“We’re hoping that, too,” Amy told him.
“He’s able to have a conversation, right?” Hunter asked.
Kashi nodded gravely.
Ten minutes later, they were seated in one of the bureau’s interrogation rooms, facing Artie. He was calm, and he managed to smile at Amy.
“I know I have to pay a debt. After that...”
His words faded. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. My parents thought I’d graduate and just stay on—we have a small cattle ranch. I wasn’t going to college—no money. Please, don’t get me wrong. My parents are good people. And now I can tell you how sorry I am. I knew Mrs. Sanders. I didn’t want to hurt her. We weren’t supposed to hurt them—Mr. or Mrs. Sanders, I mean. We were just supposed to wait and ambush you, Special Agent Larson, and sneak you away. Now I know that was a lie. It would have been necessary for us to kill them both, because we couldn’t leave witnesses behind.”
“Artie, we know you didn’t want to hurt anyone—that was evident,” Amy said.
“But I did. I hurt her. I cut her neck.”
“She’s going to be all right,” Hunter told him. “But we still need your help. Artie, there is no reward in life or death for serving anyone who wants you to commit murder.”
“Oh, we weren’t supposed to kill anyone,” Artie said. “I mean, I wasn’t supposed to have to kill anyone. That’s what Hank told me. We were supposed to hold the Sanderses as hostages, knock Special Agent Larson on the head and bring her to an old shack that’s in the Everglades a few miles. Used to be, people could have little hunting shacks out on that land. The law did something where they were grandfathered in, but when the owners died, they were supposed to be removed. But mostly, no one really cared, and lots of the cabins were just left to rot. Then we started up on those ‘great python challenges’ and people were going out to find constrictors loose in the Everglades, and whatever cabins were still left up kind of came in handy for the python hunters. Anyway, that’s where we were supposed to take Special Agent Larson.” He looked at Amy apologetically. “Hank said you were a girl—that we wouldn’t have any problem taking you.”
Hunter glanced Amy’s way. “I guess she proved to be a problem. Artie, where is this cabin?”
“There’s an old work road about a mile before you reach the diner,” Artie told them. “You just take it west until you come to the canal. At the canal, you hop in a canoe. An airboat would be better, but Hank told me we were just to use canoes, as airboats were hard to come by. My dad has one and lots of people out here own them, but an airboat is... I don’t know. Too high-tech?” Artie asked dryly. “Anyway, we were to use the canals. South along the water. The shack is visible from the canal. At least that’s what Hank told me. I’ve never been to the shack. Hank has. Hank had been.” Artie sighed, shaking his head.
“Does anyone else know about any of this, Artie? Were you Hank’s only recruit?”
“That I know about. All I had to do was take care of Special Agent Larson. Then we could leave home. I could be an apostle. We’d move up north in the state and join the True Brotherhood. I would never be awkward or unloved again or made to feel stupid. I’d have a position of power, and when I wanted a girl, I could have one. The women in the Brotherhood know how to serve.” He paused, a pained expression on his face. “The worst thing is, I wanted to believe Lady Liberty had really welcomed her sacrifice, that she was high above with angels and the Lord and everything beautiful. I wanted to believe it so badly. I don’t think, deep down, I did. But Hank told me, when he recruited me, it all had to do with empowering oneself and carrying through with promises. He...he made a video of me naked...” His voice trailed and he looked acutely uncomfortable.
“It’s okay, Artie. I’ve heard just about everything there is to hear,” Amy assured him. Again, she had the sense that this boy had gotten mixed up in something he barely understood.
“Okay, okay... Well, he recorded me playing with myself.”
“Masturbating?” Hunter asked.
Artie was a dark shade of red as he nodded.
“He said me doing the video for him was a commitment. It was powerful and strong and part of the Brotherhood. He’d erase the video. He said it wasn’t being mean or threatening—it was so I could find my inner strength. I mean, he laughed, too, and told me I looked like a crippled giraffe trying to get a hard-on.” He winced, closed his eyes and opened them again. “He could be funny. Hank could be cool and funny. That one was at my expense, but he had me laughing. And then... I cared about her—she was my first girl ever. She was great. Lady Liberty, I mean. Strange, though, something I didn’t think of back then.”
“What’s that?” Amy asked.
“I was talking about rewards in heaven—gibbering, really. She was beautiful. My mind wasn’t working. She told me her rewards were going to be on earth.”
“Artie,” Hunter asked. “Did Lady Liberty have an accent?”
“Yes, a beautiful accent.”
“Was it an accent that someone who spoke Spanish as their first language might have?” Hunter asked.
“Maybe. Lots of my friends are Cuban or their folks come from South America, but most of them were born here and talk like me, so...it was beautiful. Her words were beautiful.”
“Did she call you by any pet or special names?” Amy asked.
“Yeah. I thought she was calling me a whore at first, like a male whore! As if. But she was calling me mijo. It means—”
“That you were a dear one. It’s a term parents often use for children,” Amy said.
“She must have liked you,” Hunter said. “You’re a likable kid—when you’re not holding a knife at someone’s throat.”
“I’m so sorry...”
“We know you are,” Hunter assured him. “And we’re going to talk to the authorities about you, let them know how much you’re helping us. Tell me honestly, right now, are you all right if you stay here?”
“Sure. Dr. Kashi is nice. I am going to jail, though, right? A real jail. I...what I did was against the law.”
“District attorneys and the federal government are figuring that out right now. You’re eighteen, so it can’t be juvenile court, but you’ve also admitted your part in taking Mr. and Mrs. Sanders prisoner, and you’re being cooperative in an investigation. You’re all right here, though—it will really be protective custody right now. I don’t want anyone who has anything to do with this knowing you weren’t killed right along with Hank.”