The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly Read Free Book Online Page A

escape command and the three screens returned to data flowcharts for three different server towers. He hadn’t heard the mantrap buzzer out in the control room but he wasn’t sure. Perhaps he had been concentrating so hard on Geneva that he had missed it.
    “Yes?”
    The door opened. It was only Stone. Carver became annoyed that he had killed his screens and that he was going to miss out on following Geneva.
    “What is it, Freddy?” he asked impatiently.
    “I wanted to ask you about vacation time,” Stone said loudly.
    He entered and closed the door. He moved to the chair on the other side of the worktable from Carver and sat down without permission.
    “Actually, fuck vacation time,” he said. “That was for the benefit of the guys out there. I want to talk about iron maidens. Over the weekend I think I found our next girl.”
    Freddy Stone was twenty years younger than Carver. Carver had first noticed him while lurking under a different identity in an iron maiden chat room. He tried to trail him but Stone was too good for that. He disappeared into the digital mist.
    Undaunted and only more intrigued, Carver set up a catch site called www.motherinirons.com , and sure enough, Stone eventually came through. This time Carver made direct contact and the dance began. Shocked by his young age, Carver nevertheless recruited him, changed his looks and identity, and mentored him.
    Carver had saved him, but after four years Stone was too close for comfort, and at times Carver could not stand him. Freddy assumed too much. Like just coming in and sitting down without permission.
    “Really,” Carver said, a note of disbelief placed intentionally in the word.
    “You promised I could pick the next one, remember?” Stone responded.
    Carver had made the promise, but it had come in the fervor of the moment. As they were on the 10 Freeway leaving the beach in Santa Monica, the windows open and the sea air blowing in their faces. He was still riding the high and he foolishly told his young disciple that he could pick the next one.
    Now he would have to change that. He wished he could just go back to watching Geneva, maybe catch her changing that tampon in the restroom, and leave this inconvenience for later.
    “Don’t you ever get tired of that song?” Stone asked.
    “What?”
    Carver realized he had started to hum again while thinking about Geneva. Embarrassed, he tried to move on.
    “Who did you find?” he asked.
    Stone smiled broadly and shook his head like he could hardly believe his good luck.
    “This girl who has her own porn site. I’ll send you the link so you can check her out, but you’re going to like her. I looked at her tax returns. Last year she cleared two hundred eighty K just from people signing up for twenty-five bucks a month to watch her fuck people.”
    “Where’d you find her?”
    “Dewey and Bach, accountants. She got audited by something called the California Tax Franchise Board and they handled it. All her four-one-one is right there. Everything we need to set up. Then I went and checked her out on her website. Mandy For Ya dot com . She’s a stone fox with long legs. Just our type.”
    Carver could feel the slight trill of anticipation in his dark fiber. But he wasn’t going to make a mistake.
    “Where exactly in California?” he asked.
    “Manhattan Beach,” Stone said.
    Carver wanted to reach across the glass tabletop and whack Stone on the side of the head with one of the plasma screens.
    “Do you know where Manhattan Beach is?” he asked instead.
    “Isn’t it down by Lo Jolla and San Diego? Down there?”
    Carver shook his head.
    “First of all, it’s La Jolla. And no, Manhattan Beach is not near it, anyway. It’s by L.A. and not too far from Santa Monica. So forget her. We’re not going back there for a good long time. You know the rules.”
    “But, Dub, she’s perfect! Plus, I already pulled files on her. L.A.’s a big place. Nobody in Santa Monica is going to care about