Divine Vices by Melissa Parkin Read Free Book Online

nightly
news, it’s still nice to know I don’t need to keep looking over my shoulder
everywhere I go,” I said.
    “Not
so fast. Her death might be what’s making headlines, but it’s the details yet
to be disclosed to the public that should be scaring you.”
    “Come
again?”
    “Turns
out the circumstances of this girl’s case happens to match another missing
person’s, from right here in town,” said Gwen. “Twenty-one-year-old bartender,
Veronica Hyatt. Missing since last Thursday.”
    “I
heard about that case from Officer Benson,” I said.
    “Not
like this you haven’t. You know what’s got the police so rattled about
Veronica?” she asked, receiving no response. “This.”
    Gwen
pulled out a full sheet of printing paper from her binder. She flipped it over
and handed it to me, the image on its backside searing forever in my mind.
    “What
the-”
    Ian
quickly snatched the paper and buried it inside his jacket. “Meyer, where the
hell did you get this?”
    “A...
confidential source...” she replied sheepishly.
    “Gwen,
this is serious,” said Ian. “How did you get this?”
    “Let’s
just say my source doesn’t exactly play by the books.”
    “You’ve
gotta be kidding,” growled Ian. “You haven’t shared this with anyone else, have
you?!”
    “No.”
    “Well,
keep it that way. There’s a reason why the cops aren’t mentioning this,” Ian
whispered. “If word gets out about some kind of cultish killer, all the freaks
are gonna come out of the woodwork.”
    “You
don’t think I’ve already thought about that?” said Gwen.
    “Let’s
not forget your reporter-mindset. There’s not much that you don’t make into a
headline these days.”
    “Fine,
I pinky swear to not print a word,” she cracked.
    “Seriously,
Nancy Drew, leave it alone,” said Ian. “I’ve gotta get going.”
    “Drive
safe,” I said.
    “I
will,” he replied. “Keep an eye on Sherlock here.”
    “Will
do.”
    Ian
walked away hesitantly, and it was left up to me now to ensure that Gwen would
keep mum about this. I hooked my arm around hers and took her to Study Hall. No
more than a half hour into class, our teacher, Mr. Randall, was already sawing
logs with his relentless snoring.
    “How
can you not be more curious about this?” said Gwen, who had parked a seat
beside me in the massive, mostly vacant classroom. “Where’s your inner
journalist?”
    “Occupied
on writing articles about the football team and how overpaid our district’s
superintendent is,” I said, not so much as breaking concentration from my
workbook.
    “You
know how epic it would be if we were to solve this?”
    “Solve
what? Are you going to break into crime scenes and do your best CSI
impersonation? Because, Scooby Doo, there are laws against interfering with
official investigations. You get caught in the middle of one of your half-baked
schemes, you’re gonna find your head on a chopping block. Please, for once in
your life, listen to Ian and let this go.”
    “Sounds
fine now, but when a Charles Manson groupie comes knocking on your door, don’t
say I didn’t tell you so.”
    I
gave her a sharp glare. “Also, would you mind keeping it down? I don’t think
the biology department heard you. We may not be surrounded by the brightest
minds this generation has to offer, but it won’t take much common sense to
connect the dots back to you if news of this finally comes out when all the
long while you were flapping your gums about cults. They’re gonna know the
information was leaked to you.”
    A
big part of me prayed that the information would never see the light of day,
because it still felt unreal. I knew though that the moment this became public
knowledge, everyone’s constant yammering about it would only devastate the
falsehood I had built up to be ignorant safety. Unfortunately, I couldn’t erase
the image Gwen had shown me no matter how hard I tried. Despite the cultish
freakiness of the star encrusted pyramid