Twisted

cracks in the floor into the Hudson.
    “So we made inquiries and heard you were being paid five hundred dollars to . . .” Gordon hesitated.
    Touch off.
    “ . . . eliminate Malone tonight.”
    “Like hell I was,” Paul said, laughing. “You got yourself some bum wire. I just went to visit him. Where is he, by the way?”
    Gordon paused. “Mr. Malone will no longer be a threat to the constabulary or the citizens of New York City.”
    “Sounds like somebody owes you five C-notes.”
    Bull Gordon didn’t laugh. “You’re in Dutch, Paul, and you can’t beat the rap. So here’s what we’re offering. Like they say in those used-Studebaker ads:this’s a one-time-only offer. Take it or leave it. We don’t negotiate.”
    The senator finally spoke. “Tom Dewey wants you as bad as he wants the rest of the scum on his list.”
    The special prosecutor was on a divine mission to clean up organized crime in New York. Crime boss Lucky Luciano, the Italian Five Families in the city and the Jewish syndicate of Meyer Lansky were his main targets. Dewey was dogged and smart and he was winning conviction after conviction.
    “But he’s agreed to give us first dibs on you.”
    “Forget it. I’m not a stool pigeon.”
    Gordon said, “We’re not asking you to be one. That’s not what this is about.”
    “Then what do you want me to do?”
    A pause for a moment. The senator nodded toward Gordon, who said, “You’re a button man, Paul. What do you think? We want you to kill somebody.”

A BOUT THE A UTHOR

    J effery Deaver is the author of twenty-one suspense novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Vanished Man, The Stone Monkey, The Blue Nowhere, The Empty Chair, The Devil’s Teardrop and The Coffin Dancer, as well as The Bone Collector and Speaking in Tongues. His latest novel, Garden of Beasts, is forthcoming in hardcover from Simon & Schuster. As William Jefferies, he is the author of Shallow Graves, Bloody River Blues, and Hell’s Kitchen. He is a five-time Edgar Award nominee, an Anthony Award nominee, and a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader’s Award for Best Short Story of the Year. Deaver was born in Chicago, attended the University of Missouri, and received a law degree from Fordham University in New York. Readers can visit his website at www.jefferydeaver.com .

A LSO BY J EFFERY D EAVER
    Carte Blanche
    Edge
    The Burning Wire*
    Best American Mystery Stories 2009 (Editor)
    The Watch List ( The Copper Bracelet and
The Chopin Manuscript ) (Contributor)
    Roadside Crosses**
    The Bodies Left Behind
    The Broken Window*
    The Sleeping Doll**
    More Twisted: Collected Stories, Volume Two
    The Cold Moon*/**
    The Twelfth Card*
    Garden of Beasts
    Twisted: Collected Stories
    The Vanished Man*
    The Stone Monkey*
    The Blue Nowhere
    The Empty Chair*
    Speaking in Tongues
    The Devil’s Teardrop
    The Coffin Dancer*
    The Bone Collector*
    A Maiden’s Grave
    Praying for Sleep
    The Lesson of Her Death
    Mistress of Justice
    Hard News
    Death of a Blue Movie Star
    Manhattan Is My Beat
    Hell’s Kitchen
    Bloody River Blues
    Shallow Graves
    A Century of Great Suspense Stories (Editor)
    A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime (Editor)
    Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Introduction)
    *Featuring Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs
    **Featuring Kathryn Dance

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

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    Copyright © 2003 by Jeffrey Deaver
    Originally published in hardcover in 2003
    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Simon & Schuster, Inc. 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
    ISBN 0-7434-9159-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-6236-1 (eBook)
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