Outrage by Robert K. Tanenbaum

did you do?” Zak asked.
    The old man sighed. “I played the part of judge, jury, and, may God forgive me, lord high executioner. With my anger raging inside, I decided that the punishment must fit the crime. I remembered how these men had laughed as all those innocent people had cried out and struggled to stay alive. So I had my men strangle them with cords, starting with Schultz’s subordinates. And while they kicked and dug at the cords with their fingernails, their faces turning purple and the blood vessels bursting in their eyes, I demanded that Schultz laugh.”
    “Did he?” Giancarlo asked quietly.
    “Remember what I said about the will to survive?” Moishe said. “Yes, he laughed as though at a great joke. And then I threw the cord around his neck myself and cried—which I still do at the memory—as I choked the life out of him.”

8
    F ELIX SAT AT A BARE TABLE IN A STARK ROOM OF WHITE washed walls and linoleum wondering when the police were going to let him go home. He was by himself and there were no sounds other than the nervous tapping of his foot.
    Having lost his glasses when he fell, he could only squint at the large mirror set against one of the walls. He’d watched enough television cop shows to know that it was probably oneway glass and that he was being watched by police detectives on the other side.
    Felix had already been at the precinct house for two hours. They’d taken photographs of his face, and his fingerprints. But mostly he’d been left to sit in the room. He wished they’d just tell him what they wanted him to say so that he could say it and leave.
    The door clicked and then opened. A large man walked in and stood for a moment studying him. He walked over and satin the chair across from Felix, who could then see well enough to note that he was an older man with a big, wrinkled face and icy blue eyes.
    “I’m Detective Brock,” the man said. “I understand that you’ve waived your right to have an attorney present?”
    Felix hesitated for a moment. The police officer who arrested him had also asked him if he wanted an attorney. He remembered that the police on the television shows asked that a lot, too, so he figured it must be important. But he didn’t know why. He did know, however, that attorneys cost money, and if his dad found out he was spending money on one, he’d get hit. He shook his head. “I don’t want an attorney.”
    “And you’re willing to talk to me?” Brock asked. “No one is forcing you to answer my questions.”
    Felix’s natural inclination to please kicked in. “Sure. I’ll answer your questions.”
    “Good. Thank you, that helps,” the detective said. “Felix, can you tell me where you were earlier this morning, before the police officers arrested you?”
    “Yes,” Felix answered, glad to start with an easy one, “I was home.”
    “Was anybody else there?”
    Felix cringed slightly at the memory of his father asleep on the couch. He didn’t want the police to bother Eduardo. “No.”
    “What were you doing out so early on a Sunday morning?”
    “I was going to Mullayly Park.”
    “Why?”
    “To meet my friends.”
    “Felix, what would you say if I told you that you look like aman who attacked a young woman this morning near Mullayly Park?”
    Felix furrowed his brow. “I didn’t do it,” he answered.
    “Then why did you try to run away when the police officer stopped you?”
    “I was afraid.”
    “Afraid of what? That you’d be arrested for attacking that young woman?”
    “No,” Felix answered.
    “Then what were you afraid of, Felix?”
    Felix thought back to the moment he decided to run and pictured his angry father coming at him with a raised fist. “That the policeman would find the stolen ring and tell my dad.”
    “The stolen ring,” Brock replied, “the ring we found in your wallet? The ring you told Officer Givens was in your wallet?”
    “Yes.” Felix nodded eagerly.
    “Where’d you get the ring? Did you