“That’s fine, Mr. Taylor. That’s just fine.” He stood up. “Say hello to Scratch for me.” He winked, and the crowd parted, some following him, others moving off to the right and left until Kevin was practically alone again.
This was meant to be Richard Jaffee’s role, he thought. That’s what Paul Scholefield meant when he first approached him and told him there was an opening at John Milton and Associates. Helen Scholefield had been right: Richard Jaffee had a conscience and chose death rather than this.
And Father Vincent wasn’t lying to him, either. The devil is loyal to his followers and stands by them.
He stood up. It seemed to him that everyone in the huge cafeteria stopped eating to watch him walk out, even the guards. He walked on like a man heading for the guillotine. The speed with which that blade fell would depend entirely on his own courage and his own conscience. Right now, he didn’t have the nerve to bring it down.
And that was the pity of it. He was like the mythical Sisyphus in Greek mythology, punished forever with the job of rolling a boulder up a pit only to have it roll back down each time. Yet he would go on and on, believing that any existence was better than none at all.
Was it?
He knew what awaited him as he moved down the corridor toward the library. Perhaps he had always known. The evil that lurked in his heart had kept the knowledge cloaked, but it was always there.
Time to pull the cloak away and face the truth, he thought.
He turned into the doorway. The library was impressive for a prison library.
And it was as quiet as a library should be. A door opened across the well-lit room, and the keeper of the books came toward him, slowly.
Scratch.
He was smiling. He knew Kevin was coming. Of course, he knew.
As he drew closer and closer, his face became more and more familiar, until he was standing right before him.
And once again, Kevin looked into the charismatic, fatherly eyes of John Milton.
About the Author
ANDREW NEIDERMAN is the author of more than forty-five thrillers, the most noted of which is The Devil’s Advocate, a Warner Bros. major feature film. It is in development as a stage musical in London and a stage play in the Netherlands, and it is being developed as an NBC television series. He is also well-known as the ghostwriter of the V.C. Andrews® novels, having published over seventy new titles, making him one of the most successful ghostwriters in American and international publishing. Seven of his titles have been adapted into films, both as feature films and television movies.
Neiderman lives in Palm Springs, California, with his wife, Diane. They have two children and three grandchildren. He is the former chairman of the English department at Fallsburg High School, where he taught for over twenty-three years.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/Andrew-Neiderman
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Recent titles by Andrew Neiderman
AMNESIA
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BLOODCHILD
BRAINCHILD
CHILD’S PLAY
CURSE
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DEAD TIME
DEADLY VERDICT
DEFICIENCY
THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
DUPLICATES
FINDING SATAN
THE HUNTED
THE IMMORTALS
IMP
IN DOUBLE JEOPARDY
ILLUSION
LIFE SENTENCE
THE MADDENING
THE NEED
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
NIGHT HOWL
PERFECT LITTLE ANGELS
PIN
PLAYMATES
REFLECTION
SIGHT UNSEEN
SISTER, SISTER
SISTERS
THE SOLOMON ORGANIZATION
SOMEONE’S WATCHING
SURROGATE CHILD
TEACHER’S PET
TENDER LOVING CARE
THE TERRORIST’S HOLIDAY
UNDER ABDUCTION
LOST IN HIS EYES
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Andrew Neiderman
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First Pocket Star Books ebook edition June 2015
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ISBN 978-1-4767-9293-4