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
There had to be payback. You couldn’t crush a man’s soul and expect to get away with it. The way Brandon Kyle saw it, there was nothing left to lose, only one way to settle the score.
“Excuse me?”
Kyle, still leaning up against the railing, turned. A slight, balding man in his thirties was standing three feet away, leaning in curiously, peering at Kyle through a pair of black-framed glasses.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said. “Clyde Travers, Consumer Safety magazine.”
“Hey,” Kyle said.
Travers was extending a hand, so Kyle, with some reluctance, took it. “Nice to meet you. Ben Stapleton, Wheel Base Trends.”
“Kind of lonely back here,” Travers said, chuckling nervously. “Everyone else is up front. I guess people like to see where they are going instead of where they’ve been.”
Kyle feigned a friendly smile but said nothing. But Clyde was correct. This end of the ferry, on this lower deck, was an out-of-the way spot. Kyle had chosen it because he wanted to be alone with his thoughts, and now this guy had come along.
Travers was looking intently at Kyle, as if trying to place him. “Have we met before?”
“I don’t think so,” Brandon Kyle said, because no one, before today, had ever met Ben Stapleton. But Kyle did believe he recognized Travers. The man had interviewed him at some point.
“Are you sure?” Travers persisted. “Because you look familiar.”
Kyle shrugged. “Maybe at some other event.”
Travers wouldn’t stop staring. “You know who you look like?”
Kyle had that feeling you get when you think you’ve lost your wallet. “Who?” he asked, slowly.
“That Gandalf guy. Brandon Kyle.”
Kyle laughed nervously. “I wish. I’d love a full head of hair and a six-pack.” He patted the stuffing strapped to his waist. “But like I said, I’m Ben Stapleton, Wheel Base.”
Travers was looking him right in the eye. “No, I don’t think so. I’ve interviewed you three times over the years. In 2018, when the first Gandalfs were coming off the line.” He smiled wryly as he looked Kyle up and down. “What’s with the disguise? That is, unless you’ve really been getting into the Krispy Kremes in a big way the last few months.”
Kyle wasn’t ready to concede defeat. “Honestly, I’m not who you think I am.”
Travers took out his phone. “So, if I look up Ben Stapleton and Wheel Base Trends, I’m gonna see your picture and byline, am I?”
Kyle reached out a cautioning hand. “Okay, fine, put your phone away.”
Travers grinned with satisfaction. “So what gives?”
Kyle sighed and looked back out to sea, elbows on the railing. “It’s a long story.”