Read Angel of Darkness for Free Online

life or to get that special cocktail right up your tattooed arm.’
    Parker struggled against his restraints and the orderlies tensed, ready for anything.
    â€˜What’s your name?’ he spat at Calvano.
    â€˜Listen, dude,’ Calvano said, rising as if he’d heard enough. ‘My name doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I’m not the sorry sack of shit who investigated you the first time. I’m not about to let you off easy this time.’
    Well, excuse me.
    â€˜I’ve got a partner who will haunt your dreams until she brings you down,’ Calvano added. ‘I don’t know what you think you’re pulling, but you won’t get away with it. Not this time.’ Calvano locked eyes with Parker. ‘You’re gonna need ten high-priced lawyers by the time I get through with you. I’m gonna wipe that stupid grin right off your face.’
    Parker’s mood changed abruptly. He leaned toward Calvano and whispered, ‘Face down, crawling from the mud, marked with the symbol of a harlot’s lust. Another whore bites the dust.’ Then he threw his head back and roared with a laughter that just as suddenly subsided into giggles that filled the room with a high-pitched, jangled frenzy. That was when I saw it: a dark and terrible shadow bloomed on the wall behind Parker, one with an elongated snout, thick body and ragged wings that beat in slow motion, as if in time to Parker’s laughter.
    I closed my eyes, thinking I had imagined that terrible seraphim. When I opened them again, Parker had settled back down and his mind was calm. The shadow was gone.
    â€˜We must do this again,’ Calvano said pleasantly and, though I hated to admit it, I admired his style. ‘Maybe we can get our eyebrows waxed together some time?’
    Parker hissed and tried to lunge at him, but Calvano was already out the door. The black orderly had not changed expression since the interview began, but the red-haired orderly was laughing – and Parker knew he was laughing at him.
    â€˜You’re a dead man,’ Parker spat at the orderly.
    â€˜Aren’t we all?’ the red-haired orderly said, taunting him.
    Yes, but some of us more than others.

SEVEN
    I followed Calvano out, still trying to understand what I had seen in the interview room. I was grateful for the late afternoon sun and for every step that took me further away from Otis Parker. I saw my son across the lawn, talking to another kid his age. The boy was wearing a visitor’s pass. I had never known Michael to have friends, although it was just as likely I had simply never noticed. Curious, I made my way over to them. The other boy was thin and pale with black hair that hung to his shoulders. He wore jeans and a work shirt and had a backpack slung over one shoulder.
    â€˜Hey, man,’ he was telling Michael, ‘It’s just a couple of weeks and it’s not like you’re missing anything. There’s this essay assignment due and everyone is freaking out, and you’ll miss the science fair, but the same losers are going to win it again this year, so who cares? Plus they canceled the trip to Great Adventure because it would cost too much, so you’re not even going to miss that. You may as well be in here where at least you’ll get a break from school. I’ll visit every day and tell you about all the stupid shit you’re missing, I promise.’
    It wasn’t the most optimistic pep talk I’d ever heard, but it probably would have a bigger effect on Michael then anything his mother could ever say.
    â€˜I guess,’ Michael mumbled back. ‘Does everybody know I’m here? They’ll think I’m a freak. Does Darcy know?’
    â€˜I don’t think so, man,’ his friend said. ‘Darcy wasn’t in school today, so I don’t know about her, but I started a rumor that you had followed a band to Europe.’ Michael laughed and his