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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

Duckworth heard Alastair opening drawers. Finally he came around the bed and handed the detective a pair of scissors.

“I couldn’t find anything else,” he said.

Duckworth held the scissors by the pointed end, reached under the bed, and was able to connect with the jar. He moved it slightly in his direction, noticed a shimmering, and realized it contained some kind of liquid, in addition to something else. Very carefully, so as not to knock it over, he edged it even closer with the scissors until he was able to reach it with his hand.

He passed the scissors back to Alastair, then stuck his arm back under the bed and drew the jar out. Then he got to his knees and, still holding it in his hand, rested it atop the bed.

“Sweet Jesus, what the hell is that?” Alastair asked.

Duckworth checked the lid to see that it was on tight. The liquid in the jar had a yellowish tinge. Sitting on the bottom was a wrinkled, fleshy mass about the size of two small chicken gizzards. But they did not look like gizzards to Duckworth.

“What do they look like to you?” he asked Alastair.

“They look like . . . My God, they appear to be testicles.”

“That’s what they look like to me,” Duckworth said. “And I think I know who these just might belong to.”

So maybe the dog hadn’t swallowed everything after all.

Forty-Two

FORTY-TWO

CORY Calder felt energized. A nice way to feel, after so many missteps.

He’d met Jeremy Pilford. Face to face. Shook his hand. Looked him right in the eye! Well, almost. Jeremy seemed a little preoccupied at that moment, like maybe that guy with him had told him something he didn’t want to hear. Whatever. It didn’t matter.

This was so different than what had happened with Craig Pierce, or even Brian Gaffney, although the less said about that one the better. Cory had to admit, he felt bad about Gaffney.

Gaffney had looked, at a glance, so much like Jeremy Pilford. He was even dressed more or less the same. Cory and Dolly had watched Jeremy go into Knight’s and were waiting for him to come out. And when he did, or when someone who looked very much like him did, Dolly said, “Hey, how ya doing, can you help me out here? I dropped a contact.”

The dude stepped into the alley, Cory came up behind him, chloroformed him. They dragged him to the van, which they’d left parked at the end of the alley.

Would have been so much better if it had been the right guy.

And then, to make matters worse, someone recognized Dolly as Cory was getting Gaffney tucked away. Fucking chatted with her.

Anyway, what was done was done. Sometimes, trying to do the right thing, innocent people got hurt.

Tell me about it.