Chapters (57)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Praise for Linwood Barclay
- Also by Linwood Barclay
- About the Publisher
Joe’s right hand was moving toward his holstered weapon. Quickly, Sandra raised the gun and pointed it at him.
“What are you doing?” Joe asked.
“What are you doing?” she shot back at him. “You were going for your gun. Why would you be doing that? You think I’m going to want to shoot you for some reason?”
Joe raised his palms, as if in surrender. “I just want to keep an eye on him,” he said, gesturing toward Kyle.
“Why? You think he’s some kind of threat? A second ago you asked who he was. Right now, he’s out cold. Why would you want to pull a gun on him?”
“I don’t know what—”
“Does he need to die, too? So there’s no one who can contradict your story? No one who can implicate you?”
“Sandra, what—what are you talking about? Look, these last few hours, they’ve been horrible for all of us. We’re all on edge, our minds going places they shouldn’t.” He extended a hand. “Why don’t you just give me that gun and—”
Sandra took a step back, careful not to step on a length of broken picket fence, and put her other hand on the gun. She wrapped both hands around it, keeping it steady.
“Put your gun on the ground,” she said. “Really, really slowly.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not—”
“Do it!” she screamed, keeping the gun trained on him.
With deliberate slowness, Joe lifted his weapon from his holster, bent at the knee, and dropped it carefully onto the ground.
“There. Happy?”
“You killed him,” she said, her voice nearly breaking as she said the words.
Joe quickly glanced at Kyle and back again. “He’s a liar. Whatever he told you, it’s a lie.”
“God, Joe, how . . . how could you . . .”
Joe rubbed a palm across his mouth, as though buying time, trying to figure out what to say.
Sandra repeated the accusation. “You killed him.”
“That’s not . . . that’s not really true, Sandra. I swear. He wasn’t going to make it. There wouldn’t have been anything the paramedics could have done, even if they’d been right there. I did call them. I did. But maybe . . . maybe I could have called sooner.”
Sandra blinked. Katie had moved away from Bruce, and Archie was standing a few feet away, both of them listening now.