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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

But I didn’t want to let Gregor Kiln out of my sight. Even with a bullet in his shoulder, and quite possibly a broken knee, he struck me as someone who’d try to make a run for it if we let down our guard.

Jeremy said, “What do you think happened to the other guy? The one on the beach?”

I gave him a smile. “Jeremy, I have absolutely no idea what’s going on.” I held up Kiln’s phone. “But I think maybe I’m gonna find out. I’d like to let Mr. Kiln’s friend know the job is done.”

Fifty-Seven

FIFTY-SEVEN

BARRY Duckworth was in a deep sleep when the cell phone on his bedside table began to buzz. If Maureen hadn’t given him a shove on the shoulder, he might have slept right through it.

“Barry,” she said. “Barry!”

He opened his eyes, reached for the phone and knocked it to the floor. “Shit,” he said. He leaned down, his hand hunting in the dark for the device as it continued to buzz. He found it, hit the button to accept the call and put the phone to his ear without seeing who it was.

“Duckworth,” he said as Maureen switched on the lamp on her side of the bed.

“Barry, it’s Cal Weaver.”

“Jesus, Cal.” Duckworth threw back the covers and planted his feet on the floor. “What’s happening?”

“A lot. Your guy Calder was here. We met him on the beach today.”

“Tell me everything.”

Weaver brought him up to speed, ending with the fire at Madeline Plimpton’s beach house, how it was designed to force them out of the house so they could be shot.

“I knew you were there,” Duckworth said. “I knew Jeremy Pilford had been staying with her. Went there today, met her and the boy’s mother and her boyfriend. Warned them about Calder. He torched the beach house?”

Weaver said no, that he’d caught a man named Gregor Kiln.

“I’ll check into him,” Duckworth said.

“I don’t think this is related to the social-media outrage surrounding Jeremy,” Weaver said. “This Kiln has the ring of a professional about him.”

“I’m on it.”

“And I need another favor. A number I want you to check. It’s probably a burner, not traceable.”

Duckworth reached for the pad and pen he always kept by the bed, tucked the phone between head and shoulder, and said, “Fire away.”

Cal gave him the number.

“Okay, I’ll get right on it.”

“And assuming it is a burner, and we can’t attach a name to the phone, I’ve got something I want to try.”

Cal told Duckworth what he wanted to do, and what he thought he might need from Duckworth to make it happen.