Page 59 of Dead Man's List

Tasker grew thoughtful. “I don’t know.”

Kit opened her mouth to get the conversation back on topic, but Sam stayed her with another shake of his head.

“You collected comic books,” Sam said.

Kit stared at Sam in surprise.

Tasker smiled, a genuine smile of pleasure. “I did. I miss my comics. Can’t get the ones I like in the commissary, and the ones in the library are ripped up.”

“How about five new comic books, whichever are the top sellers at the comic book store?” Sam asked.

“Ten.”

“Seven,” Sam countered. “And no collectibles. Whatever is hot off the press.”

Tasker nodded once. “Okay. I’ll tell you what I know about Munro.” He glanced sharply at Kit. “Hetreats me like a person.”

But Tasker wasn’t a person, Kit thought. At least not a good one. He’d murdered his wife and chopped her into pieces. But she was going to trust Sam. He’d been handling Tasker perfectly thus far.

“Understood,” she said. “Dr.Reeves?”

Sam folded his hands on the table, and it was then that Kit knew how very nervous he was. That, she’d learned, was one of his tells.

Her respect for Sam Reeves shot to the moon. He was terrified and no one would ever have known.

“Why didn’t you have Munro killed?” Sam asked.

Tasker was quiet for a long moment. Then he shrugged. “He has a kind of dead man’s switch, if you will,” Tasker said. “A list of all the bad things a person has done. If he’s killed, it will be made public.”

But nothing had been made public. Not yet.

Kit remembered Veronica’s voice as she’d made that call after they’d left her office.I haven’t found it yet, and I’ve searched.

Was that what she’d been looking for? Munro’s dead man’s switch? And why had she been searching for it? Was she the one who was supposed to publish it? Or did she want to destroy it because her name was included on the list? Kit didn’t know. Yet.

“All the bad things a ‘person’ has done?” Sam asked. “Or you?”

Tasker only shrugged.

“But you’re already in prison,” Sam said. “What could be on the list that is worse than what you were charged with?”

Tasker shook his head. “Nothing.”

Lie,Kit thought. That was a big, fat lie. But she wondered the same thing that Sam had asked. What could be worse than the time he was serving in prison?

“I don’t think that’s entirely true,” she said softly.

Tasker’s head whipped around to glare at her. “Are you calling me a liar, Detective?”

Kit wouldn’t deny it. “I’m just saying that if you didn’t fear the list, Munro would have been killed sooner. It’s only logical.”

“Who else is on the list, Mr.Tasker?” Sam asked, redirecting Tasker’s attention back to him.

Tasker grinned, an unholy sight. “That would require a lot more than comic books, Dr.Reeves. Movers and shakers, for sure. You’d be astounded.”

“I probably wouldn’t,” Sam said. “I’ve learned that everyone has secrets.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But I’m telling you that if you find that list, you’ll find out who killed him. And it wasn’t me.”

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