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Chapters (97)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. 1.
  6. 2.
  7. 3.
  8. 4.
  9. 5.
  10. 6.
  11. 7.
  12. 8.
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  18. 14.
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  20. 16.
  21. 17.
  22. 18.
  23. 19.
  24. SIX MONTHS LATER
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  26. 21.
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  28. 23.
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  30. 25.
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  32. 27.
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  85. 80.
  86. 81.
  87. 82.
  88. 83.
  89. 84.
  90. 85.
  91. 86.
  92. 87.
  93. SIX MORE MONTHS LATER
  94. 88.
  95. 89.
  96. Discover More
  97. About the Author

What good is revenge if the victim doesn’t know? Revenge, if the victim doesn’t know, is no revenge at all.

Revenge is not a stab in the back. It’s a stab in the front. Eye to eye. Knife to heart.

Zack looks at Karloff, the set of his jaw and his proud, deliberate movement. Zack is sure Karloff wouldn’t come into the courtroom unless he has the power. Unless he has control.

He must have a cell phone detonator in his pocket. A new detonator. Replacing Joey’s, which is in Zack’s pocket.

But he’s not going to blow himself up.

“And is this testimony, to the best of your recollection, entirely consistent with the testimony you gave in Joey Richter’s criminal court trial several weeks ago?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

Karloff’s eyes on him.

Emily’s eyes on him.

Lopez’s eyes on him.

His own eyes not leaving Karloff.

What’s he doing? What’s his plan?

80.

80.

When Detective Lopez—ex-Detective Lopez—sees Karloff enter the courtroom, he goes on high alert. He sits up. His traditional, easygoing, slothful style gets sloughed off, abandoned. He’s like a lounging mammal who’s suddenly roused, ready, transformed at a moment’s notice in a rush of adrenaline that courses through his considerable frame.

Lopez assumes he’s the only one in the courtroom who knows who Karloff is, besides Zack.

He knows what Karloff looks like only because he researched it on some police databases with his old password.

He researched it on the police databases only because Zack Yellin had asked about Karloff in passing, trying to be casual and informal and breezy about what he was up to. But Lopez knew that, whatever Zack was looking into, it was not casual and informal.

He knew Zack could be getting himself into trouble. Again. The kid has a proven knack for that.

Lopez’s hunch was that it could be the kind of trouble where maybe Lopez should come back to the city to make sure things unfolded smoothly and predictably with no further drama. Maybe he’d come and sit in the courtroom—just like a typical old, fat, retired cop, glad to be done with the case work but missing it too.

But there was also something in Lopez that hadn’t wanted to stop Zack. That’s why he’d given Zack access to the police database. He wanted to give the kid the free rein he needed. Because, well, he thought the kid might find something they’d all missed.

He’d noticed how suddenly nervous, how uncomfortable Zack looked up there on the stand when Karloff came in. Well, if the kid was in trouble, Lopez’s number was still in Zack’s phone, right? Smart, brave kid like Zack, he could dispense with courtroom etiquette and just text Lopez in an emergency.