BooksBarbecue
Back The Deal Goes Down
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

At around 2:40 I spotted the atomic silver-gray Lexus LX rolling toward me. The afternoon sun glinted off it.

The road wound and twisted more than a slithering snake. If you were following someone, you’d have to be right behind or their car would be constantly disappearing, and one of those moments of invisibility could be the point where they turned off into a side road or a long driveway and it would be many miles before you knew for sure that was what had happened. It was a solid four minutes before another vehicle appeared going in the same direction as the Lexus. It was a pickup with a load of firewood in the cargo bed.

I felt an internal chemical tick of pleasure. Money. Action. On offer. I told myself, “Let warnings warn you. Right now, the only enemy you have is yourself.”

I headed down to #46, cutting through the woods on foot. I had to pass a few other houses. I circled wide enough around them and sufficiently deep into the trees that I could be sure that none of my neighbors would see or hear me. Even the three dogs in #87, who loved to yelp and howl at everything, remained silent.

I got to the property before Maddie arrived. I waited where the woods met the cleared grounds above the house. The driveway ran from the west, curving uphill, making it west by northwest. The Lexus pulled in. It came to a stop. It looked very clean, as it had yesterday, as if it never ran on dirt roads, even though it just had. Madelaine got out. This time her outfit didn’t match the car’s interior. She wore a very spiffy, and costly, Moncler jacket, tight designer jeans, and lightweight hiking boots, as if a few steps across the lawn called for special equipment. She looked around. When she didn’t see me right away she took out her phone. Of course.

“Don’t,” I said. “I’m here.”

“Oh,” she said, seeing me.

Then the passenger side door opened. Between the angle of the car and the angle of the sun, bright behind it, and the way it threw a glare off the shiny paint, I hadn’t seen that there’d been two people inside, let alone who the second person might be. I was furious. At Madelaine for bringing someone else in. Even more at myself for picking a spot from which I couldn’t see what was coming. I barked out, “What have you done?” full of fury.

It was another woman.