Chase: Roman

scoop up the smaller pieces, and threw those and the magazine into the garbage bag.
        ‘Where are your spare light bulbs kept?’ Chase asked Linski.
        ‘I'm not telling you.’
        ‘You will, eventually.’
        Judge remained silent, glowering at Chase. Chase noticed that just as intended, there were no bruises on the man's throat where Chase's thumbs had dug into him. The pressure had been too pinpointed and too quick to seriously hurt tissue.
        Chase back-handed Linski across the face, three times.
        Linski said, ‘In the kitchen, under the sink, behind the box of laundry detergent. What are you trying to prove with all this?’
        Chase did not answer. He found the bulbs and screwed two new ones into the lamp. They worked when he switched them on.
        In the kitchen again, he got a bucket of water, soap, ammoniated cleanser and a carton of milk - his mother's favourite spot remover - from the refrigerator. In the living room, he used a rag and a succession of the substances to get the worst of the blood spots out of the carpet. The faint brown stains that remained were easily hidden by the long nap of the shag rug.
        He put everything away again and threw the rag into the garbage bag with the other things.
        After that, he stood in the centre of the room and slowly examined all of it for traces of the fight. The blood had been mopped up, the furniture righted, the broken glass thrown out. The only thing that might draw anyone's suspicion was the soot-ringed, pale square where the ornate mirror had hung.
        Chase pulled the two picture hangers out of the wall; they left two small nail holes behind. He used a handful of paper towels to wipe away most of the dirty ring, successfully blending the lighter and darker portions of the wall. It was still obvious that something had hung there, though one might now think it had been removed several months ago.
        Judge watched all of this without asking any more questions.
        Chase came back to him and sat down on the arm of the easy chair. He said, ‘I have some questions to ask you.’
        ‘Go to hell,’ Judge said.
        Chase hit him hard. He said, ‘First of all, did you really intend to kill Louise Allenby, or just Mike?’
        ‘Both of them,’ Judge said.
        ‘Why?’
        ‘I've explained all of that.’
        ‘Explain it again.’ Chase's arm felt as if it were falling off, but the severe pain kept him alert.
        They were fornicators,’ Linski said. ‘I followed them and watched them until I knew for sure.’
        ‘And why should that bother you? Because Mike should have been your lover?’
        Perhaps Judge realized that there was no way out, no hope of continuing to hide anything. He no longer bothered to deny his sexual proclivities. He said, ‘He was a beautiful boy, and he seemed to like me. But I made a major mistake in approaching him. It became almost an obsession with me, his youthfulness, the grace in him that older men soon lose, his smile, his enthusiasm, his vital energy. I should not have started any of it.’
        ‘And that's why you killed him.’
        ‘No,’ Judge said. ‘It started out because of that, but it grew into something much more important.’ There was a peculiar spark of interest in his eyes, a morbid excitement. ‘When I followed him, I saw what loose morals he had - and what loose morals most of his generation has. I was negatively impressed by the rutting that went on in the park on Kanackaway, for instance. It soon became obvious to me that unless something was done to set an example for this generation, the country would one day decline as Rome declined.’
        Chase felt tired. He had been hoping for something more than this, something original and fresh. Madmen, he supposed, always clung to the same stale ideas, though. He said, ‘And you would single-handedly bring about a change in the morals of all young people - just by showing them what was liable to happen to - fornicators.’
        ‘Yes,’ Judge said. ‘I know that I'm tainted myself. Don't think I'm blind to my own weaknesses. But by embarking on a crusade of this sort. I could surely pay penance for my own sins and contribute positively to the Christian standards of the community.’
        Chase laughed.
        ‘I see nothing funny,’ Judge said.
        ‘I do,’ Chase said. ‘You ought to meet Mike Karnes's parents. Have you ever met