Blackout by Marco Carocari

Author:Marco Carocari [Marco Carocari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Level Best Books
Published: 2021-02-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Tuesday, August 2

“My name is Charles Prescott the third and I am recording this confession on June 28th, in the presence of my therapist, Dr. Jacqueline Kruger. On the night of July 13th, 1977, I shot and killed Detective Francesco DiMaso.”

Franco watched the screen in front of him, sitting on the expensive leather couch in Dr. Kruger’s lavishly decorated 5th Avenue office, his cheeks flushed. She sat at an angle to his left, dressed in sleek, form-fitting black pants, and a light pink blouse, her dark hair tied in a loose, modern bun. He didn’t have to look her way to know she was watching him intently through her Tom Fords.

“Leo and I used to hang out at the piers three, four days a week, back then,” Charles continued in the video recording. “We were getting wasted that afternoon, cruising for sex and more drugs, when two detectives I had never seen before picked us up and took us to an abandoned warehouse nearby. I knew we were in trouble when they confiscated our whistles before they even took our drugs and money. We always knew the dangers, of attacks on gays, but nothing could keep us away.” Franco knew many gay men carried whistles back then, to call for help if they were attacked.

Charles continued, explaining how the cops held them for hours. They ordered Leo to kill someone, another cop, but he, strung out of his mind, refused and threatened to expose them. The cops worked them over until Leo lay bloodied and unconscious on the ground. Finally, Charles couldn’t take it anymore, and agreed to do it himself to save his lover.

Franco watched Charles’ lips move on the screen. He heard his words, saw the anguish in his face, knew how hard it must have been for him to say these things out loud, but only felt anger.

How could Charles not have told him? His fingers moistened and he dug them into his chinos.

On-screen Charles’ eyes teared up, and his voice cracked. “They gave me drugs to take the edge off, and the younger cop drove me to an area in Little Italy. There we waited. He told me to make it look like a robbery and put a key in Mr. DiMaso’s pocket. If I failed or tried anything, they would kill Leo, pin his murder on me, and make sure they were the ones making the arrest. After all, a jury would always believe decorated cops over a faggot junkie. I don’t remember how many times I pulled the trigger, only that I did. Something inside me died that moment, but all I could think of was Leo. At least that’s what I told myself. And yet I ran, did the one thing I knew could get him killed. Maybe I panicked, too high to think straight…and maybe I just never had the courage to admit I put myself first, grabbing the first chance to escape when it presented itself.” He dropped his head, and his shoulders trembled.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.