She finished another cornrow, perfect, and she’d only learned two weeks ago. She laughed with pleasure, couldn’t help herself. Miss Sixteen-Year-Old twisted around and said in a furious voice, “Why are you laughing? I know I’ll look beautiful in cornrows. My mom’s a cheapskate and doesn’t like anything I do. If you’re not doing them right—”
Zoltan leaned close to her ear. “Be quiet, or I’ll speak with your grandfather, Phillip Arlington, tell him what a disrespectful brat you are.”
“My grandfather? No, that’s stupid. Grandpa’s dead, two years ago. You can’t—how do you know his name?”
Her voice wobbled a bit, and Zoltan saw alarm in those beautiful blue eyes. Good. “Hold still, I’m nearly done. I’m laughing because I’m happy. When your mother comes to pick you up, you will buy her a rum drink with one of those pink umbrellas and tell her she’s beautiful and the greatest mom alive.” Zoltan finished the last cornrow and held up a mirror.
“Wow, I look amazing.” She fingered the cornrows, lifted them up and down, wrapped and unwrapped them around her fingers. And she started to laugh.
Zoltan saw the girl’s mother coming, looking every bit as rich as Zoltan’s Internet search suggested, a look of dawning horror on her face and cash in her hand. Zoltan leaned close to the girl’s ear. “Don’t forget to do what I told you. It’s what your grandpa wants you to do. And tell your mother she might want to come back and see me. I’m Sharma, and I practice obeah. I can help her speak to your grandfather.”
The mother pressed a twenty into her hand and walked away with her daughter. Zoltan saw the girl take her mother’s arm, which surprised her mother, and heard the girl say, “Mama, you’re so nice to let me experiment. Can I buy you a rum drink? Did I tell you? You’re the prettiest mom on the beach.”
Grandpa Phillip Arlington would be pleased when they talked to him, and she knew they would. Zoltan saw another customer walking toward her across the sugar sand, older, looking determined. A middle-aged tourist, good thick hair a pretty dark brown, wanting to try something outrageous. Yes, a little wicked. She’d look amazing when Zoltan was finished with her. She was wearing an expensive-looking cover-up. Zoltan gave her a little wave and nod. She felt a slight tug in her arm where she’d been shot. Almost well.
She smiled. Life was good.
More from this Series
Insidious
Book 20
Enigma
Book 21
Paradox
Book 22
Labyrinth
Book 23
More from the Author
The Last Second
The Sixth Day
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Catherine-Coulter
SimonandSchuster.com
@GalleryBooks
THE FBI THRILLERS
Labyrinth (2019)
Paradox (2018)
Enigma (2017)
Insidious (2016)
Nemesis (2015)
Power Play (2014)
Bombshell (2013)
Backfire (2012)
Split Second (2011)
Twice Dead (2011): Riptide and Hemlock Bay
Whiplash (2010)
KnockOut (2009)
TailSpin (2008)
Double Jeopardy (2008): The Target and The Edge
Double Take (2007)
The Beginning (2005): The Cove and The Maze
Blowout (2004)
Blindside (2003)
Eleventh Hour (2002)
Hemlock Bay (2001)
Riptide (2000)
The Edge (1999)
The Target (1998)
The Maze (1997)
The Cove (1996)
A BRIT IN THE FBI THRILLERS (WITH J.T. ELLISON)
The Last Second (2019)
The Sixth Day (2018)
The Devil’s Triangle (2017)
The End Game (2015)
The Lost Key (2014)
The Final Cut (2013)
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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 © 2020 by Catherine Coulter
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First Gallery Books hardcover edition July 2020
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Jacket design by Jae Song
Jacket photograph © Fuse/Getty Images
Author photograph by Charles Bush
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020935263
ISBN 978-1-5011-9369-9
ISBN 978-1-5011-9372-9 (ebook)