“Gee,” I said, “tough story, but I hate costume dramas.”
He ignored me. “The prince wandered in exile a long time, at the end of which his secret lover, a shaman in his father’s court, introduced him to a band of rebels who wished to topple the king. Their plans were flawed. The prince knew this. But he went along while his fragile psyche began to heal. He made contingency plans. Many, many contingency plans.” He threw the last of his stones into the water, looked up at me as he bent for more. “And the prince grew strong, Mr. Kenzie. He grew very strong.”
“Strong enough to cut off his own finger?”
Wesley smiled. “It’s a fairy tale, Mr. Kenzie. Don’t get weighed down with specifics.”
“How will the prince feel when someone strong cuts off his head, Wesley?”
“I’m home now,” he said. “Back where I belong. I’ve matured. I’m with my loving father and loving stepmother. I’m happy. Are you happy, Patrick?”
I said nothing.
“I hope so. Hold on to that happiness. It’s rare. It can break any time. Were you to run about making wild accusations you couldn’t prove, it could affect your happiness. You’d get wiped out in court by a few good attorneys with acute knowledge of slander laws.”
“Uh-huh,” I said.
He turned to me, gave me his weak smile. “Run home, Patrick. Be a good boy. Protect your vulnerabilities, your loved ones, and gird yourself for tragedy.” He tossed another pebble at my reflection. “It befalls us all.”
I glanced back at the porch where Christopher Dawe sat reading the paper and Carrie Dawe sat reading a book.
“They’ve paid enough,” I said. “I won’t hurt them to get at you.”
“Considerate,” he said. “I’ve heard that about you.”
“But, Wesley?”
“Yes, Patrick.”
“They won’t live forever.”
“No.”
“Think about that. They’re all that shields you from me.”
Something caught in his face for just a moment, the tiniest of tics, a glimmer of fear.
And then it vanished.
“Stay away,” he whispered. “Stay away, Patrick.”
“Sooner or later, you’ll be an orphan.” I turned away from the pond. “And that’s the day the bloodline ends.”
I left him there and walked back across the great lawn toward the expansive porch.
It was a gorgeous fall day. The trees erupted. The earth smelled like harvest.
The sun was beginning to fade, though, and the air—slightly chilled as it slid through the trees—carried with it just the barest hint of rain.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Dr. Keith Ablow, for answering my questions about psychiatry; Tom Corcoran, for setting me straight on the ’68 Shelby; Chris and Julie Gleason, for helping out with English lit. questions I’m embarrassed I had to ask; Detective Michael Lawn of the Watertown Police Department, for explaining accident-scene procedures; Dr. Laura Need, for providing the heart condition; Emily Sperling of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association; Paul and Maureen Welch, for leading me to Plymouth; and MM, for clarifying U.S. Postal Service procedures.
Thanks also to Jessica Baumgardner, Eleanor Cox, Michael Murphy, Sharyn Rosenblum, and my brother Gerry for propping me up during the New York trips.
And finally, as always, my deepest gratitude to Claire Wachtel, Ann Rittenberg, and Sheila for reading the drafts, pulling no punches, and keeping me honest.
About the Author
DENNIS LEHANE is the New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River; Prayers for Rain; Gone, Baby, Gone; Sacred; Darkness, Take My Hand; and A Drink Before the War, winner of the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. He lives in the Boston area.
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Praise
Acclaim for New York Times Bestselling Author Dennis Lehane and Prayers for Rain
“An answered prayer for a summer mystery reader…Dennis Lehane shows a gift for stringing out scenes and creating tension—sexual, homicidal, you name it—that makes a reader eager to find out what comes next as Kenzie puzzles his way toward a sadistic killer. But don’t race ahead and cheat yourself out of the local pleasures.”
People, Beach Read of the Week
“Dennis Lehane delivers a combination of high-energy thrills and dead-on portrayals of killers and other bad people.”
Chicago Tribune
“Lehane is a master at balancing thriller gimmicks with wonderfully round characters. The latter make this an A-plus novel—the plus is for thrills.”
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Fine characterization and edgy dialogue. Prayers for Rain is packed with punchy action sequences, uneasy stretches where the reader squirms in anticipation of impending disaster, and plenty of dark humor. Dennis Lehane has all the tools of a future Grand Master—the dialogue of Parker, the plotting of Block, the psychological suspense of Rendell—and in Prayers for Rain he shows them off to fine effect.”
Houston Chronicle
“Prayers for Rain is close to perfect in its pacing, characterizations, plot, and suspense. It is a perfect book for the summer hammock, though it won’t help you sleep.”
Rocky Mountain News
Books by
Dennis Lehane
SHUTTER ISLAND
MYSTIC RIVER
PRAYERS FOR RAIN
GONE, BABY, GONE
SACRED
DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND
A DRINK BEFORE THE WAR
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PRAYERS FOR RAIN. Copyright © 2006 by Dennis Lehane. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2006 ISBN: 9780061804847
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