BooksBarbecue
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 and Dolly had been sitting in the kitchen. She’d fried him up a couple of sausages on top of the stove, was about to put them into buns, when there was a rapping at the front door. Cory could see the instant panic in her eyes. This was it! They’d come for them. She’d put the pan back on the burner, didn’t even think to turn off the gas before she went to see who it was. Cory turned off the stove, and by the time he’d joined Dolly, the door was open, and he could see that it was not the fucking FBI or Starsky and Hutch or even Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties.

It was that woman Dolly had talked to just as they were nabbing Brian Gaffney, who was supposed to be Jeremy Pilford, but you couldn’t dwell on these things forever.

Anyway, now here she was again.

She was so sorry to bother them, she said. But there was this situation that had come up, something about her boyfriend and the fact that his father was a cop, and the way she rambled on, it was hard to make any sense of what she was saying.

But then she said something that really caught Cory’s attention.

Right about the time that they ran into each other outside Knight’s, a man had been kidnapped and held captive and his body tattooed. Just a horrible thing. Carol and her boyfriend had been seen on the bar’s video, which led the police to them. Carol hadn’t given the police Dolly’s name, but the more she considered it, the more she thought she should get in touch with Dolly in case she had any information that might help the cops.

“It was just unbelievable,” Carol said. “I saw a picture. What was done to this guy, it was horrific.”

Cory thought it could have been handled so well. All Dolly had to say was, Gee, thanks for telling us, but we didn’t see a thing, did we, Cory?

But no.

She looked at Cory, her lip all quivery. Said something like Oh my God oh my God oh my God.

Or words to that effect. She totally lost it.

“We’re fucked!” she said. “They’re going to find us!”

Cory had tried to laugh it off. Told this Carol Beakman that Dolly was just messin’ with her. But Dolly wouldn’t calm down, and Cory could see Carol had to be thinking, holy shit, what did I just walk into here?

So she started to leave.

Which didn’t strike Cory as a very good idea. Hold on, he said to her. There’s been a misunderstanding. Let’s try to sort this all out.