me my pants and you can take me in to meet the folks.”

  Dani handed the slacks to him and turned her back as he put his feet on the floor. “Are you sure you feel strong enough?” She handed him his shirt, and while he put it on, knelt and guided his feet into his loafers. As she rose, he stood up swayed slightly, and nodded. “Sure.”

  Dani held onto his arm. As soon as they walked through the door into the rec room, Karen came toward them, looked carefully into Savage’s eyes, then smiled. “All clear,” she pronounced. “Come and sit down.”

  “This is Karen Sanderson,” Dani said. “Doctor Sanderson, I might add. Come along and meet everyone.”

  As soon as he was seated, Rachel brought a steaming cup with a spoon in it and put it before him. “Chicken soup,” she explained with a smile. “Guaranteed by my mother to cure anything that ails you.”

  Savage nodded, took the spoon, and sampled it. “Thanks.”

  Dani addressed them all: “This is Ben Savage. He’s on the staff of my father’s firm, Ross Investigation Agency.” Sid Valentine straightened his back at that, and Vince seemed to find that information interesting, for he gave Savage a hard look. Dani went around the circle, naming names, and Savage’s hazel eyes fastened on each face. She ended, “While Ben finishes eating, Karl, would you give him a rundown on this situation?”

  Holtz nodded and began to go over the details of the silo, pointing out the difficulties of escape but giving his view that the most pressing thing was to find out why they were there and who had abducted them.

  “I can tell you who—but not why,” Ben announced when Holtz finished. A murmur of surprise broke across the room.

  Dani asked instantly, “Did you run into him, trying to find me, Ben?”

  Savage reached up and touched the stitches on his forehead. Nodding and smiling slightly he corrected her, “I guess he ran into me, would be closer to the way it was.”

  “Who is it, Savage?” Vince burst out, and Holtz said, “Yes, what is his name?”

  “Maxwell Stone.” Ben’s words made little impression, and he nodded. “I never heard of him either, but he’s quite well-known in some circles.”

  “Did you talk to the maniac?” Alex Morrow demanded.

  “Never saw him.” Savage looked around and requested, “If I could have some milk. . . .” When Betty placed the glass in his hand, Ben took a long pull at the drink, then said, “It was like this. Miss Ross disappeared, and the law wasn’t making much headway. I’d gone to Florida, but Miss Ross’s father has connections down there. He got a message to me, so I flew back to look into it.

  “Her note said that she’d gone to Kenner, but the police found her car at another town, twenty miles away. I started snooping around, and after talking to half the population of Kenner, I found a kid who said he’d seen her car at the old airstrip. He also said he’d seen the aircraft that landed there.”

  He took another sip of milk, and a smile touched his lips as he added, “I’ve been a cop for a while, and one thing always goes: You never stumble onto a good lead; you dig it out a piece at a time, and usually it takes forever. But that kid lived right across from the strip, and he’d gone up to look at the plane. The guy flying it gave him a cussing and ran him off. But the boy took one thing with him.”

  “Let me guess,” Dani said. “Registration number 122454 on a blue Beechcraft.”

  “Got it the first time!” Ben exclaimed. “Well, that was it, really. Once I had that number, all I had to do was trace the plane. It was registered to Alpha Financial Corporation, located in Little Rock, Arkansas, and it turned out to be a front for Maxwell Stone. I never heard of him, but a friend in the FBI told me plenty. Stone’s a real right-wing political radical. Made a bundle in patent medicines years ago and invested it all pretty well, so now he’s got millions—maybe even billions.”

  “Wait a minute!” Alex
exclaimed. “I’ve read about him, I think. There was a news story, about two years ago, about paramilitary groups in this country. Most of them have gone back into the woods—and Stone was one of them.”

  “That’s your man.” Ben nodded. “My friend said they had several filing cabinets filled with information, but Stone’s clean. No violations.” The detective shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “Stone has what amounts to a private army in the Ozarks, up north in Arkansas. I guess he doesn’t have tanks yet, but any other weapons, you can bet he’s got—and a highly trained bunch of mercenaries who know how to use them.”

  “What does he want an army for?” Bix asked.

  “Who knows?” Ben shrugged. “A lot of guys like Stone sign up for the Rangers in the corps—or go fight in one of the hot little wars down south. A magazine or two caters to them, filled with stories about weapons, along with the latest news of a nice war where a Rambo type can get some action. But Stone has got the money to play soldier in a big-time way.”

  “I guess you rushed into that without bothering to wait for help?” Dani asked.

  “Well, I was a little impulsive.” Ben looked sheepish and shook his head. “I was just going to snoop around, but when I flew over Stone’s camp, I spotted a blue Beechcraft parked on the landing strip. So I landed at a little town forty miles away and sneaked back.” He shook his head again, saying sadly, “I’ve lost a step, I guess. Once I could have walked through the lines of Stone’s patrols with no problem, but they caught me.”

  “They treated you pretty rough,” Canelli spoke up.

  “Well, I had about five of them covered, but they called up reinforcements.”

  “Now that Dad knows all this—about Maxwell, I mean—he’ll raise the roof!” Dani’s eyes were bright, and optimism lifted her mood. Savage, however, said nothing, so she asked sharply, “Ben? You did tell him about all this?”

  “I was going to pin it all down first—but it didn’t work that way.”

  “And you had the agency card in your billfold.” Dani moaned. “So they knew you were looking for me!”

  “Oh, great!” Morrow groaned. “Just what we needed—a dumb cop to throw away the only chance we’ve had!”

  “Aw, lay off, Morrow!” Lonnie snapped. “The guy was tryin’!”

  “That’s enough talk, anyway,” Karen ordered firmly. She looked at Ben and said, “You can stay up for an hour, if you feel like it, but no more.” She would hear no argument, but took Ben’s arm, guided him to one of the upholstered chairs, and plumped him down on it. After she’d directed the men to put the couch in the men’s section, she stood guard for the hour.

  As they moved the couch, Ben asked Karen, “No extra bunks?”

  “Just the twelve. I guess you’re unexpected company.” She shook her head. “Sorry you got roped into this mess.” She shot an inquisitive look at him. “How much chance do we have, Ben? Of somebody finding us?”

  “Not much.” He shook his head. “Stone is smart, and I’ve made matters worse. He’ll shut all the doors now, and I guess the plane was his only slipup.”

  Karen said, “We’ll be all right. You must think a lot of Dani, to risk your life for her.”

  Savage’s lean face revealed little. He only commented, “I work for her.”

  At breakfast the next morning, Karen told Ben, “You look much better.”

  “Feel better.” Savage looked around and asked, “Is everybody always this tense at breakfast?” Most of the inmates seemed jumpy, and few were talking much.

  “No. We’re all a little keyed up this morning.” She told him about the ultimatum and admitted, “I guess we’re all hoping someone else will confess—but nobody will, of course. Who could know what that madman wants?” When Lonnie brought their food and Rachel followed with the coffee, they began to eat. But before they had finished, the loudspeaker blared loudly, “All of you will take your places!”

  Holtz whispered to Ben, “Maybe it would be better if Stone doesn’t realize we know his identity.”

  “He settled that when he put me in here. I know him, and he’ll know I’d tell you.”

  That proved accurate, for as soon as they moved in front of the camera, Stone said, “Mr. Savage is with us, I see. I trust you are not feeling too bad after your—ah, encounter with my security force?”

  “Just peachy,” Ben answered evenly. “How’s the tall guy with no front teeth?”

  After a momentary break, Stone replied, “He is being taken care of.” Then his voice grew stronger, and he entoned, “I will now hear the confession of anyone who has the wisdom to make one.”

  No one moved. Alex coughed abruptly, but otherwise everyone was very quiet.

  “Very well, if we cannot do it one way, we will do it another.” Stone said. “Eileen Patterson, come to the front of the group!”

  They all looked around, and Holtz said in a puzzled tone, “Eileen Patterson? There is no one here by that name.”

  Dani had heard a small gasp to her right. She turned to see that Candi’s face was pale and her lips were trembling. Dani said quietly, “You don’t have to say anything, Candi—”

  But Candi bit her lower lip, then threw her shoulders back and spoke loudly, “That’s my real name! What about it?” She took several steps forward and defiantly stared up at the blank eye of the camera. “Why don’t you come out like a man, from wherever you are? Are you scared?”

  “Give Miss Patterson a chair,” Stone commanded. “This may take some time.” Sid moved to get a chair, and Candi sat down at once, as though her legs had given way. Beneath her heavy makeup lay a dead pallor, and Dani whispered to Karen, “She can’t take much of this!”

  What followed sickened Dani and the others. Stone began, “All you have to do is confess to the crime you know you are here for.”

  “What crime?” Candi cried. “I ain’t done nothing!”

  “What about the night of June the twenty-sixth, two years ago?” Stone asked. “You were arrested, tried, and found guilty on charges of prostitution, according to the record.”

  “I—I was framed for that!” Candi said. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and began twisting it. “I was an actress in a show, and they pulled us all in—”

  “An actress, you say? Then give us a few lines, say, from Romeo and Juliet.” He paused, but Candi could only look down helplessly. “While you try to recall a few lines for Romeo, I have here a list of similar charges,” Stone droned on. “Sixteen, to be exact. You cannot expect me to believe you were framed for all of them?” Stone waited, but Candi could not answer. “And you did serve a year at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, on the charge of selling a controlled substance. Is that correct?”

  “Yes! But that’s got nothing to do with you!”

  “And several years ago, you were found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, I understand?”

  “I—was just fifteen,” Candi whispered, and the tears of anger and shame rolled down her cheeks, making rivulets in her makeup. “Two guys caught me on my way home. They dragged me into this alley, and I—tried to get away. One of them held a knife to my throat—said he’d kill me—I grabbed his hand, and while we were fightin’, he got cut in the face! The law came, and he said I’d cut him with it—that it was my knife!” She began to sob, until Dani could barely hear her words. “And they sent me to reform school—”

  Stone ignored her sobs. He went over every sordid detail of a hard life, and by the time Karen stepped forward and exclaimed, “That’s enough!” Candi was in hysterics. Karen took her arm, saying quietly, “Come on, Candi.” She led the woman away, without a backward look.

  Stone said at once, “Eileen Patterson was not brought here as a result of any of the things I have brought out. It was my hope that she would realize that there is nothing that can deliver her from this place except the truth.” His voice began to rise to an oratorical pitch; he spoke rapidly and even eloquently about liberty and the price that must be paid to keep it.<
br />
  He ranted on for ten minutes about the men who fought for America, then added, “This country must survive, and it will! Unlike Alexander, who grieved because he had no new worlds to conquer, this nation of ours had a destiny! And it will not stop until we are the most powerful nation on the planet!”

  “Stone!” Karl Holtz cried out loudly, “I have heard all this before—back in 1939. It was Adolf Hitler telling Germany we had the right to Lebensraum, to conquer other nations who stood in our shadow. Germany was going to rule the world. That Third Reich was to last a thousand years; where is it now? I need no new mad tyrant!”

  Suddenly Stone’s voice grew almost hysterical, as he screamed, “You are guilty, Holtz! You are all guilty. Guilty as Judas! All of you!”

  He paused abruptly, and when Stone spoke again, his voice was calmer, but no less deadly. “I will give you twenty-four hours. If you do not confess, judgment will fall. Twenty-four hours!”

  The speaker went dead, and once again silence blanketed the silo. Finally Rachel Gold stared at Holtz and said, “How do you like it, Commander? How does it feel to have a big Nazi type jam you in a concentration camp?” She laughed bitterly, and her voice crackled with anger as she said, “It’s almost worth dying for—to see you suffer as you made the Jews suffer at Buchenwald!”

  “Well, I don’t think it’s worth dying for!” Vince announced bitterly. “Nothing is worth dying for!”

  “There had better be something worth that, Vince,” Betty Orr said in a voice that wasn’t quite steady. “Because, unless I miss my guess, dying is what that man has on his mind!”

  7

  “It’s Never Too Late!”

  * * *

  Hey, Rachel, when we get out of this tin can, why can’t you and me party together?”

  Rachel looked up from the sink, where she was scrubbing the grease out of the big frying pan, and gave Bix a scornful look. “I can’t think of anything that would give me less pleasure,” she answered, grunting as the ironlike clusters of dried fat resisted her efforts. “We have absolutely nothing in common.”