Footsteps of the Hawk

by Andrew Vachss

  When Hauser called the prison to set up another interview with Piersall, they told him Piersall wasn't going to be having any visitors. Seems he was out of PC only one day when somebody shanked him—he was DOA by the time they got him to the prison infirmary.

  Frankie's got another fight coming up in ninety days—Ristone got him a match with a tomato can. The big buildup had already started. No more real fights for Frankie until he had a string of setup KOs under his belt.

  Hauser told me he wasn't done. "This Adelnaws Foundation stinks," he said. "Did you know this guy Capshaw had a conviction for child molesting? Almost forty years ago, in Toronto. And this foundation, it's on the Internet, the server's over in Finland somewhere. I'm gonna take a look."

  "Be yourself," I told him.

  It was good advice I gave Hauser. But it was a couple more weeks before I took it myself. Vyra called from the Vista. And I climbed in the Plymouth and drove over to see her new shoes.

  About the Book

  A pulse–quickening new crime novel featuring Burke, ex–con, private investigator, and rumored hit man who harbors a pathological hatred for those who prey on children.

  In Footsteps of the Hawk Burke himself is in danger of becoming a victim. Two rogue cops are stalking him. The coolly seductive Belinda Roberts wants him to free a man charged with a grisly string of rape–murders. The brutal and half–crazy Detective Jorge Morales may be trying to frame Burke for the same crimes. What ensues is a novel of high–wire suspense and nightmarish authenticity informed by an insider's knowledge of the city where everything—from flesh to other people's cellular phone numbers—is up for sale.

  Andrew Vachss

  Andrew Vachss has been a federal investigator in sexually transmitted diseases, a social caseworker, a labor organizer, and has directed a maximum-security prison for youthful offenders. Now a lawyer in private practice, he represents children and youths exclusively. He is the author of numerous novels, including the Burke series, two collections of short stories, and a wide variety of other material including song lyrics, poetry, graphic novels, and a "children's book for adults." His books have been translated into twenty different languages and his work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, The New York Times, and numerous other forums. He lives and works in New York City and the Pacific Northwest.

  The dedicated Web site for Vachss and his work is www.vachss.com

  BOOKS BY ANDREW VACHSS

  Flood

  Strega

  Blue Belle

  Hard Candy

  Blossom

  Sacrifice

  Shella

  Down in the Zero

  Born Bad

  Footsteps of the Hawk

  False Allegations

  Safe House

  Choice of Evil

  Everybody Pays

  Dead and Gone

  Pain Management

  Copyright © 1995 by Andrew Vachss

  All rights reserved under International and Pan–American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, in 1995, and in trade paperback by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 1996.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:

  Vachss, Andrew H.

  Footsteps of the hawk / by Andrew Vachss. – 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  1.Burke (Fictitious character) –Fiction.

  2. Private investigators–New York (N.Y.) –Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3572.A33F66 1995

  813.54–dc20

  95–17596

  CIP

  Random House Web address: http://www.randomhouse.com/

  eISBN: 978-0-375-71910-3

  v3.0