The Partner by John Grisham

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Categories	Thrillers & Suspense
Author	John Grisham
Publisher	Anchor; Reprint edition (February 28, 2012)
Language	English
Paperback	480 pages
Item Weight	9.4 ounces
Dimensions	4.23 x 1.23 x 7.47 inches

I. Book introduction

The Partner (1997) is a legal/thriller novel by American author John Grisham. It was Grisham’s eighth novel.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Once he was a well-liked, well-paid young partner in a thriving Mississippi law firm. Then Patrick Lanigan stole ninety million dollars from his own firm—and ran for his life.

For four years, he evaded men who were rich and powerful, and who would stop at nothing to find him. Then, inevitably, on the edge of the Brazilian jungle, they finally tracked him down.

Now Patrick is coming home. And in the Mississippi city where it all began, an extraordinary trial is about to begin. As prosecutors circle like sharks, as Patrick’s lawyer prepares his defense, as Patrick’s lover prays for his deliverance and his former partners wait for their revenge, another story is about to emerge. Because Patrick Lanigan, the most reviled white-collar criminal of his time, knows something that no one else in the world knows. He knows the truth.

Plot

It’s been four years since Patrick Lanigan, a junior partner in a law firm in Biloxi, Mississippi, learned of the scheme, masterminded by his firm’s client, shipbuilding magnate Benny Aricia, to defraud the U.S. government. The firm’s senior partners didn’t include Lanigan in the plan, in which they stood to make tens of millions of dollars. Lanigan then devised a plan of his own, wherein he faked his death, stole $90 million from the secret off-shore accounts where the firm had been hiding the ill-gotten gains, and then fled to South America. Since then, Lanigan started a new life with new-found love Eva. But Aricia had men track him down, ruthless men who will do whatever it takes, including torture, to reclaim the stolen fortune. In a desperate bid, Lanigan gives complete control of the money to Eva, then turns himself over to the FBI. Once returned to the U.S., Lanigan must fight multiple legal battles, in state, civil and federal courts, involving a former client, his estranged wife, and the highest levels of government, to protect the people he cares for, gain his freedom and, finally get back to Eva and the part of the fortune they secretly set aside.

Editorial Reviews

• “To call the plot of The Partner mechanical is at least partly a compliment: it is well-oiled, intricate and works smoothly. But its cynicism is remorseless.”—Publishers Weekly
• “best-plotted novel yet,” praising the “masterfully bittersweet end.”—Kirkus Reviews
• “One terrific book—smart, fast, stingingly satiric, and almost criminally entertaining.”—Entertainment Weekly
• “Brilliant . . . John Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
• “Masterfully paced and plotted . . . [Each of Grisham’s books] should bear a warning to consumers: ‘Detrimental to sleep. You may read all night.’ ”—The Atlanta Constitution
• “An irresistible read . . . packed with surprises.”—People

About John Grisham

John Grisham (born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing.

Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.

Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series which continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel. Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films:

• The Chamber,
• The Client,
• A Painted House,
• The Pelican Brief,
• The Rainmaker,
• The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.

Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.

John Girsham lives on a farm in central Virginia.

II. Reviewer: The Partner

Here is a summary of the book Review “The Partner by John Grisham”. Helps you have the most overview of the book without searching through time. Please access “BookQuote.Net” regularly or save it to keep track and update the latest information.

1. VALERIE A KADER reviews for The Partner

I love legal thrillers! I read Grisham’s early books when they were initially released and loved them, especially The Pelican Brief. After my son was born, I took a long hiatus from reading for pleasure, and I recently returned to the author when a sequel to A Time to Kill was published. This book had an intriguing premise – lawyer fakes his own death and disappears with $90M of his firm’s money, only to be captured a few years later. The hero, Patrick, was compelling – handsome and clever, but a bit too slick. The heroine(?), Eva, was also compelling – beautiful and exotic. The peripheral characters were plentiful and quirky, as usual. The storyline was complex, and the writing style was gripping from start to finish. I won’t give away the ending, but I will say that I thought the story deserved better. Overall, a good book kept short of great by the ending.

2. MANDREK LARL reviews for The Partner

Now this is good and you can’t but help yourself from siding with the anti-hero, the titular Partner, who gradually turns from villain to righter-of-wrongs as Grisham peels away the layers of the onion with each carefully paced revelation [enough, maybe too much, said]. Ok so I saw the final twist coming but in many ways I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t, or worse still very disappointed if the final twist I anticipated hadn’t been there. However reading other reviews I see that many have criticised the ending for being a non-ending, but for me that’s the whole point of the final twist and the ending: it’s brilliant, emotional and it makes you think even if you saw it coming, so don’t be put off by some of the negative reactions.

Like all good Grisham’s there’s an element of a legal basis to the story but there’s very little actual court time and no knowledge of the law (particularly US law) is required to understand what’s going on, just a sense of right and wrong and fair play, although for us Brits the Federal vs State issues may seem a bit hard to understand. But that said it’s a good fast paced read and more importantly it’s a great yarn and that’s why it’s five stars from me.

3. KARINA reviews for The Partner

“After his death, the firm’s letterhead properly included him: Patrick S. Lanigan, 1954-1992. He was listed up in the right-hand corner, just above the paralegals. Then the rumors got started and wouldn’t stop. Before long, everyone believed he had taken the money and disappeared. After three months, no one on the Gulf Coast believed he was dead. His name came off the letterhead as the debts piled up.” (PG. 40)

I’m stuck between a 4 or 5 star but it was a criminally amusing, fast-paced thriller. Grisham knows how to tell a story with so many twists and turns that I’m sure the reader would think this type of crime isn’t doable. Who can steal 90 million dollars from their law firm, die, and come back to life in Brazil after four years on the run? Mr. Patrick Lannigan, that’s who. Did he do it for greed or revenge?

The plot unravels at a pace where maybe you won’t have much sleep tonight or the next until you finish it. The brain to create this crime and the work it took was pretty amazing. Grisham also shows the disappointing angle of the justice system but we all know justice is all in who you know and that money talks.

The ending was satisfying and surprising.

“Where else could he go? His journey was over. His past was finally closed.” (PG. 401)

Such a fascinating read from page 1. I will do more of these white-collar thrillers. My nails are very chewed up.

4. HOLLEY DURHAM reviews for The Partner

No spoilers in this review…..

I am an avid John Grisham fan and have been a loyal follower of his work for many years. A word of warning to those of you who read reviews: be careful of the ones you read, because one of the reviews I read, although not blatantly, gave away the entire plot line of the book, at least for me. I knew how the book was going to end before I ever started reading and got this from one sentence using a “comparison” in a review. Just a word to the wise.

As always, Grisham does an exceptional job of character development, as well as immersing you in the geography and touch, taste and feel that is featured in the book. As the master he is, I felt like the beginning, middle and end were written perfectly and did not feel like I was left hanging or with unanswered questions. I also love the fact that he has featured a unique geographical location for his characters and makes you feel as if you are actually there.

I would most certainly recommend The Partner to anyone who loves a good legal mystery, Grisham fan or not. It was an enjoyable read that moved along at a great pace and did keep me turning the pages, reading well into the morning hours for two straight days. Even though the review I read exposed the plot line with just a few words, I thoroughly enjoyed the book!

5. KYM MOORE reviews for The Partner

Well, John Grisham has done it again. Talk about partners in crime on so many levels! I was shaking my head in utter surprise and disbelief through each chapter. Grisham did not disappoint.

Patrick Lanigan (a.k.a. Danilo Silva) has embezzled from his partners at the law firm he worked at. He cleverly faked his death, got plastic surgery and got lost in in another country, living frugally while spreading the stolen money in offshore accounts that could not be tracked. Now, based on a credible tip, he’s the one who has been tracked down and caught by some bounty hunters. They tortured him until the FBI got involved and took over the investigation.

Now, who you may think is innocent and a victim throughout this story turned out to be guilty. The very person you thought was guilty was actually the person who is instrumental in putting a lot of people away on corruption charges, including former partners at his law firm and a U.S. Senator. Oh what a tangled web this story weaves.

Lanigan hired Eva Miranda (a.k.a. Leah Pires)a lawyer who he later fell in love with. He investigated his firm who was about to give him the shaft. There were so many money hungry backstabbing players in this game and Patrick had the evidence to back everything up. His plan was executed almost flawlessly. He had everything planned to the “T.” Eva was on every detail of the plan and was the only person at the time to know where the money was distributed in which banks around the world.

After the charges were dropped, by Patrick’s design of course, as Sandy (Patrick’s attorney) was driving him to the freedom he planned, Sandy said something was gnawing at him. It was about something the bounty hunter, Jack Stephano asked him. Sandy said to Patrick that Stephano asked point-blank if Eva was his Judas, because something didn’t add up. Of course, Patrick denied it. Once Patrick reached the Villa Gallici in Aix, where he was to meet Eva, he found out that she indeed was his Judas.

6. MAHYUDIN reviews for The Partner

I finished reading this book within 3 days, a gripping story which full of twists and the unexpected. Here’s my 5 cent review…

Luck was always on his side, his plans were well thought out, and they turned out to be perfectly schemed, and he finally succeed in buying his way out of jail, the punishment he always wanted to avoid, a nightmare to him. Started with how brilliantly he faked his death, ran away with his ex-firm’s USD 90 million and lived on the run for four years in Brazil, fell in love with and had a loyal companion in Eva, and finally when knowing that the people after him someday will be able to capture him, taught Eva meticulously how to vanish and what to do with the money and how to keep in touch with him when they had him in their custody. As the plots developed, Eva turned out to be a lovely wife-to-be, faithful friend, brilliant and dependable partner. But you have been warned, read until the last word…

I feel something awkward about the ending. Never did it come across his mind even once that it would happen to him, that she would do that to him? True, that he had found his love in her, that they’d both had a wonderful feeling to each other, but how could he ruin his brilliant plans ever since he decided to part with his former life and begin a new one by putting so much undivided faith on her, and how could the shrewd master of scheming fell foolishly to his partner? Hemm, but that twisted ending certainly will give readers a great surprise, as it did to me…

7. PETE BENEDETTI reviews for The Partner

“The Partner” Grisham’s best work in years

I liked this one because it wasn’t the standard Grisham legal fare in a different wrapper. The last few Grisham books, in my opinion, For those of you, like me, who thinks Grisham’s books were getting a little stale with the same basic theme, “Small firm or entry-level big firm lawyer risks life and limb defending the little guy and taking on giant multi-national corporation, etc etc…,” this novel might be worth your time.

Our main character in The Partner is, in true Grisham fashion, a young attorney slaving away trying to climb the ladder in his firm when a terrible and fiery car crash claims his life. Where this story varies from the typical Grisham is that the lead character is essentially a criminal himself, albeit one who designs an elaborate plan of stealing from high ranking, corrupt officials by out scheming the schemers – the story, for the most part, is not centered around legal maneuverings as much as it is about a lonely guy whose life lacks meaning trying to change things for the better. A failing marriage, a career he doesn’t enjoy, corrupt bosses, financial hurdles. He finds meaning in an unconventional way and the story unfolds with “only in a Grisham” suspense and detail. Throw in a devoted love interest, unforeseen plot twists, and a dazzling ending, and you have the best Grisham effort in several years.

8. COREY reviews for The Partner

Another great tale by Grisham, I flew right through it!

The Partner tells us about Patrick Lanigan, who once worked for a high law firm, and after overhearing about a scheme they’re conspiring, which Patrick heard he wasn’t gonna be in on, and that they were planning to fire him, Patrick splits. He steals millions of dollars from the corrupt firm, fakes his death, leaves the United States and transfers the money to an offshore bank account. Now 4 years later Patrick is living in Brazil under the name Danilo Silva. Until a gang of thugs who were hired by the crooked lawyers to hunt him down find and kidnap him, and demand where the money is, and Patrick says he doesn’t know, and they torture him almost to death, but he still doesn’t talk.

Now Patrick has returned home and is being put on trial for not only stealing the money but for a murder he did not commit. And he is also filing for divorce. He is assisted by his lover Eva Miranda, and his longtime friend and lawyer Sandy.

Although as much as I enjoyed the storyline, I didn’t much like the ending, I felt it was rushed, like bing-bang-boom, and there were a lot of unanswered questions. Still it was an enjoyable read.

9. OLIVIA reviews for The Partner

This book was brilliant.

I loved the characters, the writing style, the plot and the pure thought and dedication that ultimately went in throughout the writing process. It was amazing how it all slowly came together and you found everything out in small pieces. It kept you interested until the end.

The one thing however, that made me put it down to 4 stars was the ending. Now I’m not gonna lie, I like the way it ending but it wasn’t the happy ending I was hoping for, or a happy ending at all, for that matter. It could have been better set up and more importantly, explained. I was extrememly confused. I was unsure of what was happening in the last two pages and now because of that I have many questions but no answers which doesn’t help my case at all.

10. BRUCE reviews for The Partner

This is not a pick-me-up story. The Partner read to me like a tragedy. Patrick Lanagan accomplished an incredible triumph over his enemies, over the government, and over the legal system. He masterfully faked his own death and disappeared with ninety million dollars. When he was caught, he had a plan that roiled them all. But for all his scheming, he only wins despair and loneliness.

If you enjoy courtroom intrigue and legal drama, I think you’ll find this book an engaging and fast-paced thriller. Much of the action is in the legal realm. There are many chapters of lawyers and judges in discourse and verbal conflict, many pages of scheming and explanation. But the book is excellently written with an important theme.

III. The Partner Quotes

The best book quotes from The Partner by John Grisham

“Benny Aricia, his client, the man whose ninety million got diverted just minutes after it had arrived at the bank in Nassau.”

“Sandy McDermott had read with great interest the news accounts of the amazing discovery of his old pal from law school.”

“Doug Vitrano, the litigator, had made the fateful decision to recommend Patrick as the fifth partner.”

“Life on the run was filled with dreams, some at night during sleep, real dreams, and some when the mind was awake but drifting. Most were terrifying, the nightmares of the shadows growing bolder and larger. Others were pleasant wishes of a rosy future, free of the past. These were rare, Patrick had learned. Life on the run was life in the past. There was no closure”

“The sixteen grand jurors sat around a long, square table,”

“… answered his knock with a smile, a short one forced through because she was at heart a warm person, not given to the dark mood swings which now plagued her.”

“Why can’t a man have more than one life? Where was it written that you couldn’t start over? And over?”

Excerpted from The Partner by John Grisham

Chapter One – The Partner

They found him in Ponta PorÒ, a pleasant little town in Brazil, on the border of Paraguay, in a land still known as the Frontier.

They found him living in a shaded brick house on Rua Tiradentes, a wide avenue with trees down the center and barefoot boys dribbling soccer balls along the hot pavement.

They found him alone, as best they could tell, though a maid came and went at odd hours during the eight days they hid and watched.

They found him living a comfortable life but certainly not one of luxury. The house was modest and could’ve been owned by any local merchant. The car was a 1983 Volkswagen Beetle, manufactured in Sao Paulo with a million others. It was red and clean, polished to a shine. Their first photo of him was snapped as he waxed it just inside the gate to his short driveway.

They found him much thinner, down considerably from the two hundred and thirty pounds he’d been carrying when last seen. His hair and skin were darker, his chin had been squared, and his nose had been slightly pointed. Subtle changes to the face. They’d paid a steep bribe to the surgeon in Rio who’d performed the alterations two and a half years earlier.

They found him after four years of tedious but diligent searching, four years of dead ends and lost trails and false tips, four years of pouring good money down the drain, good money chasing bad, it seemed.

But they found him. And they waited. There was at first the desire to snatch him immediately, to drug him and smuggle him to a safe house in Paraguay, to seize him before he saw them or before a neighbor became suspicious. The initial excitement of the finding made them consider a quick strike, but after two days they settled down and waited. They loitered at various points along Rua Tiradentes, dressed like the locals, drinking tea in the shade, avoiding the sun, eating ice cream, talking to the children, watching his house. They tracked him as he drove downtown to shop, and they photographed him from across the street as he left the pharmacy. They eased very near him in a fruit market and listened as he spoke to the clerk. Excellent Portuguese, with the very slight accent of an American or a German who’d studied hard. He moved quickly downtown, gathering his goods and returning home, where he locked the gate behind him. His brief shopping trip yielded a dozen fine photos.

He had jogged in a prior life, though in the months before he disappeared his mileage shrunk as his weight ballooned. Now that he teetered on the brink of emaciation, they were not surprised to see him running again. He left his house, locking the gate behind him, and began a slow trot down the sidewalk along Rua Tiradentes. Nine minutes for the first mile, as the street went perfectly straight and the houses grew farther apart. The pavement turned to gravel on the edge of town, and halfway into the second mile his pace was down to eight minutes a mile and Danilo had himself a nice sweat. It was midday in October, the temperature near eighty, and he gained speed as he left town, past a small clinic packed with young mothers, past a small church the Baptists had built. The roads became dustier as he headed for the countryside at seven minutes a mile.

The running was serious business, and it pleased them mightily. Danilo would simply run into their arms.
________
The day after the first sighting, a small unclean cottage on the edge of Ponta PorÒ was rented by a Brazilian named Osmar, and before long the rest of the pursuit team poured in. It was an equal mix of Americans and Brazilians, with Osmar giving the orders in Portuguese and Guy barking in English. Osmar could handle both languages, and had become the official interpreter for the team.

Guy was from Washington, an ex-government type who’d been hired to find Danny Boy, as he’d been nicknamed. Guy was considered a genius at some levels and immensely talented at others, and his past was a black hole. He was well into his fifth one-year contract to find Danny Boy, and there was a nice bonus for snagging the prey. Though he hid it well, Guy had been slowly cracking under the pressure of not finding Danny Boy.

Four years and three and a half million dollars, with nothing to show for it.

But now they’d found him.

Osmar and his band of Brazilians had not the slightest hint of Danny Boy’s sins, but a fool could see that he’d disappeared and taken a trainload of money. And, although he was very curious about Danny Boy, Osmar had learned quickly not to ask questions. Guy and the Americans had nothing to say on the subject.

The pictures of Danny Boy were enlarged to eight by tens, and tacked along a wall in the kitchen of the dirty little cottage where they were studied by grim men with hard eyes, men who chain-smoked strong cigarettes and shook their heads at the photos. They whispered among themselves and compared the new photos to the old ones, the ones from his previous life. Smaller man, odd chin, different nose. His hair was shorter and his skin darker. Was it really him?

They had been through this before, in Recife, on the northeastern coast, nineteen months earlier when they’d rented an apartment and looked at photos on the wall until the decision was made to grab the American and check his fingerprints. Wrong prints. Wrong American. They pumped some more drugs in him and left him in a ditch.

They were afraid to dig too deeply into the current life of Danilo Silva. If he was in fact their man, then he had plenty of money. And cash always worked wonders with the local authorities. For decades, cash had bought protection for Nazis and other Germans who’d smuggled themselves into Ponta PorÒ.

Osmar wanted to grab him. Guy said they’d wait. He vanished on the fourth day, and the dirty little cottage was in chaos for thirty-six hours.

They saw him leave home in the red Beetle. He was in a hurry, came the report. He raced across town to the airport, jumped on a small commuter at the last moment, and was gone. His car was parked in the only lot, and they watched it every second of every hour. The plane was headed in the general direction of Sao Paulo, with four stops in between.

There was instantly a plan to enter his home and catalog everything. There had to be records. The money had to be tended to. Guy dreamed of finding bank statements, wire transfer reports, account summaries; all sorts of documents arranged in a neat portfolio which would lead him directly to the money.

But he knew better. If Danny Boy ran because of them, then he would never leave behind the evidence. And if he was in fact their man, then his home would be carefully secured. Danny Boy, wherever he was, would probably know the instant they opened his door or window.

They waited. They cursed and argued and strained even more under the pressure. Guy made his daily call to Washington, a nasty one. They watched the red Beetle. Each arrival brought out the binoculars and cell phones. Six flights the first day. Five the second. The dirty little cottage grew hot and the men settled outdoors–the Americans napping under a scrawny shade tree in the backyard and the Brazilians playing cards along the fence in the front.

Guy and Osmar took a long drive and vowed to grab him if he ever returned. Osmar was confident he would be back. Probably just out of town on business, whatever his business was. They’d snatch him, identify him, and if he happened to be the wrong man they’d simply throw him in a ditch and run. It had happened before.

He returned on the fifth day. They trailed him back to Rua Tiradentes, and everybody was happy.
________
On the eighth day, the dirty cottage emptied as all the Brazilians and all the Americans took their positions.

The course was a six-miler. He had covered it each day he’d been home, leaving at almost the same time, wearing the same blue and orange runner’s shorts, well-worn Nikes, ankle socks, no shirt.

The perfect spot was two and a half miles from his house, over a small hill on a gravel road, not far from his turning-around point. Danilo topped the hill twenty minutes into his run, a few seconds ahead of schedule. He ran harder, for some reason. Probably the clouds.

A small car with a flat tire was just over the hill, blocking the road, trunk opened, its rear jacked up. Its driver was a burly young man who pretended to be startled at the sight of the skinny racer sweating and panting as he topped the hill. Danilo slowed for a second. There was more room to the right.

“Bom dia,” the burly young man said as he took a step toward Danilo.

“Bom dia,” Danilo said, approaching the car.

The driver suddenly pulled a large shiny pistol from the trunk and shoved it into Danilo’s face. He froze, his eyes locked onto the gun, his mouth open with heavy breathing. The driver had thick hands and long, stout arms. He grabbed Danilo by the neck and yanked him roughly toward the car, then down to the bumper. He stuck the pistol in a pocket and with both hands folded Danilo into the trunk. Danny Boy struggled and kicked, but was no match.

The driver slammed the trunk shut, lowered the car, tossed the jack into the ditch, and drove off. A mile away, he turned on to a narrow dirt path where his pals were anxiously waiting.

They tied nylon ropes around Danny Boy’s wrists and a black cloth over his eyes, then shoved him into the back of a van. Osmar sat to his right, another Brazilian to his left. Someone removed his keys from the Velcro runner’s pouch stuck to his waist. Danilo said nothing as the van started and began moving. He was still sweating and breathing even harder.

When the van stopped on a dusty road near a farm field, Danilo uttered his first words. “What do you want?” he asked, in Portuguese.

“Don’t speak,” came the reply from Osmar, in English. The Brazilian to Danilo’s left removed a syringe from a small metal box and deftly filled it with a potent liquid. Osmar pulled Danilo’s wrists tightly toward him while the other man jabbed the needle into his upper arm. He stiffened and jerked, then realized it was hopeless. He actually relaxed as the last of the drug entered his body. His breathing slowed; his head began to wobble. When his chin hit his chest, Osmar gently, with his right index finger, raised the shorts on Danilo’s right leg, and found exactly what he expected to find. Pale skin.

The running kept him thin, and it also kept him brown.

Kidnappings were all too common in the Frontier. Americans were easy targets. But why him? Danilo asked himself this as his head wobbled and his eyes closed. He smiled as he fell through space, dodging comets and meteors, grabbing at moons and grinning through entire galaxies.
________
They stuffed him under some cardboard boxes filled with melons and berries. The border guards nodded without leaving their chairs, and Danny Boy was now in Paraguay, though he couldn’t have cared less at the moment. He bounced happily along on the floor of the van as the roads grew worse and the terrain steeper. Osmar chain-smoked and occasionally pointed this way and that. An hour after they grabbed him, they found the last turn. The cabin was in a crevice between two pointed hills, barely visible from the narrow dirt road. They carried him like a sack of meal and poured him onto a table in the den where Guy and the fingerprint man went to work.

Danny Boy snored heavily as prints were made of all eight fingers and both thumbs. The Americans and the Brazilians crowded around, watching every move. There was unopened whiskey in a box by the door, just in case this was the real Danny Boy.

The print man left abruptly and went to a room in the back where he locked the door and spread the fresh prints before him. He adjusted his lighting. He removed the master set, those freely given by Danny Boy when he was much younger, back when he was Patrick and seeking admission to the State Bar of Louisiana. Odd, this fingerprinting of lawyers.

Both sets were in fine shape, and it was immediately obvious they were a perfect match. But he meticulously checked all ten. There was no hurry. Let them wait out there. He rather enjoyed the moment. He finally opened the door and frowned hard at the dozen faces searching his. Then he smiled. “It’s him,” he said, in English, and they actually clapped.

Guy approved the whiskey, but only in moderation. There was more work to do. Danny Boy, still comatose, was given another shot and carried to a small bedroom with no window and a heavy door which locked from the outside. It was here that he would be interrogated, and tortured, if necessary.
________
The barefoot boys playing soccer in the street were too involved in their game to look up. Danny Boy’s key ring had only four keys on it, and so the small front gate was unlocked quickly, and left open. An accomplice in a rented car came to a stop near a large tree four houses down. Another, on a motorbike, parked himself at the other end of the street and began tinkering with his brakes.

If a security system started howling upon entry, the intruder would simply run and never be seen again. If not, then he would lock himself in and take inventory.

The door opened without sirens. The security panel on the wall informed whoever might be looking that the system was disarmed. He breathed lightly and stood perfectly still for a full minute, then began to move around. He removed the hard drive from Danny Boy’s PC, and collected all the disks. He rummaged through files on his desk, but found nothing but routine bills, some paid, others waiting. The fax was cheap and featureless, and declared itself to be out of order. He took photos of clothing, food, furniture, bookshelves, magazine racks.

Five minutes after the door opened, a silent signal was activated in Danilo’s attic and a phone call was placed to a private security firm eleven blocks away, in downtown Ponta PorÒ. The call went unanswered because the security consultant on duty was swaying gently in a hammock out back. A recorded message from Danilo’s house informed whoever was supposed to be listening that there was a break-in. Fifteen minutes passed before human ears heard the message. By the time the consultant raced to Danilo’s house, the intruder was gone. So was Mr. Silva. Everything appeared to be in order, including the Beetle under the carport. The house and gate were locked.

The directions in the file were specific. On such alarms, do not call the police. Try first to locate Mr. Silva, and in the event he cannot be found at once, then call a number in Rio. Ask for Eva Miranda.
________
With barely suppressed excitement, Guy made his daily call to Washington. He actually closed his eyes and smiled when he uttered the words, “It’s him.” His voice was an octave higher.

There was a pause on the other end. Then, “You’re certain?”

“Yes. Prints are a perfect match.”

Another pause while Stephano arranged his thoughts, a process that usually took milliseconds. “The money?”

“We haven’t started yet. He’s still drugged.”

“When?”

“Tonight.”

“I’m by the phone.” Stephano hung up, though he could’ve talked for hours.

Guy

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Note: Above are quotes and excerpts from the book “The Partner by John Grisham”. If you find it interesting and useful, don’t forget to buy paper books to support the Author and Publisher!

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