Page 153 of Evil Bones
“Yes,” I said. “With considerable encouragement from Skinny.”
“What about Quaashi Brown?”
“Long says he had nothing to do with Brown or the corpse at Cordelia Park.”
“Does Slidell believe him?”
“Not for a second. He’s running down the evidence that will nail him on both.”
“Where is Long now?”
“Central lockup. And, according to Skinny”—I hooked air quotes—“?‘the scumbag ain’t going nowhere any time soon.’?”
Another round ofteakettle-teakettle-teakettle,then,
“How did this loser come to focus on you?” Ryan was trying to hide his anger, not really succeeding.
“Several weeks back, I admonished Long for making a sloppy delivery to my neighbor.”
“The asshole took offense and decided thatyouneeded admonishment.” Ryan’s free hand went to his shirt pocket, came away empty, the move a holdover from his years as a smoker. A sure sign of agitation.
“Long told Acorn that he’d bided his time until he had a delivery for me,” I went on. “When I answered the door, Birdie fired through the gap. Fearing he might dart into the traffic on Queens Road, and totally focused on recapturing the escapee, I instructed Long to leavethe package in the front hall. While he was inside the Annex and I was outside in cat pursuit, Long raced upstairs, shot a quick video, then stuck a recording device under the sideboard in the front hall. A good one, sensitive enough to pick up conversations on most of the first floor.”
“That’s how he knew what scared you, what scared Katy.”
“No. That conversation took place at a picnic in a park. During his stealth strike inside the Annex, Long also dropped a device into my purse.”
“Which was conveniently accessible in the hall.”
I nodded.
“What a bastard.”
“Agreed. Get this. Among other things, when Acorn ran his background check he learned that Long was a grad student in psych at the University of Alabama for about two heartbeats.”
“Meaning?”
“He was booted from the program after one semester.”
“On what grounds?”
“That info is sealed. But apparently, Long’s interest in human behavior never waned. He took to nailing up grisly displays to observe how people reacted.”
“Bear,” Ryan said.
“Yes.” The jolt of anger I felt startled me.
“Did Long shoot the dog?”
“He refuses to discuss it.”
“Ralph Balodis?”
“He denies killing anyone. Skinny’s certain he’ll eventually get Long to crack.”
I thought back to my conversation with Adina and our definition of evil. An act that is horrific, intentional, inexplicable, and the cause of extreme suffering.
After so much cold-blooded killing—of animals and people—and so much elaborate orchestration meant to terrify, Long, in my view, met every qualification.
