Read Online Night Mask by William W. Johnstone - Free Book Online Page A

Lafayette. More bodies over the years.
    â€œIt can’t be the twins doing it all,” Leo said, as they rolled along through Indiana, nearing the Illinois border. “They’re not old enough, and couldn’t have covered this much ground.”
    â€œI agree. The older half brother and sister must be in on it.”
    â€œOr more.”
    â€œElucidate, please.”
    â€œElucidate? Don’t go fancy on me, kid.”
    â€œYou want to explain?”
    â€œIt’s a club.”
    â€œA club?”
    â€œA killing club.”
    She arched one eyebrow and waited. According to a road sign, Danville, Illinois was only a few miles away.
    â€œI don’t believe any of that crap Karl Muller told us about the house and the torture chambers and all that. I don’t think Mr. and Mrs. Longwood were killers or kinky or anything like that. Just rich and arrogant and contemptuous of other people and overly protective of their twins. I think we’re going to find that the older half brother and sister started the killings, and then saw the twisted minds of Jim and Jack and introduced them to the ... well, call it a game for want of a better word. I also think that the twins were—contrary to what we’ve been told—confined at one time or the other, to mental institutions. And there, they recruited other people who were and are twisted in the same way.”
    They crossed over into Illinois before Lani spoke. “You’ve been working on that theory for several days, haven’t you?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œAll right. What about those recruited in the institutions? Are they still active? Are they still killing?”
    â€œMaybe. Some of them. But not very many of them.”
    â€œThe twins and their half brother and sister killed them, didn’t they?”
    â€œThat’s the way I see it.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œTo permanently shut their mouths.”
    â€œAll right. I’ll go along with that. What’s the total, so far?”
    â€œTo this point on the map?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œForty-seven bodies.”
    â€œNow we’re coming up on that four-year gap between ’78 and ’82.”
    â€œYeah. So when we get to Peoria, we start checking for mental institutions around the state, and we visit every one of them.”
    â€œThose goddamn shrinks aren’t going to tell us anything.”
    Leo smiled. “But disgruntled ex-employees will.”
    * * *
    Leo and Lani got the names of mental institutions around the state, rented a P.O. Box in Peoria, and ran an ad in several of the state’s larger newspapers. The ad claimed a class action lawsuit was about to be filed against certain (unnamed) mental institutions throughout Illinois, both state and private. Any interested parties should come to Room 103 at a local motel.
    â€œTalk about illegal and not worth a damn in court,” Lani groused, after reading the ad.
    â€œThis case will never come to court, Lani,” her partner said bluntly. “These people will never allow themselves to be taken alive.”
    Lani had faxed the school pictures of Jim and Jack Longwood back to California, and had received a computer enhancement of what the boys would look like at various ages. The pictures were thumbtacked up in the room. The cops would ask no direct questions about the boys. They were already breaking enough laws without adding possible harassment charges to the growing list. They hoped that someone would recognize the pictures and volunteer information.
    Lani and Leo took down names and addresses and listened to dozens of complaints for two days, before a woman stared at the enhancements and blurted out, “My God! The twins from hell!”
    â€œI beg your pardon?” Lani asked, trying to keep the excitement from her voice.
    â€œJim and Jack Silverman,” the woman said. “Jack was released after being confined for about a year. Jim escaped from