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

Albert smiled. “That’s good. And no matter how many times someone might ask you the question, it’s always no. You never told me.”

Brian’s head slowly went up and down. “Right.”

Albert patted his son’s blanket-covered thigh. “That’s good, son. That’s good. Now, you get better, okay?”

“Okay.”

“And when you’re better, we’re going to see what we can do about your back. Right?”

Brian nodded.

Albert stood and walked to the door. As he was slipping into the hall, about to close the door, Brian said, “Dad?”

“Yes, son?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Brian.”

Fifty-Three

FIFTY-THREE

CAROL Beakman was awake.

Barely.

She could hear the man moving about, wherever it was they were. She’d been drifting in and out of consciousness. Whatever he’d done to keep her groggy was wearing off, and while she wanted to work at freeing herself—she was secured to some kind of bed—she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself.

The first thing she had to do was let her head clear some, and figure out just what kind of fix she was in.

Things were coming back to her.

Going to Dolly Guntner’s place. Telling her that the police were looking into what had happened outside of Knight’s bar. Dolly freaking out, and her boyfriend Cory—yeah, that’s his name, that’s who grabbed me when I tried to get into my car—freaking out because she was freaking out. Which made Carol think that not only did Dolly and this Cory know about what had happened at Knight’s, they’d had something to do with it.

And then she’d dropped her damn purse. God, just like some dumb broad in a horror movie. Everything scattered, keys obscured in the mess. She’d lost the seconds she’d needed to get into the car, lock the door, get the hell out of there and call Trevor. Tell him to call his father.

Things went dark for a long time after that.

She’d had the sensation of moving. She was lying on her side, arms tied behind her back, ankles lashed together. She was in a truck or a van.

She’d blank out for a while, wake up again. Groggy most of the time.

Cory liked to talk, but she was pretty sure it was more like he was talking to himself and not to her. She didn’t believe he thought she could hear him. He’d be sitting behind the wheel, saying things like “Did you bring your bathing suit? Because we’re going to the beach! You ever been to Cape Cod? Yeah, well, me neither, but I bet it’s nice.”

Other times, it was as though he were trying to persuade her he wasn’t a bad person.