Contents

Dedication

Part One

Chapter One

Mango Meltdown or Berry Blast?”

Chapter Two

The barrel erupted, spitting orange flashes of death and terror…

Chapter Three

Jess!”

Chapter Four

It took just minutes—frantic minutes—for Freddy Munoz and two other…

Chapter Five

Hauck got the gash on his neck looked after, while…

Chapter Six

The victim was a federal prosecutor working out of the…

Chapter Seven

Wendy Sanger had the bags packed and dragged downstairs. Haley…

Chapter Eight

Wendy Sanger sat numbly on the couch, her daughter’s raw…

Chapter Nine

The vehicle’s a file one, LT.” Munoz took Hauck around…

Chapter Ten

You have any connection to this case, Lieutenant?” Freddy looked…

Chapter Eleven

Greenwich Hospital was on the way back to the station.

Chapter Twelve

When Hauck got back to the station, Sunil and Munoz…

Chapter Thirteen

Bridgeport was just twenty minutes up the thruway from Greenwich,…

Chapter Fourteen

The place known as the Tombs was actually the Harry…

Chapter Fifteen

Freddy Munoz flipped a cassette into the recorder in interview…

Chapter Sixteen

It was after ten when Hauck finally made it home…

Chapter Seventeen

It hit him like a fist to the solar plexus.

Chapter Eighteen

It was the end of a long, crazy Saturday night,…

Chapter Nineteen

You don’t have to do this, she said to herself.

Chapter Twenty

Ty…” Vern Fitzpatrick’s voice crackled over the office intercom around…

Chapter Twenty-One

Hauck knocked on the door of the chief’s office, at…

Chapter Twenty-Two

She was sitting on the bench outside the squad room,…

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was the gun.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Jetta was left in a vacant lot in a…

Chapter Twenty-Five

Annie was rushing.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Annie was sitting on a stool at the bar when…

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The federal prison in Otisville, New York, was in the…

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Outside, Freddy Munoz turned to Hauck as soon as they…

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The man in the flat tweed cap and Burberry raincoat,…

Chapter Thirty

Keith Kramer walked out of the Pequot Woods Resort and…

Part Two

Chapter Thirty-One

This was Hector Morales’s kind of party.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Brenda buzzed in Hauck’s office. “Lieutenant, call for you. Line…

Chapter Thirty-Three

Wendy Sanger shuffled into the kitchen and stared at the…

Chapter Thirty-Four

You believe in coincidence, Lieutenant?”

Chapter Thirty-Five

When Hauck got back to the station, Munoz jumped out…

Chapter Thirty-Six

Wendy Sanger was heading back up the walk to her…

Chapter Thirty-Seven

As Hauck headed back to the office, his cell phone…

Chapter Thirty-Eight

A return call from Joe Raines of the Pequot Woods…

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Joe Raines put down the phone and stared out his…

Chapter Forty

That night, as Hauck was getting ready to leave, Vern…

Chapter Forty-One

Morales’s death put things on hold for a while.

Chapter Forty-Two

From the thousands of acres of rolling woods ceded to…

Chapter Forty-Three

Hauck’s room was large, on the thirty-second floor, with a…

Chapter Forty-Four

Hauck ate by himself in the trendy Italian café, then…

Chapter Forty-Five

Upstairs, Hauck unbuttoned his shirt, sat on the couch in…

Chapter Forty-Six

Hauck opened his eyes the next morning. The light canted…

Chapter Forty-Seven

By ten, Hauck made it back to the station. He…

Chapter Forty-Eight

Hauck sat outside the gray shingled house on Pine Ridge…

Chapter Forty-Nine

Hauck took the long route back to Stamford on the…

Chapter Fifty

Jesus, Warren, what the hell are you doing here?”

Chapter Fifty-One

They cracked another beer and stepped out on the deck.

Chapter Fifty-Two

It was later—after Warren had passed out and was snoring…

Chapter Fifty-Three

The next morning, Warren was just waking up as Hauck…

Chapter Fifty-Four

Thanksgiving finally came. Without providing the answer Hauck was looking…

Chapter Fifty-Five

Thanksgiving morning, Hauck woke around eight.

Chapter Fifty-Six

The answer hit him as he drove along Elm, heading…

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Monday, the first thing Hauck did was meet with Vern,…

Chapter Fifty-Eight

They met at the Stanwich Country Club, out on North…

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Maybe I’ll have that beer after all…”

Chapter Sixty

That same night, a black Lincoln pulled up to the…

Chapter Sixty-One

The next morning, Freddy Munoz leaned against the table across…

Chapter Sixty-Two

Annie Fletcher was at the computer. It was after eleven…

Chapter Sixty-Three

Freddy located the dealer. He came into Hauck’s office carrying…

Chapter Sixty-Four

Annie looked adorable.

Chapter Sixty-Five

The meal came off beautifully. The meatloaf was flavorful and…

Chapter Sixty-Six

In a darkened bar called the Alibi, off I-91, south…

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Hauck made it on the road before four, only the…

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Hauck stared at the house a long time before pulling…

Chapter Sixty-Nine

The neighbors didn’t help.

Chapter Seventy

If Brunswick was idyllic, picturesque, Lewiston was its ugly older…

Chapter Seventy-One

They went out to the back on a screened-in porch…

Chapter Seventy-Two

The twin-engine Cessna 310 lifted off the ground from the…

Chapter Seventy-Three

To Hauck, the drive back felt like days. He felt…

Chapter Seventy-Four

Ira Wachman had put on his Burberry raincoat and cap…

Chapter Seventy-Five

Hauck exited the thruway at Atlantic Avenue, finally home. He…

Part Three

Chapter Seventy-Six

The same dream left him sweating and awake for days.

Chapter Seventy-Seven

It was after six that day when Hauck pulled up…

Chapter Seventy-Eight

The phone continued to ring.

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Warren remained there, blood on his shirt, his eye throbbing,…

Chapter Eighty

Hauck drove out of town, heading back toward I-84 and…

Chapter Eighty-One

He threw a top hat on the roof of the…

Chapter Eighty-Two

It took a few calls to set up. Vern was…

Chapter Eighty-Three

Hauck gazed past Raines’s shoulder at the crowd of milling…

Chapter Eighty-Four

Stan Taylor drove the Crown Vic away from the Pequot…

Chapter Eighty-Five

Hauck’s phone sounded as he headed north to Hartford.

Chapter Eighty-Six

The gated community was named Arapahoe Farms, about twenty minutes…

Chapter Eighty-Seven

It was going on midnight when Hauck got back to…

Part Four

Chapter Eighty-Eight

He thought it was over.

Chapter Eighty-Nine

A week later, Hauck had begun the task of finding…

Chapter Ninety

Warren put down his phone. He put the Range Rover…

Chapter Ninety-One

A Coast Guard helicopter spotted the wreckage about a hundred…

Chapter Ninety-Two

You think you know how the world works, don’t you,…

Chapter Ninety-Three

As Hauck approached them, Annie waved to him from along…

Chapter Ninety-Four

The week before Christmas, Hauck sat in the Explorer and…

Epilogue

Vern?”

Acknowledgments

Excerpt from No Way Back

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

About the Author

Other Books by Andrew Gross

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher