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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

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Pack a bag,” I said.

Twenty-One

TWENTY-ONE

BARRY Duckworth was pulling into his driveway when his cell phone rang. He put the car in park, turned off the engine, and dug the phone out of his pocket. The display said the call was coming from Promise Falls City Hall.

He had a bad feeling.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hey, Barry, how’s it hangin’?”

“Randy,” he said.

Randall Finley chortled. “Barry, aren’t you supposed to call me Your Worship or Your Honor or Mr. Mayor or some shit like that?”

Duckworth thought “Some Shit Like That” did have a nice ring to it, but kept the thought to himself. “What can I do for you, Randy?”

“There’s talk going around that you aren’t coming to the memorial thing. Tell me that’s not true.”

“I’m pretty busy,” Duckworth said.

“You’re the fucking star of the show. You’re the one that caught the guy. You have to be there.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Look, Barry, I’m being serious here. The town needs this. They need to honor those who died a year ago. They need to pay their respects. And everyone loves a hero. You’re the hero. If you don’t show up, it’s like a massage without the happy ending. You gotta be there. We need something like this to counter all the shit that’s been going on. You know what I saw yesterday? Go on, ask me.”

“What did you see yesterday, Randy?” Duckworth asked.

“I was out by the water plant, by the tower.”

It had been the deliberately contaminated water in the tower that had killed scores of Promise Falls residents.

“And there’s this dumb fuck who’s managed to get over the gate and gone up the stairs, and he’s standing right on the top of the water tower and he’s got on a cape or something like that and the words ‘Captain Avenger’ on his shirt. The fire department had to send a crew over to get the dumb bastard down before he killed himself. You know what, Barry? There are a lot of sick fucks out there. People who think we got what we deserved. That what happened here was justice. Can you believe that kind of thinking?”

“Anything else, Randy?” Duckworth asked.

“God, you’ve always been a stubborn son of a bitch. Think about it, okay? If you come, I’m gonna give you a plaque.”

“I don’t want a plaque.”

“I’ve already ordered it.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Mayor.” Duckworth ended the call and got out of the car.

Given that his was the only vehicle in the driveway, he knew he had arrived home before Maureen or Trevor. Maureen he expected to get here at any moment. As for Trevor, who knew?