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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 shrugged. “Maybe. But you know, if I quit, I’d qualify for a pension already. Not a huge one. But I could supplement it with private work. I’d still get to do what I’m good at, but with less risk.”

“Cal doesn’t face risks?”

“Maybe sometimes. But nothing all that serious.”

Fifty-Two

FIFTY-TWO

ALBERT Gaffney was slumped on the couch watching NCIS on the TV when his wife came in and sat down on the recliner.

“It’s late,” Constance said.

“How is he?” Gaffney said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

“He ate most of the soup. And a tuna sandwich.”

“Well, that’s something,” he said.

“Isn’t this a repeat?” she asked, glancing at the set.

“I think so, but I’m not really concentrating on it. Where’s Monica?”

“She’s in her room, listening to music.”

“Hmm.”

“Albert,” she said.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the screen, as though mesmerized by it.

“Albert, turn that off,” she said gently.

Slowly, he turned his head to look at her. He seemed to be weighing her request. Finally, he picked up the remote and clicked it off.

“What?”

“We . . . we need to talk about things.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. Everything’s done. The car’s clean. The garage has been hosed down. It’s all been taken care off. All you have to do, Maureen, is keep your mouth shut. If you keep your mouth shut, we’ll be fine.”

“It wasn’t . . . He wasn’t the one.”

Albert stared at her.

“They’re looking for that Calder man.”

“I know. I talked to Duckworth.”

“So . . . that means it probably wasn’t the man who . . . That man. He’s not the one.”

“He’s the one,” Albert said. His jaw tightened. “And even if he wasn’t the one who put those words on Brian’s back, he still hurt him. So . . . there’s that.”

He hit the button to turn the TV back on.

“Albert.”

He sighed, killed the TV again. “What now?”

“The police will be asking questions. They’ll be coming back.”

“No one saw me. No one saw me at the dump, either. No one saw anything.”

“There’s Brian,” she said.

“What do you mean? He’s home now. He’s going to be okay.” He gave her half a sneer. “You got what you wanted. He’s back with us.”

Constance looked at him, wondered what Albert had become. She’d never feared him before, but she did now.

“The police will be coming to talk to Brian,” she said. “When Frommer’s wife reports him missing, if she hasn’t already, she’ll probably tell them about the fight he had with Brian. They’ll want to question him.”