chapter 42

Isaiah's statement felt like an elbow to my solar plexus. At the same time it removes all doubt for me.

Hannah Simon, sparrow Ridge, clos du Mesnil champagne. Zaddicos was now tied in to all three murders.

He was Ted Beard.

I wanted to run and confront Zaddicos, but i knew o couldn't. I wanted to get up close, glare in his smug eyes, let him know I knew.

At the same time, a suffocating tightness swept up into my chest. I didn't know if it was a flash of nausea, Negli's, or the release of my bottled up rage.

Whatever it was, I knew I had to get out. I'm leaving, i said to Gabriel. I was scared.

He looked stunned and confused as I rushed out.

"Hey, I say something wrong?" I heard Isaiah say.

I grabbed my jacket and purse and ran down the steps to the street. My blood was rioting inside me like an angry demon. A cold sweat has broken out all over me.

I ran out into the cool day, started to walk fast down the street.

I had no idea where I was going. I felt like a foreign tourist wandering in the city for the first time. Soon there was crowds, stores, people rushing by who knew nothing about me. I wanted to lose myself for a de minutes.Starbucks, kinko's, Empress travel. Familiar names flashed by.

I felt drawn by a single, irrepressible urge. I wanted to look in his eyes.

On post, I found myself standing in front of Borders bookshop. I went inside.

It was large and open, bright with merchandised stands and shelves of all the current books. I didn't ask. I just looked. On a table in front of me, I spotted what I was searching for.

Lion's share. Maybe fifty copies. Thick, bright blue, some stacked, some propped up.

Lion's share by Richard Zaddicos.

My chest was exploding. I felt in the grip of unspeakable bu undeniable right. A mission, a purpose. This was why I was an investigator. This very moment.

I took a copy of Zaddicos's book and looked at the back cover.

I was staring at the killer of the brides and grooms. I was sure if it.

It was the cut of Richard Zaddicos's face, sharp as a stone's edge, that told me. The gray eyes, cold and sterile, controlling.

And one more thing.

The red beard, flecked with gray.