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Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  52. Acknowledgments
  53. About the Author
  54. ALSO BY FAYE KELLERMAN
  55. Credits
  56. Copyright
  57. About the Publisher

“All it takes is about six to nine minutes of strangulation before the person expires,” Marge said. “According to my calculations, that’s plenty of time.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

WITH AROUND HALF the classes being Jewish subjects, Gabe had lots of free periods—all in all a pretty sweet deal.

At 7:35, there was Morning Prayer.

He was excused from that.

There was something called Gemara: Hannah explained it as interpretation of scriptures.

He was excused from that.

English was English. The only difference was that the class was rowdier than he was used to. If his friends mouthed off to their teachers in the way these Jewish kids did, they would not only have been expelled, they would have had the crap beat out of them by their fathers. St. Luke’s was supposed to be a Catholic prep school, but it was mostly a holding ground until the boys went off in their fathers’ businesses and the girls got pregnant, married, and divorced—uh, excuse me, annulled. There were some smart kids who made it to the Ivies, but most went to State provided that their gray matter wasn’t completely pickled in alcohol or drugs by the time they graduated.

So far, the new place was okay. No one tried to mess with him and he kept to himself.

After English, there was Jewish History. Since that class was given in English, they told him to go and try it out. It was all about the Holocaust: he actually found a situation that was far worse than his. They were talking about the Warsaw Ghetto, which he had never heard about.

American History was American History.

And after attending Math, it was clear that the place prized brains over brawn. He could compete on that level, but why bother? It wasn’t that the kids were assholes, it’s just that his unstable life had turned even more temporary, so it didn’t make any sense to try to integrate. The girls ran the gamut between ugly and cute. Not a lot of blondes. About half of the brunettes had pale pink skin, the other half were olive-complexioned with curly black hair—Mediterranean-looking, which he liked because he grew up with a lot of Italians. The girls glanced at him with stealthy looks and half-closed eyes. He wasn’t interested, and even if he was, what was the point? The only real redheaded girl he’d seen was Hannah.

He liked Hannah. She was easy to be with, didn’t ask questions, had a wicked sense of humor, and there was absolutely no sexual tension between them. It was like she was an instant big sister. He was amazed that she was so accepting of his intrusion. He knew that if the situation had been reversed, he wouldn’t have been nearly so magnanimous.