Page 40 of Unknown

Cora sneered inwardly at that blatant lie. She believed Gabe’s version, not his. But she knew that some subterfuge was needed to get the answers she hoped for.

"Beating up on your girl is bad," Cora threatened. "But maybe you didn’t do it. Maybe you weren’t with her for long?”

Perhaps this way she could get him to reveal his whereabouts, and that he would have been able to commit these crimes.

But Donnie hesitated, looking confused, a frown creasing his forehead.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked. “You just looking to get me into trouble? I don’t understand why you need to know this. You trying to prove I wasn’t where I was supposed to be?”

Cora sighed. Better to be more direct.

“Were you here all night? Did you leave before the murder at the base?”

What would he make of that shock statement, she wondered. Sure enough, he looked horrified.

“What?” he spluttered.

"You don't know about it?" Cora said. She was going to go with the default attitude of not believing a word he said. This guy would clearly do whatever it took to save himself.

"You must know!" Gabe's deep voice threatened from behind Donnie. "It would have happened before you sneaked out to see your girl. Or rather, to start fighting with her."

"Impossible!" Donnie was breathing hard. "I got here, to Pauline’s place, at eleven last night."

And then, he looked horrified by what he'd said, as if in his efforts to provide himself with an alibi, he'd ended up admitting to being off base when he should have been on duty.

Cora got that, instantly.

"So you skipped your shift? But that doesn't mean you were off base. It could just mean you got someone to cover for you while you were beating up and murdering another man."

Now, Donnie looked appalled. "No, no, you don't understand!"

"I think I do," Cora said. She was enjoying having him at gunpoint. No matter how mad he got, or how horrified, he was rooted to the spot. It was nice to feel a sense of power over a brutal bully.

"You're involved in this, aren't you? Tell us everything you know. Who else is involved? Who's behind these murders?" Gabe growled.

Donnie looked like he was about to bolt, but Cora kept her gun steady, unflinching.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell us what we need to know," she said.

Donnie's head moved around, as he searched for a way out. But he was cornered, with no way to escape.

"I swear, I don't know anything about the murders. I didn't kill anyone!" he protested. "Last night I was supposed to be out on a delivery. I did get my partner to cover for me but that was because I was here. I took the car here last night. I spent the night with my girl. It was her fault we argued this morning," he said, now sounding sorry for himself in a very unlikable way.

"But you're one of the hazers. Did you know these victims? Who did they bully? Who else wanted to stop them?"

Donnie shifted from foot to foot. "I do my part in making sure the new guys get tested. But I don't know what you're talking about. We don't work on the bullies. Why would we do that? They’re doing our job for us, rooting out the ones who aren’t going to make the cut. We work on the weak ones. I didn't have anything to do with those murders, but what I can tell you is that those victims were all weak. They reported other people for bullying; they were snitches.”

“You sure about that?” Cora asked.

“Of course I’m sure. You think I’m stupid? I know what goes on. Maybe someone got mad about that. Maybe someone didn't want weak people on the base or in the Army. None of them were bullies themselves. And none of them were cutting it. The thing is that when we take them out and give them a hard time at night, it does two things. Either they get stronger and toughen up, or they leave. We don’t break them. We don’t beat them badly. We don’t need to do that."

His voice was disparaging, but there was conviction in his words that surprised Cora.

Had he ducked out of base last night to come here? Assessing the evidence more closely, she found she could believe this, because now that she looked at the Jeep's windows, she saw they were misted up and iced over as if it had been standing here through the night.

If he'd been here, then he wasn't the killer, but he'd just given them a very important insight.

The killer was not targeting bullies. The killer, as a hazer taking things too far, was targeting the weaker recruits and soldiers on the base. Now, they knew for sure what kind of people the victims had been. They’d tried to stop the bullying, but someone had killed them.

---