Evil Ways by Justin Gustainis Read Free Book Online Page A

surveillance from the moment you deplaned in L.A., of course. We noticed your intense interest in a certain residence on Mulholland Drive —which is currently the subject of a three-alarm fire, I understand."
    "That right?" Morris said. There was no expression in either his face or voice.
    "Yep. It's quite a conflagration, they tell me. Just a second." Fenton produced a complicated-looking phone, opened it, and began to use his thumbs on the keyboard. Then he waited about half a minute, looked at the screen again, and put the thing away. "Don't worry, looks like they've got it contained. It won't spread to the rest of the neighborhood, most likely."
    "I'm sure that's good news for a number of people."
    "It surely is. 'Course, arson isn't a federal crime, unless you burn down some federal property, and Mister Fortner's place certainly doesn't qualify. Interesting fella, that Fortner. Did you know he spent a year with Skorzeny, back in the Eighties?"
    There was silence in the room then, broken only by the distant sounds of rush hour traffic nine floors below. It went on for a while, until Morris broke it.
    "You're an interesting sort of FBI agent," he said. "Did you say you were with the L.A. field office?"
    "No, I didn't, because I'm not. I'm with the Behavioral Science Unit at Quantico."
    Morris nodded, as if this didn't surprise him. "Behavioral Science. Well, now. I used to know somebody, worked for your outfit years ago, fella name of Will Graham."
    "Before my time," Fenton said.
    "Uh-huh, I expect it was. So what does Behavioral Science want with me? I'm not a serial killer, and I don't chase them down, either."
    "I know the first part of that's true, but I'm not too sure about the second."
    "Not sure I follow you, podner."
    "What I mean is, you've been involved from time to time with people who were suspected of a variety of crimes, including serial murder."
    "I don't associate with criminals, Agent Fenton. Given the choice, I don't associate with FBI agents, either."
    "Just as well I didn't give you a choice, then." Fenton stood up, but not like he was in any hurry about it. "You mind if I take my jacket off? I've had it on all night, and I'd like to feel the full benefit of the air conditioning in here."
    "Be my guest."
    Fenton slowly removed the jacket of a gray suit that, Morris estimated, must have cost him the better part of a month's salary. Once the suit coat was off, Morris could see Fenton's sidearm —some kind of plastic automatic, like a Glock or Sig Sauer, worn in a holster just behind the right hip. Morris wondered if Fenton was displaying the hardware for intimidation purposes, but decided that guys from Behavioral Science were a little more subtle than that. At least, he hoped they were.
    Fenton placed his carefully folded jacket on top of the room's writing desk and sat back down.
    "I didn't mean to suggest that you hung around with serial killers, Morris. But you've had dealings with a few, I know that for certain. There was Edmund Zaleznik, for instance. Remember him? St. Louis?"
    Morris replied with a noncommittal grunt.
    "Zaleznik, way I understand it, was supposed to be some kind of a wizard. Hired himself out to the St. Louis mob, as sort of a collection agent. He wouldn't actually do the collecting himself, of course. But if one of the local loan sharks, or maybe a bookie, had a guy who owed a lot of money and refused to pay, they'd give the poor bastard one more chance, while mentioning that something real bad was going to happen if he didn't come up with the cash in, say, forty-eight hours. And if he still didn't pay, then something bad would happen. Something nasty, painful, and fatal. Sometimes it would involve the whole family. That was Zaleznik's job, to make it happen. That makes him a serial killer, in my book."
    Morris had sat up a little straighten "A wizard, you say."
    "Yeah, not first-class or anything. But certainly capable of working basic black magic. Enough to harm quite a number