Guilt by Association

by Gilbert, Morris

  “Stone,” she said, “We have another of your victims—which will come as no surprise to you.”

  Stone answered instantly, “I did not know of such a thing.”

  “We have no time for you just now,” Dani commented. “We’ll have a service for our friend. I invite you to join us.”

  There was a strong irony in her voice, but Dani had long ago learned that the man had no sense of humor. She went to stand beside Candi’s body. Pulling the blanket back gently, she looked at the still face, then turned and said, “Candi had a bad life. You all know how little happiness was in it. And you know, as well, that if she had not come to this place, there would have been even less joy in the rest of her life. But something happened to Candi—something beautiful in a dreadful place. It is much like an incident related in Luke’s gospel, the seventh chapter: ‘And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. And stood at his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.”

  Dani looked down again at Candi’s face now eloquently peaceful, and said, “Candi found this passage. She brought her Bible to me and pointed it out, and she said, ‘Dani! That’s like me!’ And she was right, for Jesus did for her the same as He did for the woman in the story—” She read again from the Bible: “‘And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. . . . Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.’

  “I’m grieved that Candi will never have the new earthly life she so wanted to live. But I am filled with joy, for I know she has done exactly what that woman who washed the feet of Jesus did—she has gone in peace!”

  Dani read a few more Scriptures and said a prayer; then the men put the body in a box, and as before, all of them felt the strange sensation.

  “Which of us’ll be next?” Sid whispered under his breath.

  Stone waited until the winch ground to a halt, and they all watched as the rectangle of light appeared as the basket cleared the opening. When the lid slammed in place with a clanging noise, he said, “‘This fell sergeant, death, is strict in his arrest.’ We all must die, and for one in the bloom of youth to be struck down is doubly painful.”

  “You like quotations, Stone,” Dani interrupted him. “Well, let me give you one—and from your favorite author: ‘Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange and unnatural.’”

  A brief silence followed her ringing accusation, and then Stone said, “Ah, Hamlet, I think, Miss Ross? But completely out of context, completely! Surely you can see that the murder of Hamlet’s father has nothing in common with the death of this woman?”

  The anger that had been building up in Dani for days suddenly boiled over, and she raised her fist in a gesture of defiance, crying out in a clear voice, “Maxwell Stone, you are exactly what I have said—a foul murderer! You have killed three people, and you will kill the rest of us, I feel sure. You are always spouting about freedom and liberty, yet you are a tyrant no different from Nero or Stalin! No better than they, and God will have you before His bar of justice!”

  “Miss Ross! For one of your intelligence you show little awareness of the signs of the times!” Stone lifted his voice into what they had learned to recognize as his oratorical style, and for the next twenty minutes quoted from a dozen different historical figures. His use of their words was usually out of context, and his tone was that of a man who was so totally convinced that his course was right that Dani saw at once the futility of reasoning with him. She listened carefully, filing his words away.

  “The country is full of bleeding-heart liberals, trying to find some sort of Betty Crocker recipe, some nice, sweet chocolate cake that will cure all our ills, but it will not be done without shedding of blood! And you, Miss Ross, in that book you’re so fond of, there’s a verse that reminds me of the tribulation that’s got to come to America! And it will come! Those fools who continue to destroy our nation from within must go!”

  “What verse in the Bible do you mean?” Dani asked.

  “‘In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not!’” Stone shouted, “There it is, Miss Dani Ross! Even in the Bible there was a need for purging!”

  Dani exclaimed, “Stone! Don’t you see you condemn yourself with that verse? It refers to Herod, when he slaughtered the children of Bethlehem in his mad attempt to kill Jesus Christ! Herod—the most despicable tyrant of his time!”

  But it was as if her words made no impact on him. “‘So young, and so untender?’” he cried out. “You have a ‘voice . . . soft, Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in a woman,’ Miss Ross, but you have been brainwashed by the criminals in charge at Washington.” He raged on, as usual, about the leadership of the country.

  When he had finished, Holtz spoke up. “I am an old man, Stone, and so are you. Our lives lie behind us. But these young people have done nothing. Three people are dead. Let these go; do with me what you will.”

  Stone said in an insulted voice, “You have learned nothing! It is not for my pleasure I keep you here—as I have told you repeatedly. Your own stubborn pride, that is what must give! And my patience grows short! If you are wise, you will not continue in your rebellious attitudes! That is all I have to say!”

  The speakers fell suddenly silent, and Savage said, “Merry Christmas to you, too, Maxie!”

  When they moved away toward the kitchen, Karl said heavily, “I’ve got bad news.” They all stared at him, and he added, “You can forget the Jericho Project. I got through the concrete just before Stone’s little talk.” He lifted his hands in a hopeless gesture. “Solid steel beneath the concrete. No hope.”

  Bix exclaimed in outrage, “All that work for nothing?” His face was much thinner than it had been when he had first come, and his eyes were wide and staring. Dani didn’t like the wildness that shone out of Bix’s sunken eyes. He lowered his voice, saying, “Well, maybe that didn’t work, but I’ve been thinking, and I’ve got a plan to get out of this place.”

  Holtz caught Dani’s nod and moved closer to Bix. “Bix, my boy, we’ve been over—”

  “There’s only one way out of this grave—and it’s up there!” Bix pointed upward, and a crafty look swept his face. “I been thinking about this for a long time, and it comes down to this: If somebody don’t do something, Vince is gonna die! We all are!”

  “But there’s no way to get up there, Bix,” Dani argued gently.

  “There’s one way,” he insisted. He lowered his voice. “I don’t know if he can hear us or not—but here’s what I’m going to do. The next time that box goes up, I’m going up with it!”

  They all stared at him, and Holtz said, “Why, Bix, don’t you know that we’ve all thought of that? It was the first thing I thought of, and the others as well. But there’s no chance—no chance at all! The camera stays on until we unload the box and send it back. They’re watching, Bix, just to see we don’t come up on the box.”

  “What I’ll do,” Bix went on as if Holtz had not spoken, “is to rig some sort of harness. They’ll be looking down inside the box, but I’ll be underneath, see? They won’t be able to see me. You guys can make some kind of a scene—take Stone’s attention off the box. Maybe knock the camera sideways. When the box gets to the top, I’ll jump out and get ’em!”

  “With what?” Sid demanded. “Them guys is bound to be packing iron! You don’t even have a shiv!”

  “Sid’s right.” Ben nodded. “We don’t even know how many are up there, but I’d guess more than one. Even if they didn’t have guns, they’re probably pretty tough dudes. They’d throw you down just for laughs, Bix.”

  Bix stood there with his head bowed, his face frozen into a stubborn expression as they all tried to talk him out of it. Finally he said, “You can stay down here un
til you get picked off, if you want. Me—I’d rather take a chance—even if it ain’t much of one.”

  Sid examined Bix’s face, then nodded. “Kid’s got something, but he ain’t the one to go up.” He nodded toward Ben, saying shrewdly, “You’re the karate expert—the big marine fighter. You’d have a whale of a lot more chance than Bix here.”

  Ben’s face didn’t change. “That’s partly right, Sid—but there’s one little thing you don’t know.”

  “What’s that?”

  Ben spoke quietly, but a pressure on his cheeks drew them in as he answered. “I—I had a bad fall once. From the trapeze. Ever since that time, I can’t go up.”

  “Why, you go up that rope all the time!” Bix cried.

  “Sure, thirty feet—and holding onto a rope that’s set,” Ben nodded. “But I can’t stand space under me! You think I didn’t try? I went up twenty times, and as long as I was on the platform, I was fine—but I could never shove off!” He shook his head and added, “I could go up inside the box, but not underneath!”

  For a moment, no one spoke. Suddenly Sid gave a tight grin. “Probably won’t work, anyway, Ben,” he said.

  Bix nodded. “Sure, Ben, I understand.”

  Holtz stood quietly, watching as the others agreed, then he said, “One thing has happened to us—we have learned to have compassion on one another. I think if this situation had come up earlier, we would not have been so ready to accept Ben’s handicap.” He lifted his lips in a broad smile and added, “A shame that people have to die to learn how to live!”

  Savage was unable to speak, for he had fully expected nothing but condemnation for what he himself saw as cowardice. He looked at Dani, who smiled at him, then at Karl and Bix, who were doing the same.

  Lonnie said, “Aw, hoss, don’t get in a dither about all this!” Karen’s eyes were bright as they met his. Finally Betty sniffed and said tartly, “Well, maybe we’re all getting a little understanding, but one of us is still a murderer. And I don’t want for one minute to turn my back on any of you!”

  A very faint smile touched her faded lips, and she nodded at Ben. With a reluctant grace she added, “But all the same, I’d appreciate it, Savage, if you’d use all that fighting you learned in the marines on anybody you see sneaking up behind me! And I guess I’m going to let you pray for me, Dani Ross!”

  Dani smiled and said, “I haven’t waited for your permission, Betty.”

  15

  Caught in the Act

  * * *

  Candi’s death seemed to paralyze all of them. None had realized how her recent cheerfulness had served to break up the cold gloom of the silo, but her absence and the silence left by it pulled down their spirits.

  “I can’t believe she’s gone,” Rachel said woefully. Early Friday morning she had come out of her drugged sleep, and the shock of the murder had shaken her visibly.

  “You didn’t hear or see anything, Rachel?” Dani asked.

  Rachel thought hard, then sighed. “I remember a few things, but they’re all mixed up. I was having some kind of nightmare, and someone came in—I think it was Karen—and asked me something. Then later I heard a lot of shouting, and the lights came on. I guess that’s when it happened. But that dope just lays me out, and I’m not taking any more of it, Karen!”

  “You’re better now, Rachel.” Karen nodded. “We’ll see how you do for a day or two. But Vince is no better.”

  They were all lethargically sitting around the tables—all except Betty, who was sitting with Vince.

  “We’ve got to stir ourselves,” Dani said, attempting to put some life into her voice. “We act as if we’re whipped, and that’s just what Stone wants.”

  Lonnie lifted his haggard face, and his natural animal spirits were burning low. “Well, we are whipped,” he muttered. “All the time I been thinkin’ somehow we’re gonna get out of this dump. But what’s the use of kidding ourselves?”

  Holtz said, “There’s always hope, Lonnie.” He had lost weight, so his neck looked stringy, an old man’s neck, and his eyes had retreated into his skull. There was still a faint gleam of defiance in them, but Dani knew he was reaching the end of his rope.

  “No, that’s wrong,” Rachel spoke up. She stared across the table at Holtz, her antagonism for the man written clearly on her pale face. “The men and women and children who went to the ovens at Buchenwald and Belsen—what hope did they have, Holtz? None at all!”

  The German turned his face to her, and there was no anger in him, only an air of resigned compassion. “Rachel, it must be clear to you that we are living on the razor’s edge. Any of us may die—this very day. Why do you hang on to your anger and bitterness, when all they do is destroy your own spirit? Do you want to face God with that on your soul?”

  “There’s something in what Karl says, Rachel,” Dani said. “Those who violated God’s law by bringing on the Holocaust will have to stand in judgment, but that’s no reason for you to let hatred for them burn all love out of your own life.”

  An angry look flashed across Rachel’s face. “I don’t want any of your Christian religion! Look what it got Candi!”

  Dani shook her head, saying, “But your own people have seen what that hatred of the Nazis can do. The chalutzim came to agree that it was a waste.”

  “What’s that—calootsim?” Bix asked.

  “Tell them, Rachel,” Dani urged. “I know you’re proud of that part of your people’s history.”

  Rachel looked confused, then responded angrily, “I gave up all that religious part of being a Jew!”

  Dani studied her, then shrugged, saying, “The pioneers who live on the kibbutz are called chalutzim. They’ve won the world’s respect for their courage and perseverance for the way they live.”

  Rachel got up suddenly. “I’ve got to have a shower,” she announced and left without another word.

  The others watched her go, and Bix shook his head. “She’s a tough one. Most women would have a little problem with taking a shower in there, where another woman was just murdered.” He shrugged and looked around, “I got one thing figured out—about going up. There’s always a bunch of arguing going on. I mean with Stone spoutin’ his nutty philosophy and some of you getting back at him. Next time, Karl, you get him into a big argument, and the rest of you move around until you’re between the camera and the box. Way I see it, he’ll be too busy arguing to notice anything.”

  “It just won’t work, Bix,” Lonnie warned. “They’ll eat your lunch—even if you do make it up there.”

  “I got this,” Bix said and pulled out the chisel Ben had made. “If it’ll chip concrete, It’ll work on a skull.” Dani began to plead with him, but he shook his head stubbornly. “It may be only one chance in a thousand but that’s better than waiting around to get butchered!”

  The day wore on. After supper Betty stopped by to whisper to Dani, “I got something to tell you.”

  Dani looked at her with surprise. “What is it, Betty?”

  “Not now!” she hissed. “After everyone has gone to bed. I’ll stay up late. Wait until everyone’s asleep. Then get up and come out here. Don’t tell anybody about it!”

  There was such a tense expression on Betty’s face that for one fleeting instant, Dani thought: She’s the killer, and she’ll kill me if I come out alone with her! Then the impossible thought passed. “All right,” she murmured and said no more.

  Everyone went to bed early, and for a long time Dani tried to stay awake. Ordinarily she had trouble dropping off to sleep, but for some reason she felt very drowsy. She dozed off several times, coming awake with a start, but each time she heard Rachel or Karen tossing restlessly, so she lay there, waiting.

  Finally she dropped into a more sound sleep but was awakened by a noise that came from the other room. It was someone calling, but the voice was so hollow that she could not recognize it. Suddenly she remembered her promise and sprang out of bed, stumbling across the dimly lit room. As she passed through the door between
the two sections at once she saw a terrifying sight. Simultaneously Ben came up behind her, pushed her to one side, and dashed across the room.

  Dani saw Betty hanging by her neck from the rope that dangled from the vent, her hands tied and her face turned dark crimson. Karl was holding her up and saying, “Help me!” He had both hands around Betty and could not do more, but Ben at once slipped the noose from Betty’s neck and took her from Karl’s arms.

  “Get Karen, Dani!” he yelled, and she ran to the door, calling loudly. Both Karen and Rachel leaped from their beds, and throwing on their robes, came quickly into the rec room, as did Sid and Lonnie. All of them were babbling, trying to find out what happened.

  At first Dani assumed that Betty was dead.

  “She’s all right,” Karen said quickly, examining Betty. Then Dani heard the hoarse gulps as the injured woman sucked air into her lungs. “Another few seconds, and it would have been too late.” She looked up with a light of excitement in her eyes and cried, “The killer didn’t make it, this time!”

  “Who did it, Betty?” Bix asked.

  “Give her a minute,” Karen snapped. She drew Betty up into a sitting position and looked at her carefully. “Betty, don’t talk until you want to—but as soon as you can, we need to know who tried to kill you.”

  They all froze as Betty struggled to speak. She put her hands on her throat, twisted her neck and said, “It was him!”

  She pointed at Karl, who at once objected, “No! I found her hanging!—and I saw someone leave.”

  “It was him, I tell you!” Betty insisted. She seemed to be gathering strength and sat up straighter, though still leaning on Karen. “I knew it was him, even before he grabbed me.”

  “No mistake, Betty?” Dani asked sharply. “He grabbed you and put the noose on your neck?”