The Black Widow
The spine-tingling thriller about a depraved female serial killer from the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author.Jordan Price doesn't look like your typical serial killer…Young and beautiful, she exudes innocence and vulnerability. But after her latest husband dies in mysterious circumstances, Rick Carson is forced to consider her capable of cold-blooded murder.The deeper he delves into the string of deaths which stalk Jordan, the more dangerous the game of cat-and-mouse becomes. The targets are changing and suddenly no one is safe.If Jordan is as innocent as she claims, Rick may have placed in a brutal killer's crosshairs. But if she's guilty, Rick will pay in blood…
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BEVERLY BARTON
THE BLACK WIDOW
Published by AVON
A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain as Coldhearted by HarperCollins 2008
This eBook edition published 2018
Copyright © Beverly Barton 2008
Cover design © Diane Meacham Design 2018
Cover photograph © Shutterstock
Beverly Barton asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
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.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9781847560612
Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780007328925
Version: 2018-06-04
Contents
Perhaps the best thing he could do for himself and every-one he loved was to commit suicide.
Dan Price stared at the Glock pistol lying atop his desk. He had bought the 9mm automatic for his wife, but she had refused the gift, politely reminding him of her aversion to guns. But at his insistence, she had gone with him to the practice range and learned to use the weapon, only to please him. But to his knowledge, she had never carried the pistol, never kept it in her room or in her car.
If his sweet Jordan had any idea that he was contemplating taking his own life, she would do her best to convince him that no matter what the future held, she would stand by him. It was her basic integrity and loyalty that had first attracted him to the woman who had become his greatest political asset.
Dan lifted the half-full glass of Kentucky bourbon to his lips and finished off the remainder. The liquor burned a path down his esophagus and hit his belly like fire. He coughed a couple of times, then wiped his mouth, picked up the bottle, and poured himself another drink.
If he was going to do this—and he fully intended to end his life tonight—he knew he couldn’t do it stone cold sober. He wasn’t that courageous. Before he could put the hammer-forged barrel into his mouth and pull the trigger, he needed to be more than a little drunk.
He sipped on the bourbon as he leaned back in the swivel desk chair and let his gaze travel over the room. His private study, as it had been his father’s and grandfather’s before him. An impressive room inside a 200-year-old antebellum mansion, part of an estate that had been in his family since before the War Between the States. Generations of Price men had served their country, first in wartime and then in local, state, and national politics. In Georgia, the name Price was synonymous with public service.
If he killed himself, how would that affect his family’s good name? No Price man had ever taken the easy way out of a bad situation.
But could he continue, knowing what the future held for him? Could he condemn Jordan to such a life? And what about Devon? And his brother, Ryan? They would never desert him, and that would mean great sacrifices for each of them.
You don’t have to do this tonight. You have time.
But how much time? Six months? A year?
Dan finished off his second drink and poured himself a third.
The grandfather clock in the hall struck twice. Two in the morning.
He unlocked the file cabinet in the bottom drawer of the desk, rummaged through the folders until he found the file he wanted. A copy of his will. His lawyer kept another copy and a third was inside his safe at the house in Bethesda. The contents of his will were not secret to anyone. Everything he possessed would be equally divided among Jordan, Devon and Ryan. Jordan had protested, telling him that she didn’t expect such an enormous legacy, but he had quieted her protests with a tender caress.
“I owe you more than I will ever be able to repay,” he’d told her.
Dan finished off his third drink.
Minutes ticked by as he contemplated the Glock on his desk. Grandfather Price’s antique desk. Family lore claimed the desk had belonged to Jefferson Davis, a contemporary of his ancestor, General John Ryan Price.
