Blue Labyrinth (39 page)
Authors: Douglas Preston,Lincoln Child
Tags: #Thriller, #Mystery, #Fantasy
“What is?” Pendergast asked as he got back behind the wheel.
“You’ve divested yourself of everything purchased with Hezekiah’s money.”
“As best I can, yes.”
“But you obviously still have a lot left.”
“True. Much of it came independently from my grandfather, the one whose grave I must visit every five years. That will allow me to retain the Dakota apartment and, in general, continue living in the style to which I’ve become accustomed.”
“What about the Riverside Drive mansion?”
“I inherited that from my great-uncle Antoine. Your ‘Dr. Enoch.’ Along with his extensive investments, naturally.”
“Naturally. And yet, how curious.”
“I wonder, Constance, where this line of questioning is leading.”
Constance smiled slyly. “You’ve rejected the assets of one serial
murderer—Hezekiah—while embracing the assets of another: Enoch Leng. No?”
There was a pause while Pendergast considered this. “I prefer hypocrisy to poverty.”
“Come to think of it, there is a rationale. Leng didn’t make his money from killing. He made it from speculating in railroads, oil, and precious metals.”
Pendergast raised his eyebrows. “I did not know that.”
“There is much you still don’t know about him.”
They waited in silence, the engine rumbling. Pendergast hesitated, and then turned toward her, speaking with a certain amount of awkwardness. “I’m not sure that I’ve thanked you properly—or Dr. Green—for saving my life. And at such terrible risk—”
She stopped him with a finger to his lips. “Please. You know how I feel about you. Don’t embarrass me by making me repeat myself.”
For a moment, Pendergast seemed on the brink of saying something. But then he merely added: “I shall honor your request.”
He nosed the car forward, engine grumbling, onto the white gravel drive. The great mansion slowly fell away behind them.
“It’s a beautiful machine, but not particularly comfortable,” Constance said, glancing around the cockpit. “Are we going to drive to New Orleans in this, or all the way to New York?”
“Shall we leave that for the car to decide?” And, driving down the shadow-knotted lane of graceful oaks and onto the main road, Pendergast accelerated with a roar that reverberated through the bayous and sleepy mangrove swamps of St. Charles Parish.
We’d like to thank the following for their ongoing support and assistance: Mitch Hoffman, Lindsey Rose, Jamie Raab, Kallie Shimek, Eric Simonoff, Claudia Rülke, and Nadine Waddell. And to Edmund Kwan, MD, our deepest appreciation for his expertise.
The thrillers of
D
OUGLAS
P
RESTON
and
L
INCOLN
C
HILD
“stand head and shoulders above their rivals” (
Publishers Weekly
). Preston and Child’s
Relic
and
The Cabinet of Curiosities
were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and
Relic
was made into a number-one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series, and their recent novels include
Cold Vengeance
,
Two Graves
,
White Fire
, and
The Lost Island
. Preston’s acclaimed nonfiction book,
The Monster of Florence
, is being made into a movie starring George Clooney. Lincoln Child is a former book editor who has published five novels of his own, including the huge bestseller
Deep Storm
.
Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly “strangely entertaining note” from the authors, at their website, www.PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their alarmingly active Facebook page, where they post regularly.
Agent Pendergast Novels
White Fire
Two Graves
*
Cold Vengeance
*
Fever Dream
*
Cemetery Dance
The Wheel of Darkness
The Book of the Dead
**
Dance of Death
**
Brimstone
**
Still Life with Crows
The Cabinet of Curiosities
Reliquary
†
Relic
†
The Ice Limit
Thunderhead
Riptide
Mount Dragon
Gideon Crew Novels
The Lost Island
Gideon’s Corpse
Gideon’s Sword
By Douglas Preston
The Kraken Project
Impact
The Monster of Florence
(with Mario Spezi)
Blasphemy
Tyrannosaur Canyon
The Codex
Ribbons of Time
The Royal Road
Talking to the Ground
Jennie
Cities of Gold
Dinosaurs in the Attic
By Lincoln Child
The Third Gate
Terminal Freeze
Deep Storm
Death Match
Utopia
Tales of the Dark 1–3
Dark Banquet
Dark Company
*
The Helen Trilogy
**
The Diogenes Trilogy
†
Relic
and
Reliquary
are ideally read in sequence
To receive special offers, bonus content, and news about our latest ebooks and apps, sign up for our newsletters.
Or visit us at
hachettebookgroup.com/newsletters
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, corporations, government entities, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Splendide Mendax, Inc. and Lincoln Child
Cover design by Flag.
Cover photographs from Getty Images: tree by Eric A Norris; drought by Hang Pun
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group
1290 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10104
First ebook edition: November 2014
Grand Central Publishing is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Grand Central Publishing name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Hachette Speakers Bureau provides a wide range of authors for speaking events. To find out more, go to www.hachettespeakersbureau.com or call (866) 376-6591.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4555-2590-4
E3
