“But—oh. It was Felix making the calls.”
Paula nodded. “And you think I’d want to talk to him for any particular reason when I saw his name come up on the screen?”
“You know, this is fun and all, but I’d really like to come in. After all, it is my house.”
She took my hand and so several pleasant minutes passed.
We were on the rear deck, a light breeze blowing, and she said, “All right, sport. I promised to take some time off and take care of you here, and so the fun will start. You okay with that?”
I thought and said, “No.”
“What?”
I squeezed her hand. “No. I want to spend time with you, it will be my greatest pleasure. But not here, not in my house.”
“But you love this place!”
I squeezed her hand again. “I do. And I’ll want to come back. But right now, there’s too much history, too much past … And there’s some repair work that’ll need to be done from Marjorie Hudson’s shotgun play. I don’t want to be around for that. I want to go away with you. So pick the place, pick the duration.”
She smiled, leaned over, and kissed me. “I’ll give that some serious thought. How about we head out tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow’s fine,” I said.
“Good. Because my stuff is upstairs in the bedroom, and I really don’t want to repack it. I even changed the sheets and made your bed—but don’t think that’s going to be a habit.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m glad, because you still need to come up with an explanation for this,” she said, carefully digging into a side pocket.
“This” turned out to be a folded piece of white tissue paper. She unfolded it, and unfolded it, and then picked up something in triumph. “Have you been cheating on me, Mr. Cole?”
I took it from her fingers.
It was a long strand of hair.
Red hair.
“No,” I said. “I’ve not been cheating on you.”
She laughed. “Care to explain it, then?”
I held the length of red hair up to the sunlight, let it twist and dangle.
Then I let my fingers go and the passing breeze took it away.
“Not today, Paula,” I said. “Not today.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Once again, the entire publishing team at Pegasus Books—Claiborne Hancock, Jessica Case, Iris Blasi, and Bowen Dunnan (the new and talented kid on the block)—were a joy to deal with.
I’d also like to thank my very patient first readers, my wife Mona Pinette and my brother Michael DuBois, who are always the first to learn of Lewis Cole’s new outings, and who are dedicated to seeking out my errors.
Finally, my thanks to Elaine Rogers for keeping me legal, and my deep thanks and appreciation to the one and only James Patterson.
HARD AGROUND
Pegasus Books Ltd.
148 W 37th Street, 13th Floor
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2018 by Brendan DuBois
First Pegasus Books cloth edition April 2018
Interior design by Maria Fernandez
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher, except by reviewers who may quote brief excerpts in connection with a review in a newspaper, magazine, or electronic publication; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN: 978-1-68177-652-1
ISBN: 978-1-68177-726-9 (e-book)
Distributed by W. W. Norton & Company
www.pegasusbooks.us
