Fifty Fifty (Detective Harriet Blue #2)(2)

OTHER TITLES


Miracle at Augusta (with Peter de Jonge)





FAMILY OF PAGE-TURNERS


MIDDLE SCHOOL BOOKS


The Worst Years of My Life (with Chris Tebbetts) ? Get Me Out of Here! (with Chris Tebbetts) ? My Brother Is a Big, Fat Liar (with Lisa Papademetriou) ? How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill (with Chris Tebbetts) ? Ultimate Showdown (with Julia Bergen) ? Save Rafe! (with Chris Tebbetts) ? Just My Rotten Luck (with Chris Tebbetts) Dog’s Best Friend (with Chris Tebbetts) ? Escape to Australia (with Martin Chetterton)





I FUNNY SERIES


I Funny (with Chris Grabenstein) ? I Even Funnier (with Chris Grabenstein) ? I Totally Funniest (with Chris Grabenstein) ? I Funny TV (with Chris Grabenstein) ? School of Laughs (with Chris Grabenstein)





TREASURE HUNTERS SERIES


Treasure Hunters (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Danger Down the Nile (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Secret of the Forbidden City (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Peril at the Top of the World (with Chris Grabenstein)





HOUSE OF ROBOTS SERIES


House of Robots (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Robots Go Wild! (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Robot Revolution (with Chris Grabenstein)





OTHER ILLUSTRATED NOVELS


Kenny Wright: Superhero (with Chris Tebbetts) ? Homeroom Diaries (with Lisa Papademetriou) ? Jacky Ha-Ha (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Word of Mouse (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Pottymouth and Stoopid (with Chris Grabenstein)





MAXIMUM RIDE SERIES


The Angel Experiment ? School’s Out Forever ? Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports ? The Final Warning ? Max ? Fang ? Angel ? Nevermore ? Forever





CONFESSIONS SERIES


Confessions of a Murder Suspect (with Maxine Paetro) ? The Private School Murders (with Maxine Paetro) ? The Paris Mysteries (with Maxine Paetro) ? The Murder of an Angel (with Maxine Paetro)





WITCH & WIZARD SERIES


Witch & Wizard (with Gabrielle Charbonnet) ? The Gift (with Ned Rust) ? The Fire (with Jill Dembowski) ? The Kiss (with Jill Dembowski) ? The Lost (with Emily Raymond)





DANIEL X SERIES


The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (with Michael Ledwidge) ? Watch the Skies (with Ned Rust) ? Demons and Druids (with Adam Sadler) ? Game Over (with Ned Rust) ? Armageddon (with Chris Grabenstein) ? Lights Out (with Chris Grabenstein)





OTHER TITLES


Crade and All ? Crazy House (with Gabrielle Charbonnet)





GRAPHIC NOVELS


Daniel X: Alien Hunter (with Leopoldo Gout) ? Maximum Ride: Manga Vols. 1–9 (with NaRae Lee)



For more information about James Patterson’s novels, visit www.jamespatterson.co.uk

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Chapter 1


SHE WAS PERFECT. And so rarely the perfect ones came, fluttering out of the darkness like moths into golden light. Swift and uncatchable.

He had wandered the third floor of the car park for a couple of hours now, risking it all for his ideal victim. A number of young women had crossed the little grassy field below where he stood as classes at the university ended and new ones began. He watched them toting shoulder bags and the occasional paper coffee cup, blinking in the warm daylight. Then the place was deserted again, and he waited.

It was bright out, leaving a dark shadow in the corner of the parking lot, to the right of the fire stairs. He’d watched a potential girl enter the stairwell, his heart thumping, but she was only halfway up the concrete steps towards him before he realised she wasn’t right. She had a friend on the phone. Cackling laughter. No. He’d know her when he saw her. Big doe eyes. Frightened, down-turned mouth. Thin wrists he could squeeze and twist.

The desire to flee picked at him. It was risky, hanging around too long. The university campus was on high alert after the police had found his previous works. Marissa. Elle. Rosetta. His brunette beauties mangled, ruined. Tragedies laid out on the sand. As news of the Georges River Killer spread, girls across campus had started dyeing and cutting their hair, walking in groups at night, having the security guards take them to their cars. It wasn’t about the hair for him – although he hadn’t failed to notice their striking resemblance to his first, many years ago. No, his university girls had simply been the right kind of innocent. Content, confident. He looked for the forthright stride, the high chin, the captive excitement of rosebuds just before they bloom.

He told himself to be patient. The plan had gone so well so far. His finale was worth the risk. A few more minutes. He wandered into the stairwell as he heard footsteps.

Then he saw her, her hand on the rail, gripping, pulling as she ascended. A slice of her soft cream brow and high cheekbone as she turned the corner.

Oh, there she was. His perfect girl.





Chapter 2


SHE EMERGED FROM the stairwell door and he swept an arm around her throat, yanked her backwards. The sickening rush of chemicals through his veins threatened to knock him off balance. She didn’t make a sound at first. The breath left her instantly. Her bag fell. Then the clap of his palm over her mouth, her heels dragging as he turned and pulled her towards his vehicle.