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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

He nodded solemnly. “I was reluctant at first, but one night there was a phone call, from an unknown number, and this man said that when they found me, what they would do to me would be slow and painful. It was very frightening. So I decided to take Rhonda’s advice. I bought a gun. A revolver.”

“Where do you keep it?”

“Locked up in my bedroom,” he said. “At the time of the threats, I kept it next to my bed, by the lamp, so I could get it quickly if I needed it. But as time passed, and the threats stopped, I kept it locked up at all times. Still in the bedroom, but not immediately accessible.”

“Can you show me?” Duckworth asked.

Alastair nodded and led the detective to the stairs, grabbing a set of keys from a decorative bowl on a table near the door along the way. When they got to the second floor, this time they went left instead of right.

“I hope I’m following rules regarding storage,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to get in any trouble.”

“Don’t worry,” Duckworth said.

The bedside nightstand had a drawer across the top, and a cabinet door below. Alastair went down on one knee and, using one of the keys, unlocked the door.

“Here we go,” he said, and Duckworth could hear the relief in his voice. He brought out a small case made of hard plastic and set it on the bed.

“This needs a key, too,” he said. The key for the gun case was not on his chain, but tucked under some papers in the nightstand drawer. He lifted the case up onto its side, inserted the second key, and opened it.

The inside of the case was lined with soft gray foam. There was the slight impression of a gun in the foam, but no actual weapon.

“Oh no,” Alastair said.

Forty-Six

FORTY-SIX

CORY Calder looked at Carol Beakman, sleeping so peacefully—well, okay, drugged to the eyeballs was more accurate, but no need to nitpick—and wondered whether bringing her along was such a brilliant plan.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

It wasn’t that he’d spared her life because she’d somehow touched his heart. It wasn’t because she didn’t deserve to die, although she certainly didn’t.

Cory had seen her as insurance. And insurance was very much what he was going to need.

Thing were starting to fall apart, and fall apart very quickly. Cory saw Carol Beakman as leverage. A future ace in the hole, as it were. Something to trade if things went south. Well, not so much if they went south, as when.

Cory knew the clock was probably running out on him.