The Death List by Paul Johnston

Author:Paul Johnston [Johnston, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Contemporary Fiction, Crime Fiction, Murder, Serial Killers
ISBN: 9780778324812
Google: eTslRL6aV_YC
Amazon: B0061Q5RDW
Goodreads: 1280700
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2007-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

18

I didn’t have to wait for the evening news to find out what had happened to Alexander Drys. My mobile rang a quarter of an hour before I left to pick up Lucy.

“Matt.”

“What have you done, you bastard?” I yelled.

The Devil paused. “A little more caution, my friend.” His voice still friendly. “I know the police have been to see you. How do you know they haven’t got you under surveillance?”

I went to the front window. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “Look, you murdering maniac,” I said, lowering my voice. “Tell me what you did to Drys.”

“All right. First I cut off his hands—the ones that typed those nasty, unfair reviews of your books. Then I sliced out his tongue and inserted it in his rectum. After all, he’d been licking his rich friends’ arses for years. He was wriggling and squirming a lot then, so his head was beaten to a pulp with a ball-peen hammer. No more vicious thoughts from that perverted brain, eh, Matt?”

I’d collapsed onto the sofa as he recounted the horrors like a schoolboy proudly reciting a poem.

“Matt? Are you there? Don’t tell me you’re unhappy about that shitbag’s less-than-pleasant death. I know how much you hated him.”

How did he know? How long had he been bugging me? I’d ranted about Drys to Sara, but not recently. The poor bastard hadn’t even bothered to review my last novel.

“Matt? At least congratulate me on ridding the world of a literary bloodsucker.”

“You’re out of your mind,” I finally managed to say. “Why did you pick on him? He couldn’t have done anything to you.” Then I remembered what he’d said—hands, tongue, hammer to skull—and my stomach constricted even tighter. “Christ, that was what happened to one of the villains in the first Sir Tertius novel.”

“The Italian Tragedy, that’s right.” The Devil gave an easy laugh. “Hey, Matt, we’re friends, aren’t we? I’ve got to the end of my own death list, so now I’ve started on yours.”

My blood ran cold. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. And don’t worry. You’ve got the perfect alibi. The police were round at your place when Drys got his.” He sniggered. “Of course, you could have hired someone to kill him.” He gave an even nastier laugh. “You could have hired me.” The line went dead.

I threw the phone down in despair. What did he mean by my death list? Jesus, was he going to wipe out everyone I’d ever expressed a negative feeling about? If that was the case, there were going to be a lot of dead people in the publishing business—editors, agents, publicity girls, marketing people, fellow novelists whose success I resented, booksellers who hadn’t chosen my books for their three-for-two promotions…

The Devil couldn’t be serious.

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