Worst Case by James Patterson Read Free Book Online

wasn’t black cherry, which I had a distinct pang for all of a sudden, but the sugar rush would have to do.
    “Three for seven,” I said. “That’s great. If this were baseball, you’d be Ted Williams.”
    “This isn’t baseball, though, is it?” Emily said after a moment.
    I took another sip of my Coke and dropped the transmission into reverse to let the death van out.
    “You’re right,” I said as we bumped off the sidewalk onto the wet street. “There’s no crying in baseball.”

Chapter 15
    IT WAS DARK by the time we rolled across the Madison Avenue Bridge and safely back into Manhattan.
    Along the way, Emily had called her Bureau boss and dropped the bad news. Then she made another call to what I assumed was her family. It sounded like she was talking to a little kid.
    Then and only then did I check her hand for a ring. Yes, men are that dumb. At least I am. There was no ring, which meant what? Maybe she didn’t wear one at work. I shouldn’t get my hopes up. Was I getting them up? I guessed I was.
    As I drove, I called the TARU tech for an update about the phone leads. They’d actually made some headway. The phone numbers recorded at the Dunnings’ and the ones to my cell phone were from prepaid cells bought at three different locations in Queens, Manhattan, and Five Towns out on Long Island. Precinct detectives were being sent to interview the salesmen to see if they remembered anything about the purchaser.
    My next call back to the Crime Scene guys was less promising. There were no bullet casings or fingerprints anywhere. Our guy had even had the presence of mind to take the piece of chalk he’d used to write the message.
    All in all, this animal who’d killed Jacob had been calculated, methodical, and very careful. All negatives from where we sat. I still couldn’t get his perfectly inflected PBS voice out of my head.
    We were on Fifth Avenue just passing Central Park North when I looked up. I was supposed to drop Emily off at the Hilton near Rockefeller Center, but I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. The suspense was killing me about my kids’ game. If Seamus had shown me up in the coaching department, I didn’t know if I’d be able to live it down.
    Emily looked confused as I stopped in front of my building on West End.
    “I need to stop at my apartment for a second. I have to, uh, see about something. You want to wait in the car—or what the hell, come up. I’ll get you an umbrella and a real Scotch if you need one. I know I do.”

Chapter 16
    EMILY LOOKED EVEN more confused as my doorman, Kevin, opened the lobby door.
    “How much do they pay New York City cops?” she said as we headed for the elevator.
    “Very funny,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’m not on the take. It’s a long story, but basically I won real-estate lotto.”
    You could hear the ruckus as soon as the elevator opened in my foyer.
    “Is someone having a party?” Emily said.
    I laughed as I opened the door.
    “Oh, the party never ends around here,” I said.
    Everyone was in the living room. Seamus. The teens, the tweens, and the little ones, who were getting bigger and more expensive by the hour. Wall-to-wall people, laughing, fighting, gaming, watching TV. The mosh pit that was my home life.
    “Dad!” several of my kids cried when I was eventually noticed.
    When I turned back to Emily, I could see that she was beyond confused and now deep in utterly bamboozled territory. I smiled, remaining silent. Teasing her was becoming quite pleasant.
    “They’re not all yours,” she said.
    “Except for the priest,” I said, making an expansive gesture with my hands. “He’s just a loafer.”
    “Very funny,” Seamus said. “We won. So there.”
    “No!” I yelled, stricken. “No, it’s not possible. How? You threatened to excommunicate the other team?”
    “No, I tried something you wouldn’t know about. Sound coaching techniques. Take that, ya wiseass,” Seamus said. “Now how about introducing me