Different Seasons

Dussander’s roommate in the hospital is Morris Heisel. By coincidence, Heisel had been interned at Patin under Lieutenant Commandant Kurt Dussander. There, his young wife and two daughters had died. When Heisel sees his new roommate, he feels that the man looks familiar, but Heisel can’t place him.

Todd visits Dussander in the hospital, and Dussander asks Todd if he went back to the house after Dussander was taken away. Todd says that yes, he went back to burn the letter for fear that someone would pick it up and realize that it was 10 or 20 years old. Dussander asks Todd to bring him something to drink next time he comes, but Todd tells him flatly that he is never coming back.

Dussander smiles almost kindly. He tells Todd that he never wrote any letter hidden in a safe deposit box, and he knows that Todd never did anything of that kind, either. However, he reminds Todd of a spate of news stories about “winos” brutally murdered. If he wanted to, Dussander could tell the press what happened to those men just as Todd could tell them about a number of people who are now buried in an old man’s basement.