ALSO BY ANDREW VACHSS
THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF
Copyright © 2000 by Andrew Vachss
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.
www.aaknopf.com
Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publishing Data
Vachss, Andrew H.
Dead and gone / Andrew Vachss. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-375-41361-2
1. Burke (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Private
investigators—New York (State)—New York—Fiction.
3. Missing children—Fiction. 4. New York
(N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3572.A33 D42 2000
813?.54—dc21 00-040565
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
v3.1
jibara, abused child, migrant laborer, garment-district worker, defender of her family, protector of her neighborhood, savior of damaged creatures, nurturer of a revolution, mother to my brother … heroine.
all your days on this earth were without rest. always you waited for it to be your time. always waited in vain.
and now you wait for us.
en nuestros corazones nada ha cambiado. seras adorada y respetada para siempre. trabajaremos sin descanso para que te sientas orgullosa de nosotros.
espera pacientemente, Mama. pronto sera como antes fue, todos juntos.
pero sin dolor.
Lieutenant Paul Nolin Berthelotte, USN
Professor James Colbert, UNM, USMC (1970–1971)
Sergeant Mike McNamara, Licensed for Life
Contents
First Page
You know what it takes to sit across the table from a man, listen to him talk, look into his eyes … and then blow his brains all over the wallpaper?
