The Last Resort


 Contents
 
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Chapter 36
 Chapter 37
 Chapter 38
 Chapter 39
 Chapter 40
 Chapter 41
 Chapter 42
 Chapter 43
 Chapter 44
 Chapter 45
 Chapter 46
 Chapter 47
 Chapter 48
 Epilogue
 Acknowledgments
 Also Available by Michael Kaufman
 Author Biography
 Copyright
 
 
 
 Guide
 
 Cover
 Start of Content
 Title Page
 Dedication
 Chapter 1
 Epilogue
 Acknowledgments
 Copyright
 
 
 
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 Cover Page
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 THE LAST RESORT
 A JEN LU MYSTERY
 Michael Kaufman
 
 
 
 To Chloe, with admiration and love.
 
 
 
 1
 
 Friday, March 3, 2034—15:28:01
 “I never killed anyone before.”
 Yeah, that’s what they all say when they’re staring at prison through their big brown eyes. But I admit, the hedge fund CEO had us both convinced, Jen and me. A freak death by an errant ball at a snooty golf course.
 Despite being a Timeless, the man looked unwell. His skin was now the color of liverwurst that had been left out too long in the sun. He charged from the posh meeting room toward the restroom. Second time since we had brought him up to the clubhouse.
 My boss: Jen B. Lu. Age thirty-eight. Washington, DC, police detective. Me: Two years and nine months. Biocomputer implanted into her neocortex.
 “What do you think, boss?”
 Jen said, “I think he should take golf lessons before he kills anyone else.”
 “She’s not dead yet.”
 “No,” Jen agreed. “Not yet.”
 When the hedge fund president finally staggered back, dabbing the corners of his narrow mouth with a blindingly white handkerchief, we ran through it all again. That’s your most basic police questioning technique: get them to repeat their story 150 times and try to spot discrepancies. It’s one of the many areas where I run circles around humans. Of course, it also lets the bad guys lock in their stories, but no mind.
 Trebook said, “As I told you twice—”
 “Sorry, Mr. Trebook, I need to make sure we capture every detail while things are fresh in your mind.”
 “—when you’re on the tee box—”
 “On the fifth hole.”
 “Of course on the fifth damn hole.” He glared briefly, his normal rich-guy moxie starting to bubble up. “From up there, you can’t see the place we found her.”
 “You knew she was playing in front of you.”
 “Yes. As I have also already stated several times.” He shot Jen a look that couldn’t have withered a daisy, let alone my boss. “We saw her in the starter’s cabin. And it’s her regular time. Everyone knows.”
 “Did you speak to her?”
 He looked uncomfortable. “No.”
 “She was by herself?”
 “Right. No service unit. But the fifth hole descends steeply at about a hundred and fifty yards. She was down there, out of sight.”
 “Isn’t that risky? Hitting your ball when someone could be there?”
 “Our tee times are fifteen minutes apart,” he said with a voice so smug it made me itch.
 “Is that good?”
 The high roller rolled his eyes, apparently recovering from his abject whining and now reclaiming his natural superiority. He fuzzed a hand back and forth over his close-cropped hair like a little boy might do after his first trip to a barbershop. Seventy-six years old, but looked about twenty-four. Not a good-looking twenty-four—his lips were far too skinny, his mouth far too small, and his ears looked like someone had slapped iceberg lettuce leaves onto the sides of his head—but not everyone can be as handsome as me.
 “Most good private courses,” Trebook said, “send out groups at eight- to ten-minute intervals. At a course where you might play”—here he sized Jen up and down as if calculating her net worth—“you’d be packed in every six minutes. Here we believe members absolutely must have the course to themselves. Fifteen minutes ensures this. And the fact that she was playing alone meant she should have been well ahead of