BooksBarbecue
Back Blood in the Water Save as PDF
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

“You’ll miss me, darlin’?” he said. “Are you going somewhere?”

SIXTEEN

Diamond walked along Congress at the northern end of Southie, her collar up against the relentless wind coming off the harbor. It was ten o’clock in the morning and the sun was bright and low in the winter sky, casting a flat light against the brick exteriors of the converted warehouses that were home to tech startups and fledgling advertising agencies and small law firms. The area was changing rapidly. When Diamond was growing up, it had been a wasteland of parking lots and abandoned buildings pocked with a few basement taverns stretching between the glass and steel towers of downtown Boston, and the bustling blue-collar enclave of South Boston. Back then, it had been a no-man’s-land, where people might hide from the interest of the police; a rabbit’s warren bubbling with the promise of what might be if you were brazen enough and had the right connections. The commercial development vultures, though, had swept in over the past decade and picked the bones of what was there, cleaning and subdividing the warehouses and clearing the parking lots for dozens of modern towers to be filled with luxury apartments and high-end business tenants.

Diamond missed the wasteland.

Her father had been out all night, which wasn’t unusual. She understood. It would take him a little while to come to grips with the reality she had dropped in his lap. She could wait, and they would figure it out. Her father was nothing if not a practical man.

She headed south, away from the downtown area. It was so cold out that she had to get moving or freeze. The city seemed to have lost the ability to retain heat. Even the sunlight had a cold edge to it.

She had the day to herself. That was the blessing and curse of free time, she was beginning to realize. Her father was after her to go to college. She’d done well in high school, and she would have no problem getting into a good school, but she wanted time to herself before making that decision. She just wasn’t sure yet that college was for her.

Now, though, after six months of working bars and tables, she was having internal doubts. She had thought she would enjoy her freedom more. Truth be told, she was finding more boredom than anything else in it, and she missed the structure of school and the challenges it provided. Perhaps she would consider applying for next year, but she couldn’t yet. It would be an admission of error that she wasn’t able to stomach.