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Back Parting Shot Save as PDF
Chapters (68)
  1. Dedication
  2. Title Page
  3. Contents
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Forty-Six
  49. Forty-Seven
  50. Forty-Eight
  51. Forty-Nine
  52. Fifty
  53. Fifty-One
  54. Fifty-Two
  55. Fifty-Three
  56. Fifty-Four
  57. Fifty-Five
  58. Fifty-Six
  59. Fifty-Seven
  60. Fifty-Eight
  61. Fifty-Nine
  62. Sixty
  63. Sixty-One
  64. Sixty-Two
  65. Sixty-Three
  66. Sixty-Four
  67. Sixty-Five
  68. Copyright

“This is . . . no, this is ridiculous. And what does that have to do with this Dolly girlfriend of his? She never did anything wrong like that.”

“Certainly not that I know of,” Duckworth said. “But that’s why it would be helpful to speak with your son.”

“Let me try him again.” Alastair snatched up the receiver and pressed that one button again. “It’s still going to message.”

“Maybe he’s expecting you to call,” Duckworth said. “And he knows it’s not going to be good news.”

Alastair cradled the receiver. “Jesus Christ,” he said. He ran his hand over his mouth nervously. “None of this makes any sense. I know what happened to that man you referenced. Craig Pierce. He was attacked by a dog. He was disfigured.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t think Cory had anything to do with that?”

“Mr Calder, I’d like to have a look at Cory’s room. I can do it now, with your permission. Or I could see about getting a warrant.”

Alastair Calder sat, Buddha-like, for several seconds, not blinking, not moving. Finally he said, “You’re not going to find anything.”

“Maybe not,” Duckworth conceded. “But I’m guessing that right now, you’re as anxious as I am to find out whether I will.”

Thirty-Nine

THIRTY-NINE

ALBERT Gaffney did not giggle for long.

After a very brief, giddy celebration of Ron Frommer’s demise, he began to appreciate what he had actually done.

“Oh God,” he said aloud. “Oh God oh God oh God.”

He dropped the bloodied crowbar he’d used to crack Ron Frommer’s skull. Blood continued to leak from Ron’s temple as he lay there on the ground by the back of his pickup truck.

Albert looked around, on the off chance that someone might have seen what he’d done. But the house Frommer had been working on, in his role as a renovator, was tucked into the woods off the main road. So long as squirrels could not be called to testify, Albert was probably going to be okay.

But no, he thought. I have to call the police. I have to tell them what I did.

That would be the moral thing to do, right? He’d tell the police what he’d done. Okay, he might shade things slightly. Tell them that Ron Frommer was threatening him when he grabbed the crowbar. It was self-defense.

And even if Frommer hadn’t actually been threatening him at the moment Albert struck him, he was probably going to. The man had attacked his son. He had a history.

“Yes,” Albert said under his breath. “I had to do this. I had no choice. He was attacking me. He’d attacked my son, and now he was attacking me.”

The good thing was, Ron was not going to be able to contradict his story.