Mr. Clarinet

CLARINETTE WAS A village on its way to becoming a…

Chapter 37

THE LEBALLECS LIVED half an hour away from the cemetery,…

Chapter 38

WHEN THEY RETURNED to Clarinette, they asked anyone who looked…

Chapter 39

IT WAS STILL dark when he got back, but the…

Chapter 40

BEFORE SHE'D DISAPPEARED in November 1994, Claudette Thodore had lived…

Chapter 41

"DO YOU STILL think Vincent Paul took Charlie?" Chantale asked…

Chapter 42

MAX WAITED UNTIL nightfall; then he went around to the…

Chapter 43

MAX CONSIDERED TELLING Allain about the tape, but he held…

Part 4

Chapter 44

"HOW ARE YOU feeling?" Vincent Paul asked Max, after he'd…

Chapter 45

"THE WOMAN YOU know as Francesca Carver was once called…

Chapter 46

MAX WAS BLINDFOLDED and put in the back of an…

Chapter 47

THERE WERE FIVE telephone messages waiting for him—Joe, Allain,…

Chapter 48

THE FOLLOWING EVENING Max watched Eloise being picked up outside…

Chapter 49

MAX WAS COLLECTED by Paul's men shortly after three a.m.…

Chapter 50

"CAN WE GET you anything Mister Co-da-da? Water? Coffee? Something…

Chapter 51

ELOISE SHOT MAX a furtive look when he walked into…

Chapter 52

"MAURICE FIRST MET Monsieur Carver—Gustav—in the 1940s. He…

Chapter 53

MAX PACED AROUND in the street outside the house, his…

Chapter 54

THE NEXT MORNING Max woke up with the phone ringing…

Chapter 55

GUSTAV CARVER SMILED warmly when he saw Max walk into…

Chapter 56

ON HIS WAY back, Max stopped off at La Coupole,…

Chapter 57

THE NEXT DAY he got a call from Allain, who…

Chapter 58

"I'M SORRY ABOUT your mother, Chantale," Max said as they…

Part 5

Chapter 59

BACK IN MIAMI, back at the Kendall Radisson Hotel. They…

Chapter 60

DECEMBER 21: JOE called him just after eight a.m., to…

Chapter 61

"VINCENT? IT'S MAX Mingus." The line wasn't good, a lot…

Part 6

Chapter 62

CHANTALE HAD JUST finished loading two cases into the back…

Chapter 63

CARVER'S BEACH HOUSE overlooked a tiny scrap of paradise—a…

Chapter 64

THE GIRLS CAME in first. Kreyol, laughter.

Chapter 65

HUXLEY DROVE. MAX sat next to him with the gun…

Chapter 66

"MY SISTER PATRICE—I used to call her 'Treese.' She…

Chapter 67

CARL AND ERTHA were waiting for them by the door.…

Chapter 68

EARLY THE NEXT morning, Vincent Paul, Francesca, and Charlie came…

EPILOGUE

TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS in $100 bills.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CREDITS

COVER

COPYRIGHT

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

PROLOGUE

New York City, November 6, 1996

TEN MILLION DOLLARS if he performed a miracle and brought the boy back alive, five million dollars if he came back with just the body and another five million if he dragged the killers in with it—their dead-or-alive status was immaterial, as long as they had the kid's blood on their hands.