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The Divine Right of Kings	By : vinsmouse Category: G through L > Hardy Boys Series Views: 5917 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own the Hardy Boys, not making any money, just cheap thrills.

Chapter List
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Chapter 41
"Mr. Dierksen, Mike, are you sure you want to be here for this?" Ezra asked. He didn’t know the exact contents of the tape but he could easily imagine. The man had obviously already listened to at least part of the recording; no parent should ever have to hear the sort of things that were probably on that tape.
Mike looked up; he nearly broke again at the compassion he saw shining from Collig’s eyes. "I have to be. I have to know, Billy suffered through it and I couldn’t be there for him then…"
"Hearing what your son went through won’t help him now Mike. Why don’t you let Sergeant Lewis get you some coffee while we listen to the tape," Ezra quietly suggested. When the Sergeant had first called him on the intercom Ezra cut his meeting short and ordered the distraught father brought to his office. While he waited he had contacted the FBI agent in charge of the case. He would, undoubtedly, want to hear the tape as well.
"The Chief is right Mr. Dierksen, you should go have some coffee."
Mike turned, glaring at the thirty something FBI agent. Jack Martin was a good agent, he supposed, but he didn’t know him, didn’t trust him to do right by his boy. "What would you know about it Agent Martin?"
Jack never even blinked. This wasn’t the first time he’d been confronted with a grieving relative, nor would it be the last time. "I don’t know what you’re feeling Mr. Dierksen, I won’t pretend I do. But do you really want the last time you hear your son’s voice to be during what must have been a terrifying ordeal?"
Mike turned away, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. He had only listened to the beginning of the tape, his son had sounded frightened but he had still sounded like himself. Billy’s killer had said something then, the words whispered so quietly that Mike couldn’t make them out. Billy had started crying then and Mike had stopped the tape. He knew it would only get worse after that and he couldn’t face listening to it, not alone. "I should listen. I owe it to my boy."
Jack exchanged a glance with the chief; he really didn’t want the victim’s father listening to the tape. Though he hadn’t said anything to Collig, he had an agent looking into Dierksen’s background along with the fathers of the other victims. Nobody ever liked to think about it, but a parent could become a killer as easily as anybody else. If Dierksen was involved they didn’t need to do anything that could compromise the case and if he wasn’t involved he didn’t need to bear witness to his son’s last horrific hours. "If it were you on that tape and Billy sitting here, would you want him to listen?"
Mike sighed heavily; he knew the agent was right. He didn’t like it but there it was. "Guess I’ll go get some coffee."
Ezra said nothing, waiting until Mike’s steps had receded, to thank Agent Martin.
Jack waved the thanks aside, feeling a pang of guilt for keeping his suspicions from the police chief. He consoled himself with the knowledge that he was only following procedure; he didn’t personally think Dierksen had killed his own son or the other boys. "You ready to do this?"
"No," Ezra grimaced. "But putting it off won’t make it any easier to listen to." He pushed the play button and sat back. It was worse than he had imagined.
"Please, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!" Billy Dierksen pleaded with his killer.
The boy’s words were unintelligible through the pained sobbing. Ezra knew they must be nearing the end of the tape; the child had already endured a horrific beating. He had never heard anything as disgusting as the contents of this recording. How could anybody do that to a child? The boy had been as brave as he could at first, doing his best to bluff his way out of whatever the man was planning. It hadn’t worked of course and what followed had been torturous to hear. Listening to the child pleading for his life Ezra was more grateful than ever that Agent Martin had convinced the father to leave the room. Ezra jumped as a pain-filled scream came from the machine.
"Please, stop, please let me go…noooooooo…stop…..please…." They listened in stunned silence as the boy was reducing to sobbing. The two experienced men knew this must have been when the child was being violated. The tape ended as the boy began to call for his mother, sounding very much younger than his age.
"Run that back a bit," Jack requested.
"What did you hear?"
"I’m not sure. There that should be enough." Jack listened carefully as the tape began to play again. Three times he had Ezra rewind the tape, his attention fully on the tape and whatever Billy was saying each time. "Did he say he wouldn’t do it again?" he asked the chief.
Ezra nodded, "But what could he mean?"
"I don’t know, it doesn’t make any sense. Maybe he had scratched the man or kicked him?" he tentatively suggested.
"You don’t believe that anymore than I do," Ezra scoffed. There had been nothing on the tape to indicate that Billy had done anything. Surely if he had scratched or kicked his killer the man would have reacted with a grunt or something.
Jack sat back, head resting on his hand as one long finger tapped his cheek. The words didn’t make any sense but he was sure that was what the boy had said. So why would a child who was being systematically beaten to death promise not to do…something? "Damn it!"
Ezra nearly dropped his coffee cup, not that he was actually drinking it. "What?"
"The tape has been tampered with."
Ezra opened his mouth to tell the man not to be ridiculous when he realized he was right. "We never really heard the killer’s voice, maybe we would have in that part."
"Maybe, but somehow I don’t think that’s it. He’s trying to hide something that much is certain but I don’t think it’s just his voice he’s hiding. Whatever it is, it’s important." Jack hit the eject button and grabbed the tape, dropping it into an evidence envelope. "I’ll get this to our tech department."
"You think they’ll be able to find whatever’s missing?" Ezra knew the FBI had better resources than his department but even they couldn’t work miracles.
"If they can’t nobody can." He stood up, "I’ll let you know as soon as we find anything."
"Wait a minute, what about Mike Dierksen?"
Jack frowned, "I don’t want him to know about the tampering. Just tell him our tech people are doing voice analysis on it."
Ezra glared at the retreating agent’s back. With his final statements Jack Martin had inadvertently revealed his suspicion of Mr. Dierksen. Ezra would never pretend that Mike Dierksen was one of his favorite people. The man could be a pompous ass and his son had been following his good example, though being a teenager the behavior he emulated quickly turned to bullying, but Ezra didn’t believe the man capable of killing his own son.
TBC...
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The Divine Right of Kings