Read Angel of Darkness for Free Online Page B

like to wander my town at dusk in the evenings. There is something about that time of day that promises to reveal secrets. That night, I wandered past Shenanigans, the bar where I had spent so many nights drinking away the hours, never realizing how very few of them I had left. Inside, the television set blared sports and lonely men drank their way to oblivion surrounded by the smells of sweat and stale beer. Even the light looked unhappy with its yellowish, anemic cast. Yet I had spent most of my life in there. What had I been thinking?
    I passed by the elementary school where my boys had put on many a play and suffered many defeats and important victories, all without me there to support them. Then I wandered through a park and found myself near the police station. Like a beacon, she had called me to her. I knew Maggie was inside, hard at work on the young girl’s murder. I’d seen her work for forty-eight hours straight when a case was young, and double time after that until solved. Maggie was like a pit bull with a bone when she had an open case. She did not let go or give an inch. Sure enough, she was at her desk, the slender case file open before her as she examined photos of the dead girl. Calvano was leaning back in a chair next to her trash can, his feet propped up on another chair. He was explaining to Maggie what he had felt while questioning Otis Parker.
    â€˜Don’t get me wrong,’ he was saying, ‘I think the guy is crazy as a loon. But I just have this feeling that he’d been waiting for me, that he knew we would come, and that he was enjoying every minute we spent together.’
    â€˜You think he’s innocent of the five murders that put him there?’ Maggie asked.
    â€˜Oh, hell no,’ Calvano answered. ‘What I think is that he’s definitely got something to do with this latest one. I just can’t figure out what his angle is and how he’s involved. It drove him nuts when I didn’t mention why I was really there. He wanted to hear about the murder. He was dying to roll in it. He’s playing us for a reason. Could he have had a partner all along, someone who’s still out there?’
    Maggie shook her head. ‘Parker worked alone. I’ve been over the earlier case files twice now and I think Fahey and Bonaventura got it right for a change.’
    Um . . . thank you?
    â€˜I don’t know,’ Calvano said. ‘I just have this gut feeling Parker’s involved.’
    â€˜We can go with your hunch,’ Maggie told him. ‘I trust it. I’ll back you up.’
    â€˜For real?’ Calvano said. He wasn’t used to people taking him seriously. ‘It could be a copycat.’
    â€˜Maybe. Or maybe Parker has a follower doing exactly what he’s told to do. If that’s the case, you can bet there’s going to be another killing soon.’
    â€˜But who could it be?’ Calvano asked. ‘He gets no visitors, because he’s a scumbag, and every phone call he makes is monitored. He’s watched constantly, because he’s the unit’s number one badass and they are out to make his life miserable. Whenever they take him out of Holloway, he’s a royal pain in the ass, so they don’t take him out anymore. I don’t see how he can be sending instructions to someone else without being seen. And they haven’t had a patient leave there in over a year. I don’t see how he’s doing it.’
    â€˜I don’t either,’ Maggie agreed. ‘But we better figure it out before someone else dies.’
    Calvano could not resist second-guessing his own hunch. ‘We could have it backwards,’ he said. ‘Maybe Parker has found a way to get out without anyone noticing. Maybe he killed the girl himself.’
    â€˜What’s in it for him?’ Maggie asked.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ Calvano admitted. ‘Maybe he missed it? Did you hear back from the