But Not For Lust by BJ Bourg (comprehension books .txt) 📕

“That’s bullshit!” Dillon spat the words. “He was a guilty piece of shit!”

“Guilty of what?” I pressed. “Putting dents in your wife’s car? That’s no reason to torture the man.”

Dillon appeared genuinely confused. “What?”

“Did you kill Ty because he dented your wife’s car?” I asked again.

“I don’t know anything about dents on my wife’s car.” He snarled. “No, what Ty did was much worse than that. The Bible says an eye for an eye, and that pervert got what was coming to him.”

“Pervert?” I tried to hide my shock at Ty being called a pervert. I’d never heard such an accusation levied against him. “That doesn’t sound like Ty.”

“Well, it is!”

“Okay, I’ll bite. What did he do?”

Dillon opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and then scowled. “I ain’t telling you shit.”

“Suit yourself.” I leaned back in the chair. It creaked under my weight. “You can keep your mouth shut all the way to the needle, but your reasoning doesn’t matter. We don’t have to prove motive—only intent. And when you beat a man about the head and shoulders with a tire thumper and then remove his genitals with the knife that Chief Wolf’s holding—the same one you used in an attempted murder of two police officers—there’s no doubt about your intentions.”

“What do you mean by a needle?”

“I mean you’re going to be sentenced to death,” I explained. “Since Louisiana uses lethal injection as a means of execution, then that’s how your life will come to an abrupt end—hopefully sooner rather than later. I’m sure Ty’s uncle will want to live long enough to watch you die for what you did to his family.”

“I ain’t getting the needle and I ain’t even going to prison.” He sneered. “What I did was justified!”

“Well, shit, if it was justified, I’ll have to take off those cuffs and let you go,” I said with a start. “So, why don’t I advise you of your rights and you tell us all about it?”

  CHAPTER 55

The nearest ambulance was at least thirty minutes away, and I knew we would have time to interrogate Dillon while waiting for it to arrive. I certainly didn’t want to wait and question him later. He was willing to talk now and I was going to take full advantage of it.

After I advised him of his Miranda rights and helped him to a chair, he cleared his throat and wet his lips.

“Well, I was supposed to work until this weekend, but I got pulled from the rig on Friday to do a land job. They told me I would be returned to the rig on Sunday night, so I decided to sleep at home for the weekend.” He suddenly scowled and glanced from Susan to me. “Wait a minute—this was a set-up, wasn’t it? They called me here to be arrested. They tricked me!”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss that issue,” I said matter-of-factly. “Get back to your story. You were supposed to work all weekend, and…”

He cleared his throat. “After I finished the job Friday evening, I drove home. It was late, so I expected to find Betty sound asleep. Only, she wasn’t home. Her car wasn’t there and she wasn’t inside. I wasn’t happy and I got suspicious, so I parked my truck on the next street and sat in the living room waiting for her.”

He shifted in his chair and winced in obvious pain. “Bitch!” he muttered, shooting a quick glance in Susan’s direction.

“What did you say?” I asked, leaning closer.

“I was just saying my hand hurts like a bitch,” he said quickly. “I think Gina Carano here broke all of my fingers.”

“You’re lucky you got your hand back,” I said with a smirk. “I’m betting you’ll think twice about trying to grab a woman by the throat again.”

When he didn’t respond, I encouraged him to continue talking. “I need to understand what you think Ty did to deserve such treatment.”

“I don’t think he did anything—I know it.” He stared at me with pain in his eyes. “Do you know what the worst thing was about that night?”

“What’s that?”

“That I doubted my wife.” Tears actually pooled in the large man’s eyes and began leaking down his face. “In my mind, I was accusing her of all kinds of evil. When she came through the door, I flipped the light switch on and was prepared to confront—to accuse—her of doing something bad. That’s when I realized she wasn’t wearing a bra and her shirt was ripped. There was also a welt across her face and her neck was red. I…I asked her what happened and she said she’d been raped by the crazy man who lived on her sister’s street. It was that guy named Ty. He…he hurt my wife.”

Dillon got choked up and began crying softly. I glanced at Susan and frowned. It suddenly made sense. The man had thought he was avenging his wife. I couldn’t much blame him, because I would’ve probably done the same thing if I thought that had happened to Susan. There was only one problem; the story he’d been told was a lie.

“Have you ever been arrested before?” I asked after a moment, already knowing the answer to the question.

He shook his head from side to side, but didn’t look up. “Never.”

“Have you ever hit your wife?”

“Hell no!” He looked up, his eyes wide with shock. “I would never!”

I nodded and stared at him for a long moment, measuring my words carefully. If he had gone to such extreme measures to defend his wife’s honor, he would not like my next question.

“Has Betty ever asked you to hit her?” I asked slowly. “During intercourse, that is?”

His expression turned to one of pure hate. “You wouldn’t ask that question if my hands were free and you