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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

He worked his way through the second file. It didn’t take long by comparison. A woman in her sixties wouldn’t pose any difficulty, and the orders gave no reason to wait before attending to her. He took the monogrammed envelope as he’d been instructed, but even though the envelope had been left unsealed he gave no thought to reading its contents. It wasn’t that it didn’t interest him; it was that it never occurred to him that it should.

Tinsley knocked on the divider to signal he was finished and put the folder back on the seat. The car pulled over to the curb and let him out. Tinsley dropped his gloves in a nearby trash can and drifted along with the evening commuters.

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER NINE

“What do you mean he’s been in contact?” Gibson asked.

“We believe we have been contacted by the person or persons known as WR8TH,” Jenn said.

“How?” he asked, taking his seat back at the table. “When?”

“Sir?” Jenn turned to her boss.

“I’ll take it from here. Thank you,” Abe said. “Several months ago an old friend, a producer at CNN, asked me to be interviewed for a segment she was putting together on Suzanne’s disappearance. A tenth-anniversary retrospective. People have been chasing my interview for years.”

“You never talked to the press? Even after you were fired?”

“No, and in truth, I had no intention of breaking my silence now. I’d already turned down five or six requests from other programs. I simply saw no benefit in reopening old wounds. Out of respect for the family.”

“I thought you and Lombard were finished.”

“We are. However, despite his grandstanding, Benjamin is not Suzanne’s only parent.”

Gibson realized the truth of that statement. Grace Lombard had been a tireless advocate for missing children in the years since her daughter had disappeared. But she preferred to work quietly behind the scenes and leave the limelight to her husband. An arrangement that more than suited Benjamin Lombard. In the end, it was always about Benjamin Lombard.

“But then the hotline began to see an uptick in traffic.”

“You still have a hotline? After all this time?”

“Calista absolutely insisted,” Abe said.

“Calista?”

“Ah, yes, I apologize. Calista Dauplaise.”

Gibson recognized the name now. She had been a regular cast member of Lombard’s political theater, but in his childhood memory she was simply one of the many grown-ups that his father mentioned from time to time. He doubted that he’d spoken to her other than to say hello and good-bye.

“Calista was . . .” Abe paused and corrected himself. “. . . is Suzanne’s godmother. An old family friend of the Lombards. She is also an investor in my company. Among other things, Abe Consulting administers and maintains the hotline on her behalf. She knew your father well.”

“And she’s involved in this how?”