Depths of Depravity Read Online Free PDF

for me to pay attention to them.”
    “ Lily…”
    “ Wait a second. I just remembered. I think I might actually have something on him.”
    Lily spun around in her chair and set her nail file to the side. She typed away on her keyboard and I watched her search for any relevant information.
    “What do you know?” she said. “Landon Schrader actually does show up in my database.”
    “ What does it say?”
    “ Let me see… Self-made billionaire… Government contracts… Not married… Spends time by himself… Sorry, Victoria. None of this is really interesting.”
    “ Do you have any way I could get in contact with him?”
    “ Hmm… There’s a phone number here. You could try that. But that’s all I got for you.”
    “ Thanks, Lily.”
    I wrote the number down on an index card and shoved it into my pocket. As I started to walk away, Lily yelled out to me.
    “I want some credit if Patrick loves whatever it is you got planned.”
    “ Don’t worry, Lily. You’ll get what you deserve.”
    I smiled at her as she resumed her conversation. I headed back to Roy, who was still working meticulously on a set of photos on his desk.
    “Roy, are you busy?”
    “ I’m always busy, Victoria. You know that.”
    “ I mean, do you have any specific photo assignments you’re working on? Outside of the office, are you doing anything?”
    “ Not in particular, no.”
    “ Great. I need you to do me a favor.”
    “ Sure. What is it?”
    “ I want you to follow Landon Schrader.”
    “ What?”
    Roy spun away from his desk and stared at me. He shook his head in disbelief and I couldn ’t help but give him a devious smile.
    “ You want me to follow Landon Schrader?” he said. “Follow him for what?”
    “ I want you to take photos of him. I want to know what he does when he’s not in his office. I want to know where he’s at when he’s not working. Everything.”
    “ Victoria, you must have me confused with someone else. We work for a magazine, not the CIA. Besides, his security wouldn’t have any part of it.”
    “ So just stay out of their way. You don’t have to be right next to him. Don’t you have a zoom lens or something?”
    “ Yeah but… Victoria, is there a point to all of this? I mean, you want me to take pictures of him and find out where he spends all of his time outside of work.”
    “ I’ve got a hunch.”
    “ A hunch? That’s it? Victoria—”
    “ Roy, trust me. There’s more to this story than Jennifer realized. Maybe he’s just some weird guy who doesn’t want to deal with the media. Or maybe it’s something more serious. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m going to get him to talk and it’s going to be one of the best features I’ve ever written.”
    I was doing my best to get him to do this for me. Roy looked at me skeptically . I couldn’t blame him. Even I thought the idea sounded silly. My only lead was that he didn’t want to talk. I guess I was just hoping that Landon Schrader was hiding a secret from the public.
    “ Please, Roy,” I begged him. “There’s something here. I know it. I’ve just… I’ve got a feeling. It’s in my gut. I know that doesn’t make any sense. Just follow him for a couple of nights. If he doesn’t do anything interesting, you can stop.”
    “ Well…” he sighed. “I don’t have any other assignments lined-up. I suppose a few nights wouldn’t hurt. Can you at least lend me a few bucks so I could get something to eat?”
    “ Sure, Roy.”
    “ I should know better than to let you give me assignments. All of a sudden I’m on a stakeout…”
    Roy didn ’t understand what I was thinking but that didn’t matter. I had gotten him to see things from my perspective. If there were something here, I would find it. With the number Lily had given me, I finally had a lead. Now all I had to do was cross my fingers and hope that there was something to find.

C hapter 4
    Jennifer was right. I searched for any other information I