Final Sins by Michael Prescott Read Free Book Online Page B

thrilled with the homework crack, but she let it pass. “I’m surprised I didn’t hear about it in the news.”
    “You may have been out of town. You do that a lot.”
    “Excuse me for having a life.”
    “A young woman went missing and turned up dead, dumped in Griffith Park. Roberta Kessler, nineteen. Last seen in a bar on Sunset Strip, chatting up a man who could have been Faust. LAPD got a warrant, searched his house. Didn’t come up with anything.” He shook his head. “Whole thing was kind of an embarrassment, actually.”
    “What’s so embarrassing about suspecting a murderer of another crime?”
    “He’s a celebrity, in a way. We wanted to keep a lid on the investigation, but it leaked. You know how the damn department is. Can’t keep a secret, at least where the rich and famous are concerned. The tabloids were all over us. You sure you never heard about this?”
    “I don’t read the tabloids. Well, except for the Weekly World News . I love that. Did you hear about the Venusians’ secret plan to clone JFK?”
    “Fascinating.”
    “Seriously, the Faust story never came across my radar screen. I was probably working a case at the time. You know how I am when I’m on the job. I get kind of a narrow focus.”
    “You get downright obsessive. Even more so than usual.”
    Another shot. She tried to ignore it, but she was starting to get seriously pissed off. “Griffith Park is fairly close to Faust’s home.”
    “True, but that didn’t prove anything. A lot of bodies get dumped there.”
    “Was the MO consistent with Faust’s history?”
    “The body had been decapitated, and the hands had been severed at the wrists. It’s the same way Faust’s victim in Germany was found. That’s what got investigators thinking about Faust. But of course, it’s not the first time a body has turned up without a head or hands. That kind of postmortem mutilation is standard procedure if you’re trying to prevent the victim from being identified.”
    “Yeah, I guess dental records and fingerprint comparisons were pretty much out of the question. How did you identify her? DNA?”
    “Anatomical abnormality. She was born without a uterus. Coroner compared the body’s reproductive system with Roberta’s MRI. Obviously, it’s something Faust didn’t know about.”
    “So you do think Faust did it?”
    “Faust—or whoever. As I said, there was nothing to tie him to the crime.”
    “There was the eyewitness at the bar.”
    “Her testimony wasn’t too helpful. Sure, the man she saw could have been Faust. Could’ve been a thousand other guys, too.”
    “Still, I’m surprised LAPD didn’t pursue it further.”
    “Faust is a wealthy man. He has a certain amount of influence. I guess when you’re a star, you have clout, no matter what you’re famous for. His lawyers let it be known that if their client was subjected to any more harassment, there would be legal consequences.”
    “And since then?”
    “Since then, he’s never been a suspect.”
    “How about a person of interest?”
    “That’s a term we only use on TV when we’re trying to be cute.”
    “So he’s clean, you think?”
    “I would hardly say clean .”
    “I mean as far as his recent activities are concerned.”
    “I have no evidence to the contrary.”
    “That’s really all I had to ask. Wasn’t so difficult, was it?”
    She was sorry she’d brought it up. The information would have been readily available on the Internet, without all the Sturm und Drang . Whatever the hell Sturm and Drang were; she’d never been quite sure.
    Wyatt was looking at her with a worried expression. “This client you met with—is he saying Faust is after him?”
    “No, it’s nothing like that.”
    “Look, if you’ve met someone who thinks Faust is a threat—”
    “I haven’t.”
    “Then why would this subject even come up?”
    She didn’t want to tell him, but she had to. And to be honest, part of her actually did want to, if only because she