The Devil's Only Friend Read Online Free PDF

building more anticipation. I held my hands in tight fists, pushing out the blood until my knuckles were white as bone.
    No rest for the wicked.

 
    2
    Here’s a logic puzzle for you: there are four people, named Grant, Bill, Marci, and April. Each one has a different eye color: blue, brown, green, and hazel. Each one has a different role: girlfriend, neighbor, therapist, and mother. Each one died in a different way: a stabbing, a slit throat, slit wrists, and fire. One of the women died alone. The other woman died without a blade. One of the men killed the other one and then he, in turn, was killed by a child. All of them loved the child, but the child didn’t save any of them. Can you solve the puzzle and find the answer?
    Do you even know what answer you’re looking for?
    “Good morning, John.” Dr. Trujillo was an older man, short and squat, his white hair making a stark contrast with his bronze skin. Him I’d probably poison, though there were other options depending on the circumstance. His shirt was wrinkled enough that I assumed he must have spent the night on the cot in the room next to Brooke’s—we’d paid Whiteflower extra to get a second room, and Trujillo slept there more often than not. He stood when I walked toward him. “I heard about the project yesterday; I’m glad it went well.”
    We always called them “projects” in public. “Job” felt too crass, “mission” attracted too much attention, and “government authorized murder of a supernatural monster” just didn’t have that sassy ring to it.
    “It pays the bills,” I said. He tilted his head analytically, and I rolled my eyes. “Is she awake?”
    “Let me ask you a question first,” he said, as if my permission had anything to do with it. “When you say that our work ‘pays the bills,’ what do you mean? Obviously it’s true, but it’s not a way you’ve ever characterized our work before.”
    “Do we have to do this right now?”
    “I’m your psychologist, John, assigned to this unit specifically to help keep you and Brooke on an even keel. The reasons why you do the work you do are every bit as important as the work itself, and if you’ve begun to think—”
    “Is she awake yet?”
    “If you’ve begun to think of yourself less as a protector of human life and more as a contract killer, that’s exactly the kind of thing I need to be watching out for.”
    Trujillo was the most zealous therapist I’d ever had, but on the plus side, having a lot of therapists meant I’d gotten really good at pissing them off. “Actually I prefer to swing as far as I can in the opposite direction,” I said. “I have a full-on messiah complex now. I don’t just protect people, I’m the outright savior of mankind.” I spread my arms beatifically.
    “Now you’re just being belligerent,” said Trujillo. “That’s a deflection tactic, and we’ve talked about this before.”
    “I don’t need to deflect anything,” I said, “I’m impervious to harm. Try it—you packing? I’m sure there’s a zip gun or a shiv somewhere in this place, it’s a psych ward. Of course, if you try to harm me you’ll be damned for eternity and live forever without My grace.”
    Trujillo put his fingers on the bridge of his nose, sighing or pressing down on a headache. “Why do you do this, John?”
    “If I tell you, it’s cheating. You’re supposed to figure it out on your own.”
    “I’m here to help you.”
    “I’m here to see Brooke,” I said. “Is she awake yet?”
    He stared at me a moment, exasperated. I got to see his exasperated face a lot. “If not now, can we at least talk about this later?”
    “Does it matter if I say no?”
    “You can always say no,” he said, “but you know what will happen if you do. I can’t sign off on your psychiatric readiness to perform your job unless you open up to me.”
    “In your defense,” I said, “the illusion of freedom is one of my favorite illusions. Also that one where you can