The Throwbacks Read Online Free PDF

softly.
    Maybe Grace should be worried that he wouldn’t call, but she wasn’t. Their encounter was brief, but she felt a mutual…something. There was no way he could have been immune to it.
    “No, he didn’t ask for my number, but I gave it to him anyway,” Grace said with a sudden twinkling smile. She was pretty sure that would be enough.

    David strode into the restaurant where the mayor waited for him.
    “Where’s the chief?”
    “He’s here. He’s taking a call. He’ll be right in,” David said. The mayor introduced him to his daughter Theresa, her fiancé, Rick Racer—also known as the Lieutenant Governor—and a few other relatives and friends. The pleasantries weren’t particularly pleasant under the circumstances, so he cut them short.
    “Where’s the body?”
    The mayor nodded over his right shoulder. Rick winced and looked down.
    David followed the pair out back.
    “It’s an apparent homicide.” The mayor sounded grim and comical at the same time. David was skeptical about the hush-hush treatment of the case. He thought they could have called it in the conventional way and dealt with the publicity—until he saw the body.
    The dead guy was a dead ringer for Rick. “He’s your twin brother, I see.”
    David could also see that the man was not dead. He leaned over the body to make sure, and even though there was a hole in his jacket right over his heart, and although it was oozing a red jelled substance meant to appear to be blood to an untrained eye, David saw no real blood. After checking the man’s vitals and his skull, he stood. This would be a good one. Nothing simple. It seemed like a mugging in the back alley, but it wasn’t.
    The chief walked in and exchanged nods with the mayor and Rick.
    “What’s his name?” The chief asked Rick.
    “Nick.”
    “Naturally,” David said. They all turned to him. Dan gave him a behave-yourself-look. David ignored him. “Rick and Nick. Twins. Your parents have a sense of humor. Good news, Rick. Your twin Nick is alive, albeit with a nasty bump on his head,” David said. They all looked startled, but the chief looked skeptical.
    “How could that be?” Rick rushed to his brother and bent over him. He slapped at his face.
    “He’s wearing Kevlar.”
    “What? He can’t be—there’s blood.” the mayor said.
    “Fake blood. The latest development in bulletproof vests, according to Crime-Fighting Quarterly . Any reason he should be wearing a bulletproof vest to a family rehearsal dinner?” David asked.
    Rick stared back at him with his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open for about two seconds before he recovered and resumed slapping his brother. “Gees. That’s Nick for you. He’s a New York City police detective. Married to his job. Never off the clock.” Rick took a deep breath and gave the prone man a hug. Then he stood.
    “We need a medic. I’m going to kill him after we revive him. He gave me such a scare. And Theresa.”
    “I got a medic on the way,” Dan said. “Any reason someone would want to follow your brother to Boston to shoot him?”
    “You’ll have to ask him. But my guess would be he’s got plenty of enemies—on both sides of the law,” Rick said.
    David exchanged a glance with Dan. His friend was looking for clues from him and he didn’t have anything yet, of course. They needed Nick fully alert so they could question him. But this was a tough audience. Meanwhile, everyone outside their little sphere in the back alley thought Nick was dead.
    “Are we sure Nick was the target?” David asked, because someone had to say it out loud.
    Rick turned white faster than David had seen anyone blanch since the time they found that snake in the Queen’s limo. David stepped closer in case the man fainted. Clearly the thought that he was the intended victim hadn’t occurred to Rick.
    “God, please tell me you’re kidding.” Rick said.
    “Of course it could be a random attack. Then again, he’s a dead ringer for you