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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

Broadhurst shook his head. “No. After you called him, he called me, said he was going to have to talk to Gloria, see if maybe there really were grounds for an appeal. I told him no, Jeremy had to have done it. And I think I convinced him. We’ve been friends a long time and he trusts me. And come on, let’s give Grant some credit. He got that kid off. That Big Baby defense was a stroke of genius. A long shot, but it worked. Everybody wins.”

Yeah, I thought. Everybody wins. I thought about Jeremy in my car, pounding his fists into his thighs.

“It was Bob who told you we were in Cape Cod,” I speculated. “You knew where to send Kiln because Bob was there when Madeline told Detective Duckworth.”

“It was his idea,” Broadhurst said.

That threw me.

“But I thought it was your idea, to put Jeremy behind the wheel.”

“Not that,” he said. “To have you and Jeremy killed. Bob said that was the only way out of this. But I know people, or people who know people, who can get that sort of thing done.”

And now, for the first time, he smiled.

“Which is why, if you think you’re going to shake me down, you’re mistaken.”

“Hey, come on,” I said.

“If I could find one Kiln, I can find another,” he said.

“Well . . .” I let uncertainty creep into my voice, “maybe I’ll go to the cops.”

Broadhurst’s smile turned into a grin. “And tell them what you did to Kiln? Killing a man in self-defense, that might fly, but burying him at sea? That kinda suggests something else, don’t you think?”

I licked my lips nervously. “Look, I wasn’t going to ask for that much. Fifty grand. That’s peanuts for a guy like you.”

He shook his head. “You’re an amateur, Weaver. A fool. You stuck your nose in where it didn’t—”

His eye caught something that made him stop. He was looking at the door. I turned, pushed myself up an inch to see over the top of the booth.

Barry Duckworth and two uniformed officers were approaching.

I settled back down in my seat, reached over to the small chrome rack from which I’d grabbed the sugar, and turned it around to reveal the wireless transmitter.

I said to Broadhurst, “Next time, strip-search the condiments.”

Sixty-Four

SIXTY-FOUR

BRIAN Gaffney was cutting the lawn at his parents’ house when Jessica Frommer’s car stopped at the curb.

Albert had gone back to work today, but he had taken Constance’s car. He’d said something about his car being overdue for a service, that he didn’t want to run up any more miles on it until he’d taken it in to his mechanic.