Chapters (68)
- Dedication
- Title Page
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- 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
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Copyright
“The man who was already at the bar when Brian Gaffney came in. The one I thought was him.”
“Oh yeah, this guy,” Axel said, pointing to the screen. “The one I asked for ID.”
“At a glance,” Duckworth said, “you could almost mistake one for the other. I mean, they’re not twins, but they’re wearing much the same clothing. Same build, hair color, et cetera.”
“Yup.”
“Speed it up again?”
Axel advanced the video. When it reached the point where Brian Gaffney got up to leave, Duckworth had Axel slow it down.
“So there he goes.” Soon after that, Trevor and Carol slid out of their booth and left too.
The man with a passing resemblance to Brian was still at the bar, looking most of the time at his phone, as though playing a game.
“Speed it up again.”
The video advanced. Duckworth asked Axel to slow it down when the man got off the bar stool and started heading for the door.
He noted that the time was 9:43. Eleven minutes after Gaffney had left.
The man was passing by a table of four men sharing a pitcher when one of them suddenly grabbed his arm, pointed and said something.
“What’s going on there?” Duckworth asked.
“Yeah, I remember that. They were giving him a hard time for a few seconds on his way out.”
“He do something to piss them off?”
“Not that I saw. But one of these guys, he yells at him, ‘Hey, you, big baby.’ Or something like that.”
Duckworth nodded slowly, getting as good a look as he could at the man. “I’ll be damned.”
“You recognize him?” Axel asked.
Duckworth just smiled. “Thanks for your help. This is better than a hundred free drinks.”
He returned to the table, where Maureen was taking a sip of her wine.
“Some guy tried to pick me up while you were gone,” she said as he settled back into the seat.
“You’re kidding,” he said.
“That’s the wrong answer,” she told him.
“Who was it?”
“That one over there, at the pool table, about to take a shot. Not bad looking for someone who’s seeing seventy in the rear-view mirror.”
“I suppose I’ll have to shoot him,” Duckworth said. The waitress arrived with their food. “But I’ll eat first.”
“Good God,” Maureen said, looking at the pile of wings on her husband’s plate. “I might as well just call the ambulance now.”
He picked up a wing, bit into it. “I think they got the wrong guy.”
“What?”
“They didn’t want Brian. They wanted the Big Baby.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Maureen said.
Twenty-Six
TWENTY-SIX
CAL