Even the Wicked

by Lawrence Block

Page 32

 

  "I was wondering about that," I said. "It seems to me it shouldnt be much of a trick to prove that the new letter was typed on a different machine. "

  "Well, sure," he said. "If it was typed. "

  "If it wasnt," I said, "hes got a funny kind of handwriting. "

  "I mean typed on a typewriter, which it wasnt, and neither were any of the earlier letters. They were done on a computer and printed on a laser printer. "

  "Cant they identify the computer and the printer forensically?"

  He shook his head. "With a typewriter the keysll be worn differently, and this onell be out of alignment, or the E and Osll be filled in. Or the typeface is different. A typewriters like a fingerprint, no two alike. "

  "And a computer?"

  "With a computer you can choose a different typeface every time, you can make the type larger or smaller by touching this key or that one. You see how the signatures in script? You get that by switching to a script font. "

  "So you cant tell if two letters came out of the same computer?"

  "Im not a hundred percent in the loop on this," he said, "but theres a certain amount you can tell. With Wills letters, the ones from Will Number One, they think there was more than one printer involved. "

  He went on to tell me more than I could take in, about ways in which you could compose a letter on one computer, copy it on a disk, and then print it out through another computer and printer. I didnt listen too closely, and eventually I held up a hand to stop him.

  "Please," I said. "Im sick to death of computers. I cant have a conversation with TJ without hearing how wonderful they are. I dont care about the typeface or the paper, or if he composed it on the East Side and printed it out on the West Side. I dont even care about the writing style. Whats so different it jumps off the page at you is what hes saying. "

  "How do you mean?"

  "His list. "

  "The original Will wrote open letters to the vies," he said. "This one writes to McGraw. Plus he lists three at once. "

  "Uh-huh. And look whos on the list. "

  "Peter Tully, Marvin Rome, and Regis Kilbourne. "

  "Adrian picked people society couldnt come to terms with. A child killer who got away with it. A Mafia don who got away with everything. A right-to-lifer whod incited homicide and remained untouchable. A racist firebrand who, like the rest of them, had found a way around the system. "

  "And a defense attorney. "

  "Adrian didnt really belong on the list, did he? That should have been grounds for suspecting him in and of itself. Leave him out, though, and youve got four people who could certainly be viewed as public enemies out of the laws reach. You could argue that the small-W will of the people might very well be what big-W Will was carrying out. "

  "And the new list?"

  "A labor leader, a judge, and a critic. Theyre right up there with Jack the Ripper and Attila the Hun, wouldnt you say?"

  "Oh, I dont know," he said. He knocked back the rest of his martini, caught the bartenders eye and pointed to his glass. "I could probably think of a few people who might not break down crying if Send-em-home Rome went to that great courtroom in the sky. The son of a bitch has made a career out of never giving a police officer the benefit of the doubt. He sets minimum bail or releases on own recognizance all the damn time, dismisses cases right and left. "

  "Hes a judge," I said, "and the people voted him into office, and they could vote him out if they really wanted to. And one of these days they probably will. "

  "Not soon enough. "

  "What about Peter Tully?"

  "Well, hes an arrogant prick," he said. "Whats Will have to say about him? You hold an entire city hostage to your lust for power as you threaten to thrust a wrench into the machinery of urban transit. You know, maybe Will Number Two isnt such a great mimic after all. I cant see Number One coming up with a sentence like that. "

  "Listen to his bill of goods against Regis Kilbourne. Your power over the Broadway stage is near absolute, and it has absolutely corrupted you. Drunk with it, you unfailingly choose form over content, style over substance, promoting the willfully obscure at the expense of the well-made drama with a story to tell. Theres more about how hell criticize an actor for being physically unattractive, and how unfair it all is. "

  He thought about it while the girl brought his drink. "Its not just the exotic aspect," he said once she was out of hearing range. "Its also she happens to be gorgeous. "

  "You and Regis Kilbourne," I said, "placing an undue premium on physical appeal. "

  "Were both a couple of superficial bastards," he agreed. "Who the hell would want to kill a critic?"

  "Anybody who ever wrote a play or appeared in one," I said, "which in this town would have to include half the waiters and a third of the bartenders. But theyd like to kill him the way youd welcome a shot at Judge Send-em-home Rome. You might relish the fantasy, and it might not break your heart if a piece of the cornice broke off a tall building and took him out when it landed. But you wouldnt actually want to kill him. "

  "No, and I probably wouldnt jump for joy if somebody else did, either. Its not good for the system when people start taking out judges. "

  "Or critics," I said, "or labor leaders, either. You know the difference between the two Wills? The first one objected to the invulnerability of his targets, the way theyd managed to subvert the system. But these three dont have that kind of invulnerability. Marvin Romes not going to be riding the bench forever. The votersll probably boot him next time he comes up for reelection. "

  "Lets hope so. "

  "And Peter Tully can shut down the city, but the governor can return the favor. Under the Taylor Law, he can lock up anybody who orders a work stoppage by public employees. Kilbournes probably got a job for life at the Times, but hes likely to rotate off the theater desk sooner or later, like the man before him. These three are by no means invulnerable, and thats not whats got the new Wills motor running. What he resents is the power of the men on his list. "

  "Power, huh?"

  "Tully can throw a switch and plunge the city into immobility. Rome can unlock the cell doors and put criminals back on the street. "

  "And Regis Kilbourne can tell an actress her nose is too big and her tits are too small and send her running in tears to the nearest plastic surgeon. If you call that power. "

  "He can pretty much decide which shows stay open and which ones close. "

  "Hes got that much clout?"

  "Just about. Its not him personally, its the position he holds. Whoever reviews plays for the Times has influence that comes with the territory. A bad notice from him wont guarantee a shows dead, and a rave wont necessarily keep one open if everybody else hates it. But thats usually what happens. "

  "Which means hes the man. "

  "Yes. "

  "What man? The man with the power. Remember that?"

  "Vaguely. "

  " What power? The power of voodoo. "

  "It comes back to me now. "

  " Who do? You do. They dont write em like that anymore, Matt. "

  "No, and I can see why. He must feel powerless himself, dont you figure?"

  "Who, the man with the power?"

  "The man who wrote this. "

  "Lets see. " He held the letter, scanned it. "Powerless, huh?"

  "Dont you think so?"

  "I dont know," he said. "I suppose thats what the Feebies would say if they did a profile of him. He resents the power others have over him and seeks to redress the balance by threatening their lives. Plus he wet the bed when he was a kid. "

  "Funny how they always tell you that. "

  "Like its going to help you find the son of a bitch. Hey, the FBI says our guy used to wet the bed, so I want you guys out on the street looking for a grown-up little pisspot. Useful bit of knowledge when youre mounting a manhunt, but they always toss it in. "

  "I know. "

  "Along with the information that he came from a dysfunc
tional family. Jesus, thats helpful, isnt it? A dysfunctional family, holy shit, whoever heard of such a thing?"

  "If you came from a dysfunctional family," I said solemnly, "youd wet the bed, too. "

  "And probably kill a few people while I was at it. Its all part of the package. " He frowned at the letter. "Powerless and resenting the power of others. Yeah, I suppose so. Its a hard theory to argue with. But you know what he reminds me of, Will Number Two?"

  "What?"

  "A list of pet peeves like youd write up for the high school yearbook. What really pisses me off is insincere people, snap quizzes in algebra class, and lumpy mashed potatoes. "

  "Well, who likes lumpy mashed potatoes?"

  "Not me. They make me want to kill the pope. But isnt that how it reads? Heres a list of the people who really piss me off. "

  "Youre right. "

  "I am, arent I?" He pushed his stool back. "The son of a bitch doesnt sound like a homicidal maniac. He just sounds like a nut with a hair up his ass. "

  18

  The next couple of days were a three-ring circus for the media. Marty McGraw broke the story of the new letter from Will, with "WILLS BAAAAACK!" on his newspapers front page. Reporters hurried around town interviewing his three prospective victims, each of whom seemed to take the distinction more as an insult than a threat.

  Peter Tully chose to see Will not as a personal foe but as an enemy of organized labor as a whole. He issued a statement linking the anonymous letter writer with the repressive anti-union forces as exemplified by the mayor and the governor. There was a wonderful cadence of old-fashioned lefty rhetoric to his words. You could almost hear the Almanac Singers in the background, harmonizing on "Union Maid" and "Miners Lifeguard," songs to fan the flames of discontent.

  Judge Marvin Rome managed to view Wills attack as an assault on civil liberties and the rights of the accused. The one time I saw him on the news, he was linking Will with prosecutors and police officers who were willing to call an end run around the Bill of Rights in order to railroad a defendant-"invariably poor, and all too often black"-into a prison cell. Wills threat, he assured the public, would no more lead him to compromise his principles than had the vilification hed received over the years from DAs and cops and their lackeys in the press. He would go on dispensing true justice and tempering it with mercy.

  Regis Kilbourne turned the whole thing into a free-speech issue, lamenting a world in which a critic might feel constrained in any way from the free expression of his views. He went on to say the worst constraints came not from government censorship or his newspapers editorial policy, but from "those very aspects of oneself one tends to regard as emblematic of ones better nature. " Friendship, compassion, and a sense of fair play seemed to be the worst offenders, tempting one to give a kinder, gentler review than the material might otherwise deserve. "If I have dared to inflict pain, to destroy a cherished relationship, to crush a perhaps promising career, all for the sake of a higher truth, can simple physical fear possibly sway me from my course? Indeed, it cannot and it will not. "