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Back The Short Drop Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. PART ONE
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. PART TWO
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  49. PART THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  56. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  57. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY
  59. EPILOGUE
  60. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  61. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

“Then why isn’t he home where he belongs? Why did he lie? That bullshit about keeping the car a few extra days? He’s been here the whole time,” he said. “And that stunt at the McKeoghs’ house with the computer. That doesn’t sound like something he’d pull?”

“So you’re saying Gibson tripped the virus to draw us away, circled back to have a one-on-one with Tate. In plain view of the camera, mind you. Then, came back an hour and a half later to kill Tate, this time making sure to stay out of view. And for good measure, takes the body and steals one of our guns. Does that sound likely to you?”

“Maybe not, but I surely intend to find out.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

WR8TH sat down across from Gibson. The world’s most-wanted pedophile, in the flesh.

Up close, WR8TH looked even younger. He could easily pass for a college student. He had a boyish energy and trouble sitting still. His deep-set brown eyes twinkled with a mischievous intelligence. But around his eyes were deeply etched worry lines, and one tuft of his hair had turned an incongruous gray. WR8TH fiddled uneasily with his glasses but let Gibson stare. He took out a pack of cigarettes, slid one halfway out of the pack, and pushed it back in.

“Better not,” he said. “Mrs. M. will have me arrested. That would be funny.”

“Mrs. M.?”

“Mrs. Miller.” WR8TH hooked a thumb toward the library. “Friendly neighborhood librarian. Drinks her face off in her office, but God forbid I smoke a cigarette out here.”

“Oh, Christ, you’re her network guy,” Gibson said.

“Guilty.”

“Man, I knew the gear was a little too good for a little public library. You work for the county?”

“Yeah, it was hard not to overdo it.”

“No, you did a good job. Fooled me.”

“Thanks.” WR8TH seemed genuinely pleased by the compliment. “Billy Casper,” he said by way of introduction.

Gibson shook his hand mechanically, the guy’s name ringing a faint bell. “How is that possible? How can you be WR8TH? I mean, you were what? Seventeen? Eighteen?”

“I was sixteen and five months.”

“And five months?”

“Yeah, I’d just gotten my driver’s license.”

“And you’re telling me, straight up, that you’re the one everyone’s been looking for all these years?”

“Believe me, I waited for the FBI to huff and puff and blow my world in. The first two years I was paranoid like a mother. Thought our phones were tapped. I was the most stressed-out high-school junior ever. Parents made me go to a shrink. Thought I was schizophrenic or something. I mean, WR8TH? Wraith? Casper? How hard is that to figure out? But they never did. Guess they weren’t looking for an actual sixteen-year-old.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where is she?”

“I. Don’t. Know.”