Back A Small Town Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Thomas Perry
  3. THOMAS PERRY
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. Back Cover

Before she’d brought her suitcase out to the car, she had looked over the rest of the list of people who had volunteered to go after the missing killers. It had contained some names she had expected: Ray McClellan, the ATF agent who had come back to town to retire and worked a few nights a week bartending at the Parkman House because he liked the company; Marjorie Clay, whose family owned the hardware store but who had been working as a private investigator in Denver; and her business partner Kristen Green, who often served as bait in traps because she was strikingly beautiful. There had been some surprises, including a man named Kenneth Long, who had never been to Weldonville but whose ex-wife had been born there. She had moved back to town with their son and daughter and all three had been killed on July 19. He owned a security company in New York that she’d actually heard of. They provided protection for important people. She had torn up the list, put the pieces in her garbage disposal, and washed them away before she’d left. Taking those people along would have been a terrible waste. She had always been a great homicide cop. She didn’t need anybody’s help to commit a few murders.

7

The drive was over a hundred miles along Interstate 76, heading over low, flat plains that slowly rose in altitude until the Denver airport. It was late night now, and much of the other traffic on the interstate highway consisted of long-haul tractor trailers grinding along at a constant speed. There was no rain and not much wind, so the trucks would probably make good time and be able to get into safe spots where the driver could park and get some sleep, then drive the last few miles into Denver to unload. Leah would hold out until morning and sleep after the plane took off.

As she drove, she thought about the men she was hunting. She knew most of their lives by heart. All twelve of the men she was looking for were transfers from one or another of the 122 prisons in the federal system. They came over a period of about a year, most from different prisons, and none of them at exactly the same time.