A Long December (30 page)

“Just what was it that this Hassan was supposed to be doing? “asked Hester.

“He did not tell me, so much as I figure it out.” That’s how Skripkin began, but I thought he’d figured it out very well, indeed.

First, he said that Hassan was supposed to do some “contamination” in the meat plant. Skripkin had thought, originally, it was to “make the meat bad,” and to force a recall.

“Why did he want to do that?”

“To hurt the jews who run the plant,” he said. “This is what I think. This is the…impression I get. From him. He tells he hates Jews. I figure it out.”

He said then that as time passed, and things happened, he began to think that something more was being planned.

“You know, of course, that Linda, she and I are lovers.” It was a statement, not a question.

“When did that start?” asked Hester.

“From the moment she sees my eyes,” he said, with a completely straight face. “We start to be with the other that same time, only one day after we meet.”

That surprised me, but considering where Harry said he’d found them, it did fit.

“You started bagging her the day after you met her, then? “I asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, okay,” I said. “So you’re sleeping with Linda almost right away, then?”

“We never sleep together until last night.” He smiled in a friendly way. “That is how we find ourself caught. Never sleep together, just screw together. Hard to catch you.”

I imagined Harry was rolling on the floor by now. I tossed one in for the audience when I said, “I’ll make a note of that.”

“So, then what happened?” Hester brought us back into line.

As it happened, Linda, at some point, had told Skripkin that Rudy was getting worried about just what was up, and that Hassan and company were asking him to do something he objected to.

“Why didn’t he just walk away? “asked Hester.

“Agent lady,” said Skripkin, “Rudy had been bought like me. They had…hired him, out of Colombia, to do a job for them, and he had agreed to do it. This man who was boss of Hassan? He was, too, boss of Rudy, but Hassan was boss of Rudy too. Same man. Do you understand? Very important man.”

“Okay,” I said. “So you have this boss, and under him you have Hassan, and under him you have Rudy, right?”

“Absolutely correct,” he said.

“So…?”

“Rudy got very mad because Hassan and me, we also…ah, recruit…the Orejas man who is friend of Rudy. Rudy cannot get to the right place in the processing line, okay, to put the stuff on the meats. Rudy said he would not take a—what do I want to say—lesser job to do that. You know many Colombians? No? They are that way. I do not know. But Rudy was higher than the meat carrier, and he also said that there would be suspicion if he asks for a lesser duty. So, then, we do not ask Rudy, we ask Orejas. Orejas carries meat into trucks, and is very often having privacy for a several seconds as he is in the truck. He is in right place to do this deed.”

Ah-ha. “Just what deed?”

“He was to use this substance, this white stuff, and…what is this word…place it on, like butter you place on bread. Only this it was on the meat. Spread! That is it, spread. At first.”

“At first?”

“Yes. We do experiment for spread, we see it cannot be done…well…with a plastic bag and a rubber spreading tool. Hassan telephones his boss, and a few days later, the ups,” he said, pretty clearly meaning United Parcel Service, “they deliver a very nice package, and in the package we have cans that spray.”

“No shit?” I said.

“No shit, yes. And we give cans to Orejas, and Rudy gets very mad.”

“Why was he so mad? “asked Hester. “Orejas worked for him, didn’t he?”

“Rudy says that when this Orejas was very small, he gets very bad injured in his head. Orejas is made to be very easy to persuade. Rudy takes care to see Orejas stays out of trouble from that day. Rudy says that Orejas, he is ‘too fucking dumb to know if he wants to do it or not,’ and Hassan should leave Orejas alone.” Skripkin shrugged. “I know for a fact that Orejas, he is not smart. He does it because Hassan tells him that it will help Rudy. I was there.”

“Okay…”

“Then Rudy finds out that Orejas is supposed to use a mask and gloves, and he gets a lot worried. He says that Orejas cannot do things like that the right way.”

“Just a second,” I said. “Orejas just wasn’t quick enough to follow the procedures?”

“That is correct. Rudy is very mad, and Rudy is making talk like he is going to tell Orejas to stop. So we take Rudy to the old farm, and we have talk with him.”

“Who’s we?” I asked.

“That would be me, and Hassan, and the one they call Chato, and Rudy.”

“Chato? “Another unknown.

“Yes. Chato, he was the driver. He works at the plant, he knows Rudy and Orejas, and everybody there.”

Hester and I exchanged glances.

“You know his real name?” asked Hester.

“I do not, lady agent. I swear.” And he gave her another wink.

“So, what happened? First, why did you pick the old Dodd place? “I asked.

“What is this ‘old Dodd place’? I do not know it.”

“Sorry. The old farm where you took Rudy.”

“Ah. Dodd? That is funny name, Dodd. We take Rudy there because we know where it is. We go there sometimes, to do private meeting and talk about plan. Hassan, he is very worried that FBI listens in at walls of apartment.”

“How did you ever find that place? “I asked.

“I do not know this. This Rudy would know.”

“Okay. But you’d been there before?”

“Oh yes,” said Skripkin. “Four, five times.”

“Okay. So, when you got to the farm, what happened?”

“I am sorry to say that Rudy knows by then about Linda and me. He is very angry at that. Hassan is very angry. He is angry at Rudy, and he is angry at me. We start to beat up Rudy a bit, you know. To make him to listen. But my heart is not in my work, because I feel bad about Linda. Hassan gets mad at me again, too. I tie Rudy’s wrists, and Hassan hits him many times. Rudy falls down and starts to kick Hassan. It was very bad.”

“Why was Hassan so mad? “asked Hester. “Did Rudy talk to Orejas and tell him to stop?”

“No. Rudy came to us first, I think. Me and Hassan. He never had a chance to talk to Orejas about it after that.”

“So why was he so mad at Rudy?”

“Because, Rudy, if he go to Orejas and tell him to stop, the experiment cannot be done, and the boss of Hassan will get very angry at Hassan.”

“So Hassan pisses off his boss…so what?”

“Boss of Hassan is very bad man. Very bad. Very important in many places. Hassan would be killed in a slow way and the way will be full of meaning to others.”

“So,” I asked, “just how did Rudy find out that Orejas was involved in the first place? Do you know? “It wasn’t adding up.

Skripkin lowered his eyes. “I am afraid that I tell Linda after we are making love. She likes Orejas, he is like a little pet to her. So she tells Rudy. But she tells him
everything
, you know? About me, about screwing, about all these things.” He looked up again. “Women I do not understand very well. I think very hard that if Rudy did not have so much on his mind, he might not have done what he did.”

“Good bet,” I said. “Okay, now, back to you four at the farm. Rudy was kicking Hassan. What happens next?”

“Yes. Sure. So, after Hassan is kicked by Rudy, Hassan gets very, very angry. He says, ‘Okay you motherfucker, we will see how you talk to the boss.’ He says it just that way. You understand, they are speaking Spanish to each other most of the time, okay? I don’t understand Spanish. So I don’t know all that is said. But when he wants me to know, he speaks English. You understand he is not Arab person. He is Mexican kind of person. He calls himself Hassan because he says he has come to that religion. You see?”

“I think so,” I said.

“Good. Do not forget this, that Hassan is not Arab. So he tells me and Chato in English to put Rudy in the car, in the back, and he has me in the back, too, because I am so big to Rudy. Hassan and Chato, they are in front. Chato is our driver. Hassan gets the shotgun that is in the…back. No, trunk, in trunk, and has it in now with him. He tells Chato to go to Iowa City.”

“Iowa City?”

“That is where we can meet the boss.”

“And that would be…?” asked Hester.

“Pardon, lady agent?”

“What’s the name of the person you refer to as ‘the boss’?”

“I tell you before. This is something I do not know.” He gave her an intense look. “You must believe me, lady agent.”

“I’ll try,” said Hester, dryly.

“Okay,” I said. “Then what?”

“I am feeling badly about things, and not looking at anything but Rudy, but Hassan is starting to really talk loudly at Chato about going the wrong way. So Chato, he stops in a hurry, and starts to back up, and when he does this, Rudy opens the car door and he just falls backwards out of the car, and he gets away.”

We questioned him more closely, and established that he was on the left side in the rear of the car, and that Rudy was on the right side. As Chato started to try to turn the car around on the narrow, sixteen-foot gravel road, he pulled toward the left and stopped very close to the ditch on that side. Most of that was explained with hand motions, and I was very glad we were on video. When they were stopped for a second while Chato shifted into reverse, Rudy got out the back door on the right. Skripkin figured that Rudy’s hands, being bound behind his back, had been near the door latch, and that he had grabbed it when Chato braked hard. At that point, Skripkin was trying to get out on the left side and go after Rudy, but Chato apparently didn’t realize that Rudy had gone out of the car, and started to back up. That also slowed Hassan’s exiting down, and actually knocked him over when his open car door pushed him to the ground. It also made him even madder. Skripkin said that they both were delayed for a second or two, and that Rudy disappeared around the curve. He also said that for a moment, he thought Hassan might shoot Chato for being so stupid.

It had a ring of truth. It seemed to have been the sort of total screw-up that was typical in most crimes.

“So, then what happened?” I asked.

“We were running up this road after him,” said Skripkin, “and Hassan was in front of me, and then Rudy falls to the ground. And Hassan catches him and so do I, and Hassan is very, very angry. He yells at Rudy, and Rudy, he begins to cry. I do not know what was said, but I think it occurs to Rudy that life is over. And Hassan, he calls him a motherfucker again, and then he just shoots him in the back of the head, while he is kneeling on the ground. Bang. Just like that. Very quick.”

“Just the three of you, and then just the two of you, right?” I asked. I wanted to know if they’d seen old Jacob there.

He grinned. “Good way to say it. Yes. Three, then bang, then two.”

He never mentioned seeing anyone else, so I guess Jacob Heinman had been right with his theory about the cat and the mouse.

“I was not expecting the shooting,” said Skripkin. “I was taken by surprise. I said, ‘What do we do now?’ because we had a body to get rid of. And Hassan says, ‘We leave now,’ and I did not think it wise to argue as I did not have a gun.”

“So you just took off, and left the body on the road? “asked Hester.

“Sure.”

“And you thought you should, what, take it with you?”

“If we take it back to the farm, nobody would ever see it again,” he said. “Nobody would know Rudy was dead. Leaving it on the road is stupid mistake. I search for word…ah, no money for work…Olympics say this.”

“Amateur? “I asked. It sure fit what I was thinking.

“Yes! Amateur is a good word for it.”

“That sounds right,” I said. “But I think you’re pretty damned lucky.”

“Why is that?”

“If Hassan hadn’t left the body in the road, you and Chato would have been the only other persons who would have known where it was. I got a feeling that you’re both pretty damned lucky you didn’t help him hide it, because I think he would have shot you, too.”

He thought about that. “Probably.”

“Maybe not so amateur all the time,” I said. “Okay, now, why…”

“I have question,” said Skripkin. “Can I ask?”

“Sure. Ask away.”

“This immunity that Linda is doing. Am I included? She said I was to be included.”

It was time to set that straight. “No. As far as we know, your name has never been mentioned.”

“I see.” He shook his head sadly. “Women. They tell you anything to get you to love them.” He tapped his fingers on the tabletop. “So, I can be taken to trial?”

“Yes. You can be charged, and I intend to do that.”

“So, good as it gets,” he said.

“Pardon me?”

“I got to be in jail. Somewhere. I know this. I am in jail here or I am in jail in Russia. I will take here. Much better places in U.S.A.”

I thought that might depend on which definition of “better” was being used, but didn’t say anything.

The more I thought about it, the more something wasn’t quite right about Skripkin’s information regarding the boss, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I made a quick note, just a question mark and the word “boss.” I’d go back there later.

“Okay, now,” I said. “Just why was all this stuff being done? The substance on the meat, I mean. What was it intended to do?”

“It was intended to kill Jews,” he said. “Of course.”

AFTER THE SHADOWY FIGURE YELLED AT US
, it got very quiet for what seemed a very long time.

When we looked back, later, and tried to piece together the moment when everything went to shit, we decided it was about now, when George’s, Hester’s, and my cell phones all rang at the same time.

There was a moment’s confusion, because nobody was really sure just whose phone was ringing.

Sally helped Hester with hers, while George and I tried to talk, understand the messages, and keep lookout at the same time.

“Yeah,” I said, after fishing mine out of my pocket.

“Carl,” said Lamar, “call the office. They just got a 911 call from somebody they think is up there at the shed area west of you. Caller says he has something to negotiate.”