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Back Blood in the Water
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

“Yeah.” Cicero reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “I got it here.” He handed it over to Cormack.

“If there’s a record of a phone call from Thursday night right around the time that you left the Mariner, I’m going to have Mr. Andolini, here, get a little more persuasive.”

“I didn’t say I never called anyone, but I didn’t call Soh!” Buddy screamed. Now there was real terror in his voice.

Cormack touched the phone screen. “What’s the security code, Buddy?” he demanded.

“I swear to fuckin’ God, I didn’t call him! I’ve never talked to him! You got this wrong!”

“Only one way to find out, I guess,” Cormack said. “What’s the code?”

“You can’t do this!”

Cormack nodded at Cicero, and he hit Buddy once in the face and once in the stomach. Buddy was hunched forward again, trying to get the wind back in his lungs. “Pick his head up,” Cormack ordered.

Cicero took hold of Buddy’s hair and pulled his head up and back hard. Buddy’s body resisted involuntarily, still trying to double over in pain.

Cormack pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and laid it casually on his knee, the barrel pointed loosely in Buddy’s direction. “What’s the code, Buddy?” he asked again in a low, threatening tone.

Buddy’s head was back, his eyes wide with terror. Finally, he said, “It’s ten, eleven, ninety-five.”

Cormack gave a weak smile. “Your birthday, I presume?”

Buddy tried to nod, but Cicero was still holding his head back by the hair.

“Makes you a Libra, right? Me too. Libras are known for their fairness. I’m being as fair as I can be here, but my guess is your luck has run out, son.” Cormack knew from the look on Cavanaugh’s face that he understood he was a dead man. Cormack just hoped he could get some useful information out of him before he put the lad down.

He put in the security code and the phone’s screen popped open, giving him access to all of Buddy Cavanaugh’s phone records, texts, and social media. Cormack clicked on the phone icon and scrolled through the list of calls made in the past few days. There weren’t many, and Cormack found what he was looking for almost immediately. It was an outgoing call made at 10:51 the previous Thursday to an unsaved number. It was a short call, lasting exactly eleven seconds. Cormack felt an odd sense of satisfaction at having been right. He turned the phone and showed the readout to Buddy. “There you go,” he said. “That’s the call.”

The terror was still in Buddy’s eyes, but there was something odd about it. He was looking at the phone with something that approached longing and sadness.