Divine Evil Read Online Free PDF

right.
    But then, one dripping summer afternoon, he and his partner had chased a twenty-year-old petty dealer and his screaming hostage into a crumbling building in South East.
    Everything had changed.
    “Cameron?” A hand on Cam's shoulder broke him out of his reverie. He looked up at Emmitsboro's mayor.
    “Mr. Atherton.”
    “Mind if I join you?” With a quick smile, James Atherton settled his long, thin body into the vinyl seat opposite Cam. He was a man of angles, with a bony, slightly melancholy face and pale blue eyes-an Ichabod Crane of a man-white, freckled skin, sandy hair, long neck, long limbs.
    There was a ballpoint pen and a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses in the pocket of his sports coat. He always wore sports coats and shiny black, laced shoes. Cam couldn'trecall seeing Atherton in tennis shoes, or jeans or shorts. He was fifty-two and looked like what he was, a high school science teacher and public servant. He had been mayor of Emmitsboro, hardly a full-time job, since Cam was a teenager. It was an arrangement that suited Atherton and the town perfectly.
    “Coffee?” Cam asked and automatically signaled for the waitress, though she was already heading their way, pot in hand.
    “Thank you, Alice,” Atherton said as she poured.
    “Get you some breakfast, Mayor?”
    “No, I had mine already.” But he eyed the plastic cake plate on the counter. “Those doughnuts fresh?”
    “Just this morning.”
    He gave a little sigh as he added cream and two whopping spoons of sugar to his coffee. “I don't suppose you've got any of those apple-filled-with the cinnamon on top?”
    “Got one with your name on it.” Alice gave him a wink and walked off to fetch the doughnut.
    “No willpower,” Atherton said as he took his first delicate sip of coffee. “Between you, me, and the gatepost, it frustrates the wife that I can eat like a horse and never put on weight.”
    “How is Mrs. Atherton?”
    “Min's just fine. Got a bake sale going this morning over at the middle school. Trying to raise money for new band uniforms.” After Alice set his doughnut in front of him, Atherton picked up a knife and fork. His napkin was spread neatly over his lap.
    Cam had to smile. No slurping up sticky apple chunks for the mayor. Atherton's neatness was as dependable as a sunrise.
    “Heard you had an unusual disturbance last night.” “A nasty one.” Cam could still see the dark, gapinggrave. He picked up his cooling coffee. “We took pictures last night and roped off the site. I drove by early this morning. The ground was hard and dry. No footprints. The place was neat as a pin.”
    “Kids, perhaps, playing an early Halloween prank?”
    “My first thought,” Cam admitted. “But it doesn't feel right. Kids aren't usually so tidy.”
    “It's unfortunate and upsetting.” Atherton ate his doughnut in small bites, chewing and swallowing before speaking. “In a town like ours, we don't expect this kind of nonsense. The fact that it was an old grave and there are no relatives around to be affected helps, of course.” Atherton set down his fork, dusted his fingers on his napkin, then picked up his cup. “In a few days, the talk will die down, and people will forget. But I wouldn't like to see such an incident repeated.” He smiled then, just as he did when a slow student managed to cop an A. “I know you'll handle it all with discretion, Cameron. Just let me know if I can help in any way.”
    “I'll do that.”
    After taking out his wallet, Atherton drew two crisp, uncreased singles out, then tucked the corners under the empty plate. “I'll be on my way, then. I have to put in an appearance at the bake sale.”
    Cam watched him stroll out, exchange waves with a few pedestrians, and walk down Main.
    He spent the rest of the day with paperwork and routine patrols. But before sundown, he drove out to the cemetery again. For nearly thirty minutes, he stayed there, brooding down at the small, empty grave.
    Carly