The People vs. Alex Cross (35 page)

“Sounds perfect.”

“I think so.”

I saw the ash-blond woman from the parking lot walking our way. She’d put on big sunglasses and a tennis visor and held the hand of a pretty young girl in pigtails who wore pink culottes and carried a little bucket and shovel.

“Detective Aaliyah?” the woman said.

Tess pulled her head back, clearly not recognizing her.

The woman glanced at me and then took off her sunglasses. “My name is Patricia Phelps.”

Tess took a sharp breath. Her shaking hands traveled to her lips in disbelief. The mother of the little girl she’d shot was standing right there.

“I’ll let you two talk,” I said, and I walked toward the dunes.

I climbed up on one and sat on top for the longest time, rubbing my ankle and watching life play out on the beach below me. I saw Patricia Phelps forgive Tess Aaliyah as she’d promised she would. Tess fell into the woman’s arms, and later they built a sand castle with Meagan, the little girl.

It took a while, but Ali finally got the hang of casting and later hooked his first fish, a nice striper. He danced all around, throwing his hands up in the air, and I could hear his shouts of victory over the surf.

I smiled and gazed beyond the breaking waves to the sea and the far horizon, feeling that these kinds of moments, these small triumphs, were more than enough to keep me working for the good in the world despite all the dark webs I’d been thrust into over the course of my life.

1
^st
to Die • 2
^nd
Chance (
with Andrew Gross
) • 3
^rd
Degree (
with Andrew Gross
) • 4
^th
of July (
with Maxine Paetro
) • The 5
^th
Horseman (
with Maxine Paetro
) • The 6
^th
Target (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 7
^th
Heaven (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 8
^th
Confession (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 9
^th
Judgement (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 10
^th
Anniversary (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 11
^th
Hour (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 12
^th
of Never (
with Maxine Paetro
) • Unlucky 13 (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 14
^th
Deadly Sin (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 15
^th
Affair (
with Maxine Paetro
) • 16
^th
Seduction (
with Maxine Paetro
)

Step on a Crack (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Run for Your Life (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Worst Case (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Tick Tock (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • I, Michael Bennett (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Gone (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Burn (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Alert (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Bullseye (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Haunted (
with James O. Born
)

Private (
with Maxine Paetro
)
•
Private London (
with Mark Pearson
) • Private Games (
with Mark Sullivan
) • Private: No. 1 Suspect (
with Maxine Paetro
) • Private Berlin (
with Mark Sullivan
) • Private Down Under (
with Michael White
) • Private L.A. (
with Mark Sullivan
) • Private India (
with Ashwin Sanghi
) • Private Vegas (
with Maxine Paetro
) • Private Sydney (
with Kathryn Fox
) • Private Paris (
with Mark Sullivan
) • The Games (
with Mark Sullivan
) • Private Delhi (
with Ashwin Sanghi
)

NYPD Red (
with Marshall Karp
) • NYPD Red 2 (
with Marshall Karp
) • NYPD Red 3 (
with Marshall Karp
) • NYPD Red 4 (
with Marshall Karp
)

Never Never (
with Candice Fox
)

Fifty Fifty (
with Candice Fox
)

The Thomas Berryman Number • Sail (
with Howard Roughan
) • Swimsuit (
with Maxine Paetro
) • Don’t Blink (
with Howard Roughan
) • Postcard Killers (
with Liza Marklund
) • Toys (
with Neil McMahon
) • Now You See Her (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Kill Me If You Can (
with Marshall Karp
) • Guilty Wives (
with David Ellis
) • Zoo (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Second Honeymoon (
with Howard Roughan
) • Mistress (
with David Ellis
) • Invisible (
with David Ellis
) • Truth or Die (
with Howard Roughan
)
•
Murder House (
with David Ellis
) • Woman of God (
with Maxine Paetro
) • Hide and Seek • Humans, Bow Down (
with Emily Raymond
) • The Black Book (
with David Ellis
) • Murder Games (
with Howard Roughan
) • Black Market • The Moores are Missing
(with Loren D. Estleman, Sam Hawken and Ed Chatterton
) • The Store (
with Richard DiLallo
) • The Midnight Club • The Family Lawyer (
with Robert Rotstein, Christopher Charles and Rachel Howzell Hall
)

Torn Apart (
with Hal and Cory Friedman
) • The Murder of King Tut (
with Martin Dugard
)

Sundays at Tiffany’s (
with Gabrielle Charbonnet
) • The Christmas Wedding (
with Richard DiLallo
) • First Love (
with Emily Raymond
) • Two from the Heart (
with Frank Constantini, Emily Raymond and Brian Sitts
)

Miracle at Augusta (
with Peter de Jonge
) • Penguins of America (
with Jack Patterson
)

The Worst Years of My Life (
with Chris Tebbetts
) • Get Me Out of Here! (
with Chris Tebbetts
) • My Brother Is a Big, Fat Liar (
with Lisa Papademetriou
) • How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill (
with Chris Tebbetts
) • Ultimate Showdown (
with Julia Bergen
) • Save Rafe! (
with Chris Tebbetts
) • Just My Rotten Luck (
with Chris Tebbetts
) • Dog’s Best Friend (
with Chris Tebbetts
) • Escape to Australia (
with Martin Chatterton
)

I Funny (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • I Even Funnier (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • I Totally Funniest (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • I Funny TV (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • School of Laughs (
with Chris Grabenstein
)

Treasure Hunters (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Danger Down the Nile (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Secret of the Forbidden City (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Peril at the Top of the World (
with Chris Grabenstein
)

House of Robots (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Robots Go Wild! (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Robot Revolution (
with Chris Grabenstein
)

Kenny Wright: Superhero (
with Chris Tebbetts
) • Homeroom Diaries (
with Lisa Papademetriou
) • Jacky Ha-Ha (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Word of Mouse (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Pottymouth and Stoopid (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Laugh Out Loud (
with Chris Grabenstein
)

The Angel Experiment • School’s Out Forever • Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports • The Final Warning • Max • Fang • Angel • Nevermore • Forever

Confessions of a Murder Suspect (
with Maxine Paetro
) • The Private School Murders (
with Maxine Paetro
) • The Paris Mysteries (
with Maxine Paetro
) • The Murder of an Angel (
with Maxine Paetro
)

Witch & Wizard (
with Gabrielle Charbonnet
) • The Gift (
with Ned Rust
) • The Fire (
with Jill Dembowski
) • The Kiss (
with Jill Dembowski
) • The Lost (
with Emily Raymond
)

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (
with Michael Ledwidge
) • Watch the Skies (
with Ned Rust
) • Demons and Druids (
with Adam Sadler
) • Game Over (
with Ned Rust
) • Armageddon (
with Chris Grabenstein
) • Lights Out (
with Chris Grabenstein
)

Cradle and All • Crazy House (
with Gabrielle Charbonnet
) • Expelled (
with Emily Raymond
)

Daniel X: Alien Hunter (
with Leopoldo Gout
) • Maximun Ride: Manga Vols. 1–9 (
with NaRae Lee
)

Big Words for Little Geniuses (
with Susan Patterson
) • Give Please a Chance (
with Bill O’Reilly
) • Give Thank you a Try

For more information about James Patterson’s novels, visit
www.jamespatterson.co.uk

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This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781473536159

Version 1.0

Published by Century 2017

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Copyright © James Patterson 2017

Cover background images © Arcangel © Trevillion

Cover photograph of outline of man: [email protected]

James Patterson has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

This is a work of fiction. All characters and descriptions of events are the products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons is entirely coincidental

First published by Century in 2017

Century
The Penguin Random House Group Limited
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www.penguin.co.uk

Century is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781780895154