Deadly Night by Aiden James Read Free Book Online Page A

too bad it couldn’t be under better circumstances. “Can you tell his race?”
    She frowned and looked beyond me to the soda counter, and shook her head ‘no’.
    “ Not yet,” she confessed. “The hair would normally point to a white guy, but he might be Asian. He likes to dress in dark clothing secured by straps…like some modern day ninja—that’s how he sees himself.”
    She grabbed her left wrist with her right hand to illustrate her point, and I could almost sense the strength, determination, and worse—the killer’s cunning discipline in carrying out his debauched brutality.
    “ His face is covered with a mesh mask that allows him to breathe and see through it clearly, but won’t allow anyone to discern his facial features,” she added.
    “ Like that silly ‘Death’ Halloween get-up you made me wear at Cynthia’s party last October?”
    I was only half-kidding—both in the seriousness of what we were dealing with and how I hated any masquerade unless attending a KISS costume party. Again, just the way I roll. Rock n’ roll, that is.
    “ Yeah…I guess it is, sort of,” she agreed.
    But the look on her face said she had either caught a glimpse of my hidden contempt in word or picture, or that she literally heard my unfiltered thought. Pick your poison. Either option not good, it could be days, weeks, or even months before she’d share what just now happened—long after I’d forgotten the incident and helpless to defend any of it.
    I should’ve stopped there, but then I asked her about the office’s condition and a semi-vague question about blood spatter and where Dickey was found—all based on what Freddie told me. Bad move again, and probably another instance of her knowing more about my hidden agenda than I did.
    She went for a direct hit. Suffice it to say his office looked even more like a gore fest than Johnny and Brenda’s place had the night before. The floor, walls, and furniture were covered in a collage of crimson and various organ, muscle, and vascular bits thrown in for good measure. Very few surfaces in the room were spared a splattered portion of Mr. Rollins.
    I’m sure she hated telling me this, but her eyes bore a glint of satisfaction too. Nothing like a punch to the gut to get your horror-loving husband to back off and find something much more pleasant to talk about Nausea kept me from finishing the rest of my cherished Irish ale….
    “ So, you decided to come after all!”
    We had just pulled into Tom’s carport that evening, and Jackie ran over to Fiona and threw her arms around her before my wife could close the Camaro’s passenger door.
    “ I’m so sorry about what happened to Dickey,” she said, her expression pained. She hugged Fiona even tighter. “Well…let’s see if we can cheer you up. Just wait until you see Tom’s new studio!”
    Jackie glanced back at Angie, standing near the back door, at the edge of Tom’s covered carport.
    “ It’s really bad-ass!” Angie enthused, grinning wryly as she stepped over to my wife and Jackie, offering her own warm hug to Fiona and a soft kiss on her forehead. “And he showed us some of the infrared pictures from last night—you’ll be quite surprised!”
    Dressed in jeans and near-identical tie-dye tshirts, their hair was pulled back in ponytails not unlike the one I wore. Ready to do some more investigating later tonight, or maybe hit a club or two? My only concern was for Fiona, since she’d expressed a desire to get home at a decent hour, and Jackie or Angie would be her ride home tonight. I’d get home much later, since I had rehearsal with my bandmates after tonight’s review of the evidence we gathered last night from Charlain Thompson’s place.
    “ Is everyone ready to eat yet?” Tom peered over the backyard’s wooden fence, a beer bottle in one hand and a spatula in the other. The aroma of roasted hot dogs and hamburgers wafted toward us, stronger now than earlier. “Hey, Jimmy…Fiona. I