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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

Brian said, “I never told anyone his name. I never told anyone where you live. Not ever.”

Jessica sniffed.

“Mommy!” the little girl in the car cried out.

“Just a second, sweetheart!” Jessica shouted over her shoulder.

“Never,” Brian added.

Jessica nodded. “Okay. The thing is, Ron wasn’t all that nice a guy. He probably pissed off a lot of other people. Could be anybody, when you think about it.” Another sniff. Brian dug into his pocket, pulled out a shredded tissue and offered it to her.

“That’s okay,” she said, wiping her cheeks on her sleeve. “Anyway, I should go.”

“Okay.”

She gave him an awkward half-second hug, then got back into her car. Brian stood there and watched as she put on her seat belt. The little girl in the backseat looked at him and pointed. “You’re the man my daddy beat up!” she said.

As the car drove off, Brian wondered if there was any chance the police would be questioning her.

Sixty-Five

SIXTY-FIVE

CAL

ONCE Galen Broadhurst had been put into the back of a Promise Falls cruiser, Duckworth came over to me and said, “Well done. Now we just have to pick up Bob Butler.”

“Broadhurst and Butler sacrificed that poor kid to save their own asses and line their pockets.” I shook my head. “The bastards.”

Duckworth gave me a look that said he’d seen enough things in life not to be surprised any more.

“I’m going to pick up Jeremy,” I said, “then head out to Madeline Plimpton’s house. He wants to talk to his mother, let her know he’s okay.”

“We should go together.”

I looked at my watch. “Thirty minutes?”

He nodded. As he turned to leave, I said, “What was it you wanted to ask me? On the phone last night.”

Barry poked his tongue around the inside of his cheek. “You know what? Don’t worry about it. Whatever I was going to ask, I think I’ve changed my mind.”

I pointed my Honda back in the direction of my sister and brother-in-law’s house. I found Jeremy sitting on the front step talking to Celeste. He was on his feet when he saw my car, and ran to the street to meet me.

“What’s going on?” he asked as I powered down the window.

I gave Celeste a wave. “Thanks!”

“Nice kid!” she shouted, getting up and going back into the house.

Jeremy craned his neck around to respond, a slightly stunned look on his face. “Thank you,” he said.

I was willing to bet it was the nicest thing anyone had said to him in months.

He got in the car next to me. “Well?”

“Taking you home,” I said.

“What happened?”

I was going to tell him on the way, but thought better of it. This was something I had to tell him eye to eye. I shifted in my seat to look at him.