Only Child

  Everybody Pays

  Dead and Gone

  Pain Management

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK

  PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  Copyright © 2002 by Andrew Vachss

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.

  www.aaknopf.com

  Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Vachss, Andrew H.

  Only child / Andrew Vachss.

  p. cm.

  1. Burke (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Teenage girls—Crimes against—Fiction. 3. Long Island (N.Y.)—Fiction. 4. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction. 5. Criminals—Fiction. 6. Mafia—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3572.A33 O55 2002

  813'.54—dc21 2002075437

  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.

  eISBN: 978-1-4000-4013-1

  v3.0