Touching Evil by Rob Knight Read Free Book Online

easy."
    "I will." She smelled like baby powder and hot tea as he bent to kiss her cheek. "And you enjoy. See you tomorrow."
    Duke could wait for his tuna for sure. He was an independent
thinker. Hell, Artie figured Duke could open tuna cans on his own; he
just liked for Artie to feel useful. Greg was more important.
    His cell rang as he got the key in the door of his Camaro, jiggling
it to make the damn thing pop the lock. Not that she wasn't worth a
little shake and jiggle, but once in a while it'd be nice to ... "Yeah."
    "Detective? I'm sorry to bother you." It took him a second to follow
along with the soft, gentle voice on the other end of the line.
"...wife said this would be the number to contact you on. It's on the
store rolodex."
    "Yeah." Uh ... Mark. Mork. Mitch! "What's up, Mitch?" Goddamned fucking lock. There. He hopped in, his gut clenching up.
    "Alice asked me to call. You see. Well, Greg seems to have, well ...
taken a walk." Which would be perfectly normal for every person on
Earth but Dr. Greg Please No Crowds who never left home.
    "Taken a..." The engine roared as he gunned it out. "He's not on the roof?"
    As many God-forsaken plants as the man grew up there, it wasn't inconceivable that Greg could be hiding up there.
    "I've been up there twice and in the storage on the third floor. I
even looked in the tool shed. Alice is out searching for him in the few
places he's been known to go—that little florists, the coffee
shop on the corner that knows him. She's not back yet. Oh, wait. Did
you?"
    He heard a rustle, then Alice's voice was on the line, brassy and
loud and tinged with worry. "He went to put the trash out. The trash
bag's on the ground. The lid's off. He took his jacket. You know how he
is, Artie. He's on the trail again."
    "I'll be right there."
    Jesus Christ. He hung up with Alice without another word, dialing Greg's cell. He was one of three people who had the number.
    It rang and rang, and just before the voice mail picked up, Greg did. "Hello?"
    "Hey." Breathing deep to calm himself, Artie hung a right, heading for the shop. "Where are ya?"
    "Wandering. Walking. Avoiding raindrops and crowds. Trying to find
where he was standing. He walked and walked and then he did something,
something confusing. It's not working." No. No, he didn't imagine it
was. Not with that so-fake calm tone in Greg's voice. "Are you still on
duty?"
    "No. I was on my way to see you. Mitch called. Where are you, man?
I'll get you." Greg on a trail could be like a hound on a scent.
    Not knowing how to get home.
    "Mitch? I told them I'd be out for the evening. At least I thought I
did. You'd think I wasn't a grown man." Greg sighed, the sound
frustrated. "I know I'm close to something. I just know, you know?
There's got to be something around here."
    "Well, if there is, then you shouldn't find it alone, doofball. Tell me where you are. I promise not to turn the siren on."
    Stubborn, fool man.
    "Oh, God. No sirens. I'm at the corner of Atlantic and Sego."
Christ, Greg'd been moving. "It's really getting to be autumn, isn't
it?"
    "It is. Gonna get crisp soon." Burning a u-ie, Artie doubled back on
himself, flipping off the SUV that tried to cut him off. He'd catch up.
And he needed to keep Greg talking. "So what are you following?"
    "A tickle. An itch. I feel like an ant. Did you know they can find
chemical trails that have been tracked over? I mean, if I thought I
wouldn't lose it, I'd take off my shoes and stand here, but there's
just too much traffic. You should come down here and eat, though. There
are some neat looking places."
    "I'm coming. We can get something, maybe." Not that Greg would eat
in. They'd have to get take out, and then only after he'd checked out
the containers. "Look, stay put, okay? No more wandering. Tell me why
you headed that way."
    "I took out the trash. I lifted the lid and he was on it. All over
it like a stain, I could smell him. I needed to walk. I kept going back
out there and finally got my