“What? The Church has never ordered anyone killed? Have you missed the last two thousand years? It may not have been the Vatican, but someone with close ties. These people have even killed popes that were a threat to the order of things.”
Oberst immediately comes to mind. Would I put this past him? No. But the Catholic Church? “So this was revenge?”
“Maybe. Maybe they just don’t want her taking a second shot.”
“Damn . . .”
“There’s another reason too . . .”
“What?”
“Think about it, Jessica; who did they just kill tonight?”
“Marta. What do you mean?”
“Why did all this start?”
I think back to the root of this case. “Because of Marty. Because they killed her brother. Because she blamed him.”
“Because she saw him stand by as they killed her brother. In her hiding space, she watched the pope help kill her brother. It may have been an accident. It may not have even been him. But she believed it was.”
“What are you trying to say?” I sense where this is going, but I want Damian to say it.
“I heard a whisper she may have been talking to an attorney about a deal,” he explains.
“Her? A deal?” Is that her final option? Threaten to take down the papacy?
“She’s got one hell of a bargaining chip with what she knows.”
“I didn’t hear anything about this.” To be honest, I’m not surprised anymore by Damian’s contacts. He’s brilliant and doesn’t have to play by the same rules I do . . . or try to at least.
“This is one of those lawyers you go to when you’re a dictator who gets overthrown. High level. Just a rumor. Now it’s nothing.
“My point is, Jessica, other than the pope, there was only one witness left to what happened that night. And now she’s dead. As rich and powerful as she was, someone with a longer reach got to her.”
Marta’s death sinks into me. Despite my hatred of her, I wanted to see her brother get his justice for what was done to him. That meant seeing the pope investigated. I stood little chance of getting Breyer to let me look into that. With Marta dead, the only other witness to that night, there’s zero chance in hell. “And a potentially guilty man goes unpunished.”
“I think the fact that they went to great lengths to have Marta killed shows you how guilty he was. Speaking of which, have you heard from your mysterious friend at the Vatican?”
I don’t ask how he knows about Oberst. “No.”
“Ever wonder what he was doing in Hawkton that night?”
I had, and couldn’t come up with anything that made sense.
“He knew what the pope feared. He wasn’t there to see where Marty died. He was there to see if this was where the pope’s biggest nemesis was born.”
“You think he knew all along who was behind the Hawkton killings and Groom’s murder?”
“It’s the rational explanation.”
“Nothing about this is rational.”
“Finally, you’re seeing things from my point of view.”
Maybe. “Damian . . .”
“Yes?”
“Where are you?”
“Wherever you want me to be.”
“I’ll leave the door unlocked.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SPECIAL THANKS TO my father, a federal agent, whose cases and incredible experiences inspired me and whose unwavering support encouraged me. Thanks to my brother, an FBI agent, for providing me with helpful information and forgiveness for the dramatic license I took. My literary agents Erica Silverman and Robert Gottlieb. My editor Hannah Wood, for her dedication to this book. Justin Robert Young, for his essential help on every stage of this book. Ken Montgomery, Mary Jaras, Brian Brushwood, Crow Garret, the Weird Things podcast listeners, Diamond Club <>, and the Mayniacs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANDREW MAYNE is the star of A&E’s magic reality show Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne, and has worked with David Copperfield, Penn & Teller, and David Blaine. He lives in Los Angeles. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram via: @AndrewMayne.
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CREDITS
COVER DESIGN BY JARROD TAYLOR
COVER PHOTOGRAPH © HAYDEN VERRY / ARCANGEL IMAGES
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COPYRIGHT
NAME OF THE DEVIL. Copyright © 2015 by Andrew Mayne. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mayne, Andrew, 1973-
Name of the Devil : a Jessica Blackwood novel / Andrew Mayne. — First edition.
pages ; cm
ISBN 978-0-06-234889-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
EPub Edition July 2015 ISBN 9780062348906
I. Title.
PS3613.A962N36 2015
813’.6—dc23
2015004791
15 16 17 18 19 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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