by Josh Lanyon
How could such things happen?
Was there anything worse than losing a loved one to a random act of violence?
Probably not. But even if you could understand the pathology of one serial killer, you were essentially starting from scratch with the next. At least as far as prevention went.
Apprehension was another matter. But apprehension was moot in this case.
Corian’s lip curled scornfully. “That’s not worthy of you.”
“No? It’s the truth though. The why doesn’t matter.” Elliot’s chair scraped noisily as he rose.
“You’re leaving?” Corian couldn’t conceal his surprise.
Elliot had turned away, but he glanced back. “Yep. Things to do and places to go. I’m not interested in providing the audience for your insanity plea test run. And since you don’t plan on telling me anything I don’t already know...” He shrugged.
Corian was not used to being walked out on. His smile was slightly forced. “Are you so sure?”
Elliot smiled. He headed for the door.
As he reached for the buzzer, Corian spoke.
“Mills. About earlier. I didn’t mean you have anything to fear from me personally.”
The guard opened the door. Elliot spared Corian one final look. “No, of course not. You’re worried about my karma.”
“No.” Corian grinned, looking more satanic than ever. “No, you should be worried. But not about me. My work is done.”
“It sure is,” Elliot replied. “And wait till you see the retirement package we’ve got for you.”
* * *
“He’s in a good mood,” the guard observed as the door to the interview room settled into place with a heavy and final-sounding click.
The guard was probably in his mid to late twenties. Medium height, buff, boyish. Corian’s preferred type, if he only knew it.
“Never happier,” Elliot agreed. “But then who doesn’t like having company?”
By the time he made it over to the viewing room, SA Yamiguchi, Tucker’s second on the multiagency task force responsible for bringing Corian to justice, had already taken off—no doubt in a hurry to get back to the Seattle field office and deliver her “I told you so!” to SAC Montgomery.
She wasn’t alone in that sentiment.
“That was a waste of time,” Detective Pine commented. He and Elliot had history, but this time they were on the same team. Pine was short, dark and ambitious. A few years younger than Elliot. Young enough to believe he had everything under control—young enough to believe in the concept of control.
“Pretty much,” Elliot agreed.
“Why do you think he wanted to see you so bad?”
“He’s lonely?”
Pine’s laugh was sour. “Maybe it’s your sparkling conversation. I nearly spit my coffee out when you started to walk out the first time.”
“I might as well have walked out, for all we got out of him.”
Pine shrugged. “You opened up a dialogue. Maybe that’s worth something.” From his tone, Pine didn’t believe it.
“Maybe.” Elliot didn’t believe it either.
“Do you think he’s serious about trying to claim he had an accomplice?” Pine asked a short time later as they were walking to the parking lot.
It was a relief to be outside. To fill his lungs with fresh air and feel the sunlight on his face. Elliot had nearly forgotten that stale, metallic, disinfected scent unique to correctional institutions. The blur of chemicals was intended to mask sweat and urine and the inevitable odor of way too many people packed into too small a space for too long a time.
Pine added, “That had to be what he meant by ‘my work is done.’ Why would he wait till now to play that card?”
Elliot shook his head. It was definitely late in the game for that move. But then Corian was playing his own game. And making the rules up as he went. “An apprentice? An acolyte? Who the hell knows?”
“That’s for sure. Homicidal freak,” Pine muttered.
Corian was an aberration, true enough, and nothing would have made Elliot happier than to never have to gaze into his odd tiger eyes again. But declining Corian’s invitation was a luxury he didn’t feel he had a right to. Not with so many grieving people waiting for answers.
Wednesdays were not regular visiting days for the detention center, and the large sloped lot was largely empty. Elliot had parked in the shade of a spindly maple, leaves already starting to yellow in the September sun.
“He can’t plead not guilty,” Pine said. “Not with the mountain of evidence we’ve got against him. He can’t imagine—”
“Hell yeah, he’ll plead not guilty.” Elliot was almost touched by Pine’s naïveté. “They always plead not guilty. His lawyers have already laid the groundwork for not guilty by reason of insanity and they’ll keep hauling witnesses onto the stand to testify he’s nuttier than a fruitcake. Which he is. Though not in the eyes of the law. Not so far. So yes, I think it’s entirely feasible he’ll try to play that card. What does he have to lose?”
Nothing. And they all knew it. Including Corian.
Pine gave a curt “See you at the briefing this afternoon.”
Elliot raised a hand in dismissal and peeled off, striding toward his silver Nissan 350Z.
Pine stopped. Turned back. “Mills.”
Elliot looked up from unlocking his car door.
“If he’s not lying about an accomplice...”
Elliot nodded. “Yeah. The thought occurred to me.”
Don’t miss FAIR CHANCE by Josh Lanyon.
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Copyright © 2017 by Josh Lanyon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author of over sixty titles of classic male/male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON’S work has been translated into eleven languages. Her FBI thriller Fair Game was the first male/male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, then the largest romance publisher in Italy. Stranger on the Shore (HarperCollins Italia) was the first male/male title to be published in print. In 2016, Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan’s annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list). The Adrien English series was awarded the All Time Favorite Couple by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group.
Josh is an Eppie Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads All Time Favorite M/M Author award.
Josh is married and lives in Southern California.
Find other Josh Lanyon titles at www.joshlanyon.com.
Follow Josh on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.
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Also av
ailable from Josh Lanyon
The Ghost Had an Early Check-Out
To live and draw in LA.
Now living in Los Angeles with former navy SEAL Nick Reno, artist Perry Foster comes to the rescue of elderly and eccentric Horace Daly, the legendary film star of such horror classics as Why Won’t You Die, My Darling?
Horace owns the famous, but now run-down, Hollywood hotel Angels Rest, rumored to be haunted. But as far as Perry can tell, the scariest thing about Angels Rest is the cast of crazy tenants—one of whom seems determined to bring down the final curtain on Horace—and anyone else who gets in the way.
To find out about other books by Josh Lanyon or to be alerted to new releases, sign up for her monthly newsletter at eepurl.com/b19qzz.
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FAIR GAME (Fair Game, book one)
FAIR PLAY (Fair Game, book two)
FAIR CHANCE (Fair Game, book three)
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ISBN-13: 9781459293595
Murder Takes the High Road
Copyright © 2018 by Josh Lanyon
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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