‘‘Sloan talked to you about your relationship with Marcia Kresge . . . I’d think that might have been a dangerous relationship for somebody trying to get to the top,’’ Lucas said.
‘‘Eh . . . it’s easier in a private company. You don’t have to deal with elections and all your insane bureaucratic rules. I doubt Dan would have cared; he probably would have been amused. Marcia wasn’t any more of a potential problem for me than Miss Fuzzy Sweater is for you. Besides, that’s all done.’’
‘‘All done?’’
‘‘Yeah.’’ Bone seemed mildly embarrassed and turned to look out at the street again. ‘‘You met my assistant, Kerin Baki.’’
‘‘The glacial blonde.’’
‘‘Yeah. When the whole scramble started, after Kresge was killed, she started working to get me the top job. She did everything right: pretty much managed the whole show. And when I asked her what she wanted out of it, she said she wanted a favor from me. But she wouldn’t tell me what it was until after I got the job.’’
‘‘And you got it.’’
‘‘Yeah. So after things settled down a little, when Audrey McDonald was arrested, I got her in my office and asked, ‘What’s the favor?’ ’’
Baki had been a little uncomfortable when he pressed her, Bone said, but finally sat down and outlined what she wanted. Basically, she was tired of living alone. She wanted to find a man who was as smart as she was, who worked as hard as she did, and had similar interests. That was difficult.
‘‘What she wanted from me,’’ Bone said, as Lucas started smiling, ‘‘is, she wanted me to take her around— just as a friend, as an associate—and introduce her to guys I knew in the banking and investment communities who might be candidates.’’
‘‘Just as a friend,’’ Lucas said.
‘‘Yeah. ‘Mr. Bone,’ she said, ‘I don’t have a chance to meet many people like that, socially, because I’m always here. And I know this sounds a little cold and a little calculating, but I don’t have many more years to go if I want to have children and a normal home life,’ ’’ Bone said, mimicking Baki’s precise soprano. ‘‘And she pushed her glasses back up on her nose, which is about the only thing that’s ever been wrong with her—her glasses slide down.’’
‘‘Yeah,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘She’s, like, vulnerable.’’ ‘‘I said okay,’’ Bone said. ‘‘I could understand that. So I took her around to a couple of places, a couple of outside meetings she wouldn’t normally have gone to, and she made quite an impression on a couple of guys. I got some calls asking about her status . . . I told her about them, and she was pretty interested.’’
‘‘You chump.’’
‘‘You know how the story comes out?’’
Lucas knitted his hands across his chest and said, ‘‘Let me guess. You decided to take her out for a dinner . . .’’
‘‘Dinner meeting.’’
‘‘And then you have to take her home afterwards.’’
‘‘I just went up for a minute; I’d never seen her place.’’
‘‘And you didn’t come out for a while.’’
‘‘Quite a while.’’
‘‘And the glacier melted.’’
‘‘You might say that . . . And she’s told me I’ve seen the last of Marcia Kresge,’’ Bone said. ‘‘She also mentioned a couple of other women that I had no idea she knew about.’’
‘‘What about the kid thing?’’
Bone shrugged. ‘‘I always thought, maybe, you know, with the right woman . . .’’
THE PHONE RANG, AND BONE STOOD UP. ‘‘I GOTTA go,’’ he said, but Lucas held up a finger: ‘‘Hang on a second.’’ He answered the phone, ‘‘Hello?’’
‘‘Lucas, this is Del.’’ Del was on a cell phone; his voice sounded like he was shouting through a hollow log, with a roar in the background.
‘‘Yeah. What’s going on?’’
‘‘Aw, I’m calling from the plane . . .’’
Engine roar. ‘‘That’s right,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘Cancu´n. I forgot.Have a good time.’’
If anybody comes asking for me, tell ’em ten days, would you?’’ Del shouted.
‘‘Sure.’’
‘‘Nobody’s come asking yet?’’
‘‘Not to me,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘Should they?’’
‘‘Can’t hear you too good. See you in ten days,’’ Del shouted. And hung up.
LUCAS LOOKED AT THE PHONE, PUZZLED, THEN HUNG up and said to Bone, ‘‘We play a little ball at the Y on Wednesday nights, bunch a cops, a few lawyers. Sort of a cross between basketball and hockey—you know, no harm, no foul. If Kerin’ll let you, you’re invited.’’
‘‘Yeah, that’d be nice,’’ Bone said. ‘‘Maybe Isley’ll be around in a year or so.’’ They shook hands, and Bone said, ‘‘See you.’’
• • •
HE WENT OUT THE DOOR, BUT TEN SECONDS LATER was back: ‘‘Uh, there’s some people here to see you,’’ he said.
‘‘What?’’
‘‘Some . . . people,’’ Bone said.
Lucas, frowning, stepped out in the hallway. He wasn’t sure until later of the exact number, which was twenty-four, but he knew at a glance that there were a lot of them.
Old ladies.
Gathered like a flock of curly-haired, white-fleeced sheep, each clutching a purse and what seemed to be a brand-new gym bag. One of them, a sweet-looking grandmotherly woman with a trembling chin, said, ‘‘We’ve come to turn ourselves in.’’
‘‘In?’’ Lucas asked. And Bone said, ‘‘Gotta go.’’ And left.
‘‘We’re the opium junkies,’’ the grandmother said, and the other women nodded. ‘‘Del said our best chance for leniency was to come down and surrender to you.’’
‘‘Sonofabitch,’’ Lucas said. He looked in at his phone as the grandmother recoiled; Del was probably halfway to Mexico.
‘‘I beg your pardon?’’ she said, clutching the gym bag more tightly.
‘‘Nothing. Stay right here,’’ Lucas said. ‘‘Don’t move. I’ll be right back.’’
He trotted down to the chief’s office. ‘‘No, Rose Marie’s gone,’’ the secretary said. She seemed to be biting the insides of her cheeks.
‘‘Where?’’
The secretary had to struggle a bit to get it out: ‘‘Cancu-´n.’’
Lucas looked at her, a hard look, and she put her hands to her face. He turned on his heel and headed down toward Violent Crimes. He imagined he heard explosive laughter coming from the chief’s office just before the door closed behind him.
In Violent Crimes, Loring was sitting on an office chair, peeling a green apple with a penknife. ‘‘Seen Frank?’’ Frank Lester was the other deputy chief.
‘‘Nope.’’
‘‘How about Sherrill?’’
‘‘Nope. They left. Together.’’
‘‘Together?’’
‘‘Yeah. They said they were going to Cancu ´n.’’
‘‘You sonofabitch,’’ Lucas said hotly.
‘‘What?’’ Loring asked, surprised. ‘‘What?’’
‘‘You know what.’’
‘‘No, I don’t know what.’’ He really seemed confused. On the other hand, he lied well. ‘‘What?’’
THE HEADS OF INTELLIGENCE AND NARCOTICS WERE gone. Nobody knew when they’d be back. Sloan and Black were missing, Franklin was gone.
On one of his trips past the old ladies, the grandmother said bravely, ‘‘We brought our things.’’
‘‘Your things?’’
They held up their gym bags. ‘‘Toothpaste and pajamas and so on. For the slammer.’’
‘‘Aw, Jesus Christ,’’ Lucas said.
He finally went back to Loring, got him out in the hall, explained the situation. ‘‘. . . surrendering, and I want you to help with the processing . . .’’
Loring was backing away. ‘‘Fuck that,’’ he said. ‘‘They’re yours.’’
‘‘They’re no
t mine,’’ Lucas shouted. But Loring was running toward the exit. ‘‘Goddamnit, get your ass back here. Get back here . . .’’
Loring was the last of them.
Lucas walked back toward his office, where the little flock gathered with their purses and the gym bags, awaiting justice. All up and down the hallways, the doors were closed.
Nobody home, except him.
‘‘Is there a problem?’’ Grandma asked.
CERTAIN PREY
JOHN SANDFORD
BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
CERTAIN PREY
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1999 by John Sandford.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.
For information address:
The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com
ISBN: 1-101-14619-2
BERKLEY®
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
A division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
Berkley and the “B” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.
First edition (electronic): June 2001
Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
Twenty-six
Twenty-seven
Twenty-eight
Praise for
John Sandford and Certain Prey
“Sandford has created one of the more memorable current fictional cops in Lucas Davenport.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Two gleefully unrecalcitrant female antagonists . . . steal the show . . . The play between the two women, who bond like sisters, is as fascinating as the courtship of venomous lizards, and the novel’s background hum . . . is rich in authentic detail.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Intensely cinematic . . . slickly compelling.”
—Seattle Times
“Twisted, off-the-wall characters . . . all good thriller material.”
—St. Paul Pioneer Press
“Suspenseful to the end . . . fast-reading and enjoyable. The plot intrigues and the characters are realistically strong . . . intelligent and fascinating. It leaves readers wanting still more Sandford Prey thrillers.”
—Naples Daily News
“A great old-fashioned cops and killers bacchanal . . . a hell of a story.”
— WBAI Radio
“You never know from one page to the next who is going to get caught in the cross fire . . . suspenseful . . . escapist entertainment of the highest caliber.”
—The Warner Robins Daily Sun (GA)
“A taut thriller that pushes suspense into high gear at every turn.”
— apbnews.com
RULES OF PREY
Sandford’s smash bestselling debut— introducing Lucas Davenport . . .
“Sleek and nasty . . . it’s a big, scary, suspenseful read, and I loved every minute of it.”
— Stephen King
“A haunting, unforgettable, ice-blooded thriller.”
— Carl Hiaasen
SHADOW PREY
Lucas Davenport goes on a city-to-city search for a bizarre ritualistic killer . . .
“When it comes to portraying twisted minds, Sandford has no peers.”
— Associated Press
“Ice-pick chills . . . excruciatingly tense . . . a double-pumped roundhouse of a thriller.”
—Kirkus Reviews
EYES OF PREY
Davenport risks his sanity to stalk the most brilliant and dangerous man he has ever known, a doctor named Michael Bekker . . .
“Relentlessly swift. Genuinely suspenseful . . . excellent.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Engrossing . . . one of the most horrible villains this side of Hannibal the Cannibal.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
SILENT PREY
Michael Bekker, the psychopath Davenport captured in Eyes of Prey, escapes . . .
“Sleek and nasty . . . superb!”
—St. Paul Pioneer Press
“ Silent Prey terrifies . . . just right for fans of The Silence of the Lambs. ”
—Booklist
WINTER PREY
In the icy woods of rural Wisconsin, Davenport searches for a brutal killer known as the Iceman . . .
“Vastly entertaining . . . a furious climactic chase . . . one of the best Preys yet.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“An intense thriller with an unlikely killer.”
—Playboy
NIGHT PREY
Davenport faces a master thief who becomes obsessed with a beautiful woman—then carves her initials into his victims . . .
“One of the most engaging characters in contemporary fiction.”
—Detroit News
“ Night Prey sizzles . . . positively chilling.”
—St. Petersburg Times
MIND PREY
Lucas Davenport tracks a vicious kidnapper who knows more about mind games than Lucas himself. . . .
“His seventh, and best, outing in the acclaimed Prey suspense series.”
—People
“Grip-you-by-the-throat thrills . . . impossible to put down.”
—Houston Chronicle
SUDDEN PREY
Davenport falls prey to the purest, simplest criminal motivation: revenge. . . .
“The story will clamp down like a bear trap on all who open its covers.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Unquestionably the best [ Prey ] yet, a tale of perverse revenge that strikes very close to home.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
SECRET PREY
A killer doesn’t hesitate to take the fight to Lucas himself. And those he loves. . . .
“This particular killer is a brilliant piece of work—intelligent, clever, bold, and sneaky—the perfect perpetrator.”
—Denver Post
“Excellent . . . compelling . . . everything works.”
—USA Today
THE NIGHT CREW
A People Magazine “Page-Turner”
A mobile unit of video freelancers, they prowl the midnight streets for news to sell to the highest network bidder. Murders. Robberies. High-speed chases. For them, it is an exhilarating life. But tonight, two deaths will change everything. . . .
“This is fresh ground for Sandford.”
—Chicago Tribune
“With its pulse-quickening plot and attractive heroine, you’ll be hooked to the finish.”
—People
“This is riveting, intense crime fiction . . . lean-and-mean . . . replete with bursts of black prose that zap the reader like quick video cuts.”
—Cedar Rapids Gazette
> And don’t miss John Sandford’s thrilling novels of stings and swindles. . . .
THE EMPRESS FILE
Kidd and LuEllen are a pair of lovers and liars plotting the ultimate scam . . . until everything goes wrong. . . .
“Alfred Hitchcock would have been delighted.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“The imaginative con scheme is clever . . . but the biggest thrills occur when events don’t go as planned.”
—Library Journal
THE FOOL’S RUN
Kidd and LuEllen return for a killer con in the hightech world of industrial espionage. . . .
“A gripping, ultramodern novel . . . fast-paced and suspenseful.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Fast-paced action, high-intellect puzzle-solving, dandy characters . . . if you start guessing outcomes, you are fooled.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Sandford is one of the most skilled thriller writers at work in this country or any other.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
Berkley Books by John Sandford
RULES OF PREY
SHADOW PREY
EYES OF PREY
SILENT PREY