Serpent’s Tooth

Serpent’s Tooth
Faye Kellerman

The tenth book in the hugely popular Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series from New York Times bestselling author Faye KellermanOne moment can devastate countless lives…It’s everyone’s worst nightmare. What starts out as a relaxed evening in a chic Los Angeles restaurant suddenly turns into a bloodbath when an angry former employee starts spraying bullets before turning the gun on himself. 13 people are left dead, and dozens more wounded.For Detective Peter Decker, the case, horrific as it is, initially appears cut and dried. But then evidence comes to light that suggests more than one weapon was fired.As Decker delves deeper, he is plunged into the world of wealthy, powerful California, where everything can be bought, and nothing is as it seems. Continuing to dig will put his reputation at risk, but nothing will stop him from exposing the truth…

Serpent’s Tooth

Faye Kellerman

Copyright (#ud6892401-67f0-55cf-9fce-03a2326414eb)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in the United States by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 1997

This ebook edition published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Copyright © Faye Kellerman 1997

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

Cover photography © Shutterstock.com (https://www.shutterstock.com/)

Faye Kellerman 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.

Ebook Edition © March 2019 ISBN: 9780008293567

Version: 2018-12-10

Dedication (#ud6892401-67f0-55cf-9fce-03a2326414eb)

To Jonathan after having reached

the twenty-five-year mark.

There may be silver at your temples,

but there’s only gold in your heart.

Thanks a heap, Colonel.

Epigraph (#ud6892401-67f0-55cf-9fce-03a2326414eb)

Now the serpent was more cunning than any other beast of the field.

—Genesis 3:1

Because you did this, you are cursed from among all the animals and beasts of the field.

—Genesis 3:14

From this we learn that we do not give one who seduces people [to do evil] the opportunity to justify his actions.

—Rashi

Sanhedrin 29a

Contents

Cover (#ud7e57285-c58c-5e83-a202-903bcd54cbd0)

Title Page (#u718bed3f-935c-5569-8856-aebc746bf413)

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10