Page 27 of Two Kinds of Stranger

Stood.

Laughed and applauded.

One by one, as predictably as the sunrise, the department heads stood alongside him, beaming smiles at Logan.

‘Logan, you’re a goddamn genius, you know that?’ said Hartfield. ‘Where did you learn marketing? Harvard? Yale?’

Logan stood, shook Hartfield’s hand, said, ‘I’ve never studied marketing. I’m a behavioral psychologist. I know what people think. I know what they do. I know what they feel. More importantly, I know how to make people buy whatever I want them to buy. . .’

‘We’ve been playing this the wrong way all these years. We do have a good product, and we should be making more money from it. Thank you.’

‘My pleasure,’ said Logan, and as he released Hartfield’s grip he felt his phone vibrate again, three times. Three notifications.

His very teeth ached to look at that phone. But he resisted.

‘I’ll be honest, Logan, I’ve been looking for a creative guy like you to spearhead a new direction for this company. We’d love to have you join Hartfields as Vice President of—’

‘I’m afraid I must refuse. I like to stay in private consultancy, Mr. Hartfield. Don’t worry, you’ll be paying me a lot of money for these campaigns, but I like to be flexible and work with different companies. It suits my lifestyle better.’

‘Oh, sure, God, tell me about it. Nothing like being your own boss. Say, what do you do in your spare time? Racquetball? Golf? I would love to take you out on the course for an afternoon. We could hit nine and then hit the bar.’

‘I’m afraid I don’t play sports.’

‘But you look like an athlete. What is it? Running?’

‘Yes, in part, but I run alone. And I train alone.’

‘Come on, Logan. I’m trying to seduce you into my company here. Let’s do something together, get it in the diary. What do you like to do to relax?’

A slow, long smile spread over Logan’s face as he said, ‘I kill people.’

All the air left the room. Silence and shock. The room was frozen, like a cold breeze on an Alaskan lake.

Logan let his grin widen further, his eyes playful.

Hartfield pointed at him, the laugh came deep from his great belly, then he said, ‘You sonofabitch, you’re fucking with me. Damn, you almost got me on that one. . .’

Logan made pistols with his fingers, mock shooting him, laughing along with Hartfield as the rest of the room joined in with nervous laughter.

After ten minutes, and more congratulatory talk and plans, they agreed on half a million dollars for Logan to prepare a detailed strategy and tactical marketing plan.

Contracts would be sent in a few weeks. Logan left the room.

He walked along the corridor to the sound of Hartfield, still roaring with enthusiasm in the conference room, his obnoxious voice growing fainter with every step. Logan walked into the elevator, and could feel the phone in his jacket, heavy and delicious, loaded with notifications that would spike his adrenalin, giving him a dopamine hit and releasing juicy pleasure endorphins. The anticipation was intoxicating.

Delayed gratification is sweet. Logan knew this more than most.

It wasn’t until he was on the street and headed for the subway that he took his phone from his jacket pocket. Logan could easily afford a town car and a driver. And, for a time, he had enjoyed those pleasures–but he missed the subways. It was on the trains that Logan had time to study people. Their faces, their reactions to different social and environmental situations. Ride the subways in New York for a week and you will learn more about human beings and psychology than spending a week in close study of the great textbooks.

Once you understood the mechanisms and triggers for human behavior, the subway becomes an entire psychology course. Logan liked to be among people, so that he could watch them unobserved. People of all walks of life used the subway, rich and poor, because it was still the fastest way around the city.

But, for now, his phone had his full attention. He had set an alert for news articles with specific search terms. Now, the results were coming in fast.

TikTok Star Elly Parker charged with double homicide in Manhattan.

The TikTok Murders: Influencer Charged in Revenge Slaying.

Social Media Kills. Elly Parker, TikTok Star, and Her Descent into Murder.