“You can turn it off,” Hardin said.
They rode in silence for a moment, Wilson leaning over and resting her head on Hardin’s shoulder.
“Think anybody will come after us?” Wilson said.
Hardin shrugged. “Have to deal with us if they do. By the way, you’ll need this.” He pulled two French passports from his jacket pocket and handed one to her. She flipped hers open, then took his and looked inside.
“Jean and Fantine Bernard. Really? I didn’t know that Fantine had a last name.”
“I don’t think she did, but you need one for a passport. Bernard is kind of like the French version of Smith. Fouche arranged the papers. He thought the names were romantic.”
“Husband and wife, huh? This makes it official?”
Hardin pulled her hand up, kissed it. “All the sacrament I need.”
Wilson turned toward the window a moment, her hand went to her face. Hardin thought she might have brushed away a tear. Then she turned back.
“Fantine,” she said. “I’m stuck with that?”
“I could call you Fanny, I guess.”
“I may have to kill Fouche for this someday.”
“That’s probably harder to do than it looks,” said Hardin.
“Isn’t everything?” Wilson said.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Man, doing a second acknowledgements page is tough. I mean what do you do? Thank all the same people again? Um, in some cases, yeah, you do.
So thank you again to my agent Stacia Decker and to my Team Decker stable mates Chuck Wendig, Joelle Charbonneau, John Hornor Jacobs, Steve Weddle and Seth Harwood who have all lent support, and, occasionally, booze.
Hat tip to my siblings, Tom, Maura, Brendan, Marty and Pat, who have put up with me longer than anyone. (Marty gets special mention for making his in-laws and friends buy their own copies of my last book when they asked to borrow his.)
Thanks again to Emlyn Rees and the team at Exhibit A. A special thank you to Paul Simpson, without who’s sharp eye I would have embarrassed myself a couple of times. And to Stewart Larking, what can I say? Another stunning cover.
There’s this weird little universe of people out there you get to know if you’re a crime writer, online reviewers, magazine and e-zine publishers, folks taking a shot at starting up new imprints. They aren’t getting famous, they sure as hell aren’t getting rich, but they do a hell of a lot to help authors breaking in to this game get a little exposure.
So thanks to Jon and Ruth Jordan, the masterminds behind Crimespree Magazine, behind Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, the driving forces behind a couple of Bouchercons and just nice people.
Thanks to the Shotgun Honey crew, past and present – Kent Gowran, Sabrina Ogden, Chad Robacher, Ron Earl Phillips, Jen Conley, Chris Irvin and Eric Arneson.
Thanks to the Snubnose Press guys, Brian Lindenmuth, Sandra Ruttan, Jack Getze and R. Thomas Brown.
And to fellow writers and Noir at the Bar emcees Scott Phillips, Jed Ayers, Eric Beetner and Stephen Blackmoore, thanks for the stage and the mic. I’m told I had fun, but it’s all a little fuzzy.
Finally, to Elizabeth A. White, who first reviewed a version of this book way back when it was an online experiment, I hope you like how it turned out. We’ll always have Mammon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dan O’Shea is a Chicago-area writer. Drawing on Chicago’s settings and history, the novels explore the city’s history of corruption, but with a national, even international flavor.
danielboshea.wordpress.com
twitter.com/dboshea
EXHIBIT A
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A is for African Diamonds!
Copyright © Daniel O’Shea 2014
Daniel O’Shea asserts the moral right to be
identified as the author of this work.
Cover photograph: © Corbis; design by Argh! Oxford.
All rights reserved.
Angry Robot is a registered trademark, and Exhibit A, the Exhibit A icon and
the Angry Robot icon a trademark of Angry Robot Ltd.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and
incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or
localities is entirely coincidental.
Ebook ISBN: 978 1 90922 317 2
UK Paperback: ISBN: 978 1 90922 315 8
US Trade Paperback: ISBN: 978 1 90922 316 5
Contents
Title page
Dedication
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 64
CHAPTER 65
CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
CHAPTER 72
CHAPTER 73
CHAPTER 74
CHAPTER 75
CHAPTER 76
CHAPTER 77
CHAPTER 78
CHAPTER 79
CHAPTER 80
CHAPTER 81
CHAPTER 82
CHAPTER 83
CHAPTER 84
CHAPTER 85
CHAPTER 86
CHAPTER 87
CHAPTER 88
CHAPTER 89
CHAPTER 90
CHAPTER 91
CHAPTER 92
CHAPTER 93
CHAPTER 94
CHAPTER 95
CHAPTER 96
CHAPTER 97
CHAPTER 98
CHAPTER 99
CHAPTER 100
CHAPTER 101
CHAPTER 103
CHAPTER 104
CHAPTER 105
CHAPTER 106
CHAPTER 107
CHAPTER 108
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Imprint Page