by Scott Pratt
I felt nothing as I stepped up to him.
“This is for the sheriff and for those miserable bastards at the FBI,” I whispered, and I shot him once between the eyes.
I turned, walked out of the apartment, and handed the gun to the Vietnamese man. He locked the door while I went down the steps. I walked back to the cathedral and hailed a cab. A short time thereafter, I was back at the hotel.
Claire was standing in the lobby, dressed casually for the long flight home.
I walked up to her and she hugged me.
“How’d it go?” she whispered in my ear.
“Perfect.”
“How does it feel to have a clean slate?”
“Hard to describe,” I said.
As part of my deal, Roger Tate had secured for me a pardon from the president of the United States for any crimes I may have committed up to and including the day I shot Roger Wilcox. I had a copy, a lawyer I’d chosen very carefully had a copy, the Department of Justice had a copy, and Roger Tate had a copy.
“Everything’s ready to go,” Claire said. “Cab’s outside.”
“Let’s go,” I said, and we walked hand in hand into the humid night.
A clean slate. What would a man with my past and in my circumstances do with a clean slate? I hoped I’d make the best of it and resist some impulses I’d given in to in the past.
But only time would tell.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2015 Dwain Rowe
Scott Pratt was born in South Haven, Michigan, and grew up in Jonesborough, Tennessee. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force and earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from East Tennessee State University and a doctor of jurisprudence degree from the University of Tennessee. Pratt’s first novel, An Innocent Client—the first book in his Joe Dillard series—was chosen as a finalist for the Mystery Readers International’s Macavity Award. Justice Lost is the third book in his Wall Street Journal bestselling Darren Street series, following Justice Redeemed and Justice Burning. Pratt resides in northeast Tennessee with his wife, two dogs, and a parrot.
