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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

“It’s the only way,” Gibson said and explained his plan. It wasn’t without risk. It meant walking into the lion’s den. It meant turning to the one person who might, just possibly, be innocent in all this. It meant getting to Grace Lombard and proving the unprovable—that her husband had raped her daughter and was involved with her disappearance.

When he was done, no one spoke. There was nothing to be said. One by one, Jenn and then Hendricks left the kitchen. Like boxers retreating to their corners to regroup after getting their bells rung. Gibson went to the fridge to see what else there was to eat.

A hanging did wonders for a man’s appetite.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

When they pulled into Atlanta a week later, the city was humming and the convention in full swing. Atlanta was also, quite literally, sold out. Conventioneers were buoyant and optimistic about their man and his chances come the general election. They were feeling no pain; it was as close to Mardi Gras as politics got. The streets surrounding the convention center were a complex warren of security checkpoints and media encampments. The sidewalks, thick with pedestrians at all hours, were cumbersome to navigate. Atlanta accepted the intrusion with good old-fashioned southern hospitality. Certainly the bars and restaurants around the convention center weren’t complaining.

Gibson watched Grace Lombard’s personal assistant, Denise Greenspan, come around the corner toward him. History and political science double major at Hamilton College. Master’s in public policy from Georgetown. The sidewalk was overflowing with conventioneers, but there was no danger of losing sight of her. At five foot eleven, she had a distinctive, gorgeous Afro with just a hint of red to it. Today it was tied back with a yellow-and-green head scarf and swayed regally above the sea of heads as she walked. She’d run cross-country and track at Hamilton, and the previous fall had finished the Marine Corps Marathon in 3:28—an impressive pace for a first timer. Back in Washington, Denise ran with Grace most mornings, which insiders claimed was the core of their close working relationship. Denise had been with Grace for four years and by all accounts was fiercely protective of her boss.

She was also a creature of habit. Each of the last three evenings at six p.m., she had taken an hour for herself to have dinner at the same sushi restaurant some eight or nine blocks from the convention center. She favored the same table in the front window, surfing news and political blogs on her laptop while she ate.