Free A Necessary Evil by Alex Kava Page A

refer to marriage as a plunge and then you wonder what your problem is?"
    Nick took another gulp of the iced tea as if needing to wash away the memory. What did Will Finley know anyway? People who were happy quickly forgot what misery felt like.
    Misery?
    What the hell was wrong with him? He wasn't miserable. Jill had saved him from his misery. Suddenly, he realized he had done it again __ strayed off. He glanced at Christine, expecting to see her impatience, but she wasn't looking at him. He followed her gaze, only now seeing the black-and-white in the driveway.
    "If this is one of those strip-o-grams, I know it was your idea, not Mom's."
    But Christine wasn't smiling.
    "I'm not sure what's going on."
    Two uniformed officers were talking with Father Tony. Nick's first thought was that there had been a car accident or something awful that required a priest and last rites. He watched Tony's head bob in agreement then watched him swing around, looking for and finally finding Nick. Nick attempted to wave to him that it was okay for him to leave the party, but Tony made his way through the crowded backyard, guests parting for him like a sea of pastels.
    "What's going on?" Christine asked, but Tony only shrugged, his eyes meeting and holding Nick's.
    "Omaha police want me to come down to the station to answer some questions."
    It took Nick by surprise. "To answer questions? About what?"
    Tony shrugged again, and he reminded Nick of when they were boys. That same shrug came anytime they got into trouble and an adult asked for an explanation.
    "Monsignor O'Sullivan was found dead in a restroom at the airport last night."
    "Oh my God," Christine said. "And it wasn't just a heart attack or they wouldn't have questions."
    Nick shot her a warning look. He could hear her shift into reporter gear, probably already taking notes in her head.
    "I hate to take you away from your own party, Nick. But can you come with me?"
    "Of course," Nick said without hesitation. He and Father Tony Gallagher had been friends since kindergarten when the two of them got deathly sick after eating almost a whole jar of paste. He thought he knew his good buddy pretty well, and unless it was his imagination, he didn't think Tony looked all that surprised about the monsignor being dead.

CHAPTER 15
    Washington, D.C.,
    T he number-one tool for dismemberment was the hacksaw, but from what Maggie could see, this guy must have never had one handy.
    Stan Wenhoff dropped several strands of the victim's hair into a bottle of solvent, giving the liquid a swirl before capping the bottle and setting it aside. While he removed hair and tissue samples, Maggie couldn't take her eyes off the decapitation area. A hacksaw usually left a fairly clean cut through the skin, joints and bone. Oftentimes there might be some bone chattering where the blade would jump and come down on a different area of the bone. For the most part a hacksaw was quite effective. Whatever tool this guy used had left a mess. Forget a little bone chattering. After Stan had cleaned the caked blood and river mud, the gaping area looked raw and shredded. There were jagged cuts, almost hacking marks in the bone and torn flesh where it looked as if he had ripped instead of cut.
    She had ruled out a disorganized killer because of the planning and discipline it had taken not just to discard the heads but to complete the grisly process three times. Not to mention that he had also been able to hide or dispose of the torsos without getting caught. Dismembering a body took time and privacy. No matter where he killed his victims, he would need to take them back someplace safe, someplace where he knew he wouldn't be interrupted, where he could make a mess and have time to clean up.
    And yet, something bothered Maggie. If he was, indeed, organized and had carefully planned each murder, why hadn't he gone to the trouble of buying a hacksaw or something that would have made the job much easier?
    The sound of electric hair