All Fall Down by Carter Ally

Author:Carter, Ally [Carter, Ally]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Young Adult, Action & Adventure, Contemporary, Spies, Thriller
ISBN: 9780545654784
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2015-01-20T08:00:00+00:00

“Grace, I know you must have questions …”

Grandpa doesn’t even say hello when he reaches his office. He doesn’t ask what I was doing out until midnight, or who I was with — none of the typical questions an adult authority figure is supposed to ask. He’s already been briefed by Ms. Chancellor. He is ready for this fight.

Which is a good thing because I’m already up and shouting, “You know him?”

“Now, Gracie …” Grandpa starts slowly. His tie is loose and the top button of his shirt is undone. When he walks to the small rolling tray by the window and pours himself a drink, I can tell it isn’t his first of the night. The way things are going, it almost certainly won’t be his last.

“I told you what I saw. I came to you and you know him. You knew him all along and you told me I was seeing things!”

“No.” Grandpa’s voice is sharp. He’s not doing the folksy Southern-gentleman act anymore. This is the man who negotiated the Treaty of Caspia. This is the man who championed the development of the EU. This is why the president and the prime minister and a half dozen other world leaders call him their friend.

I’m supposed to be intimidated. But I’m not. I’m disgusted.

“I told you, Grace Olivia, that you did not see the man who killed your mother. And you didn’t.”

“Who is he?” I demand.

Grandpa takes a slow sip of his whiskey. When he speaks again, his accent is stronger than I have ever heard it.

“He is a man I’ve known for years. He’s a friend.”

“Who is he?” I shout.

Grandpa’s voice remains soft. “His name is Dominic Novak. He’s the head of security for the prime minister. He is a decorated war hero and a key advisor to one of the most powerful men in Europe. He is trusted and respected and … He’s just a man with a scar, Grace. It doesn’t make him evil.”

“I know not all people with scars are evil,” I snap. “I’m not living in a cartoon. But I also know —”

“You know what?” Exasperated, Grandpa throws open one of his desk drawers and pulls out a file. “Tell me what you know, Grace. Because I remember when you just knew you saw your mother’s murderer two years ago in Santa Fe.” He pulls a photograph from the file — a face I thought I’d never see again.

“Or the man in the airport in Chicago.” He pulls out another picture. And then another. And another. “This one was a corporal at Fort Meade, wasn’t he?” My grandfather keeps pulling photographs out of the file folder, dropping them onto the desk. One scarred man after another. “And let’s not forget the priest in St. Louis. You were positive it was him. Even after we found out he’d been in South America when your mother was killed. Even then you shouted and insisted and —”

“Okay!” I yell. “Enough!”

“You said these men killed your mother, didn’t you, Grace?” Grandpa asks, and I stand silent.

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