Page 100 of Everything She Feared

Magda’s lawyer advised her to accept the terms. The deal was signed by all parties and approved by the court.

When Magda left the small interview room for the last time, she shot a glance up at the camera in what Ryan thought was a smirk.

Now, in the video Ryan watched, the door opened to the room where Herman and his lawyer were seated. FBI Special Agents Joe Avelar and Erin West entered.

After a perfunctory round of introductions, Heinrich Butler started complaining. “Why keep my client in custody all this time? So you can prolong the process? You’re infringing on his rights.”

“No, we’re not, Mr. Butler,” Avelar said. “My colleague will update you.”

“Herman, we’ve spoken at length with Magda,” West said. “She told us everything.”

Herman glanced to Butler, then at the agents.

“What do you mean?” Herman asked.

West placed photographs of the victims on the table, then photos of the items found at Herman and Magda’s residence.

“She told us everything you did,” West said.

Herman swallowed.

“We got those things at flea markets,” Herman said. “One in Billings, one in Miles City. Are they stolen? That’s what I was afraid of. You need to check those places, investigate the vendors, because—”

“Herman,” West said. “You need to listen to something.”

West took out a microcassette recorder, set it on the table and played a long excerpt of Magda speaking to them.

“...he’s a trucker, he grew up in the northwest. Herman knows every back road, logging, mining road, pioneer trail in the region. He’d take us out to remote, isolated areas he selected and then dig graves to use later...”

Herman’s face whitened as it played.

“...he had these scary beliefs, that he haddominion over lower life formsandevery creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Sometimes at night he’d lie on the ground and stare up at the stars. I think it exaggerated his sense of self-importance, because he started embracing these strange ideas about how he was superior to all others, that he should rule over who lives and who dies, because he feels nothing wrong about a necessary death. I think that’s why, when we met, he insisted I sneak him into the slaughterhouse where I worked...so he could watch death...”

Butler scribbled notes quickly on a legal pad.

“...Herman started talking about how a day of deliverance was nearing, and how people who stood in the way of foretold events had to be removed. He’d take action according to dates, numbers, weird formulas and things he’d calculated, then we’d go out to find potential victims...”

Herman clenched his jaw as he listened.

“...it was his idea to use Hayley to lure people to stop—no one would feel threatened by a woman with a toddler needing help on a lonely stretch of road—and he’d lie in wait and kill whoever stopped...”

“What would happen after that?” West asked Magda.

“Herman would load the bodies into their vehicle, drive it to a selected, prepared site, miles and miles away, with me following with Hayley. I’d help him bury the bodies in a pre-dug grave. Later he’d hide their vehicles, alter the VINs, then sell them to his friends in trucker world. He told me they’d transport them to resell in Central and South America.”

“Why didn’t you stop or report him?”

“I was terrified. Herman beat me all the time.”

“Did you make a criminal complaint?”

“No, I was frightened. With my lawyer’s help, I’ll be making one now.”

“Alright, continue,” West said.

“Herman hit me all the time and said if I didn’t do what he said, he’d put me and Hayley in one of those graves. Yes, I participated in the murders, but I had no choice.”

West switched off the recorder.

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