"I know you're with Jon now. He's a good guy and I've seen you both together. It clicks. The kids like him. That's important. Real important. He'll never hurt you."
She'd wondered: Where was this going? These words, amounting to rambling from Michael O'Neil, were disorienting. Why was he justifying to her his getting back together with his ex?
His eyes fixed on the ugly yellow ceramic cat, he'd continued, "I was saying, months and months. But there's no way except meeting it head-on. I don't think you're going to want to hear it but I've--"
"Michael."
"I want to get married."
Remarried to Anne? she'd thought. Why the hell ask my permission?
Then he added, "You can say no. I'll understand. You can say Jon's in your life forever. But I have to ask."
Oh, my God. Me. He's proposing to me.
"I thought Anne was back," she'd said. Well, stammered.
He'd blinked. "Anne? Sort of, I guess. She and her boyfriend are getting a small place in the Carmel Valley. She knows she hasn't been the best mother. She's resolved to change that and's going to spend a lot more time with the kids. I was proud of her." He'd given a shallow laugh. "Anne has nothing to do with us. You and me."
"Oh, my," Dance had whispered. Her eyes too fell on the jaundiced feline sculpture squatting on her desk. It had never been examined as much as in the past three minutes.
Now, sitting on the chill Deck she recalled perfectly O'Neil's next words: "So there, I've said it. Will you marry me?" He looked her over closely. "You know, I'm thinking after all these years knowing you, working with you, I don't believe I've picked up a lick of kinesics. I have no idea what you're thinking."
And Dance had risen from her office chair and walked around the desk to O'Neil. He too rose.
She'd said, "Sometimes, it's better to leave kinesics out of it. And stick with words. Well, one word." She'd put her arms around him and, her mouth close to his ear, gripped him as tightly as she could. And answered his question. "Yes," Kathryn Dance said. "Yes."
Acknowledgments
With undying gratitude to: Will and Tina Anderson, Sophie Baker, Giovanna Canton, Sonya Cheuse, Jane Davis, Julie Deaver, Jenna Dolan, Kimberly Escobar, Cathy Gleason, Jamie Hodder-Williams, Mitch Hoffman, Kerry Hood, Emma Knight, Carolyn Mays, Claire Nozieres, Hazel Orme, Abby Parsons, Seba Pezzani, Michael Pietsch, Jamie Raab, Betsy Robbins, Lindsey Rose, Katy Rouse, Nina Salter, Roberto Santachiara, Deborah Schneider, Vivienne Schuster, Madelyn Warcholik. You're the best!
About the Author
A former journalist, folksinger and attorney, Jeffery Deaver is an international number one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the New York Times, the Times of London, Italy's Corriere della Sera, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Los Angeles Times. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages.
The author of thirty-five novels, three collections of short stories and a nonfiction law book, and a lyricist of a country-western album, he's received or been short-listed for dozens of awards. His The Bodies Left Behind was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller The Broken Window and a stand-alone, Edge, were also nominated for that prize. He has been awarded the Steel Dagger and the Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association and the Nero Award, and he is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers Award for Best Short Story of the Year and a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award. The Cold Moon was recently named the Book of the Year by the Mystery Writers Association of Japan, as well as by Kono Mystery Ga Sugoi magazine. In addition, the Japan Adventure Fiction Association awarded The Cold Moon and Carte Blanche their annual Grand Prix award. His book The Kill Room was awarded the Political Thriller of the Year by Killer Nashville.
Deaver has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention and has recently received the Raymond Chandler Award in Italy for lifetime achievement in writing.
He contributed to the anthology Books to Die For, which won the Agatha and Anthony Awards.
His most recent novels are The October List, a thriller told in reverse; The Skin Collector and The Kill Room, Lincoln Rhyme novels; and XO, a Kathryn Dance thriller, for which he wrote an album of country-western songs, available on iTunes and as a CD; and before that, Carte Blanche, the latest James Bond continuation novel, a number one international bestseller.
Deaver has been nominated for seven Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, an Anthony, a Shamus and a Gumshoe. He was recently short-listed for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Best International Author. Roadside Crosses was on the short list for the Prix Polar International 2013.
His book A Maiden's Grave was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel The Bone Collector was a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. And, yes, the rumors are true; he did appear as a corrupt reporter on his favorite soap opera, As the World Turns. He was born outside Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University.
Readers can visit his website at www.jefferydeaver.com.
Also by Jeffery Deaver
The Skin Collector*
Trouble in Mind: Collected Stories, Volume Three Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War (Editor) Books to Die For (Contributor) The October List, a Thriller in Reverse The Kill Room*
XO**/*
XO: The Album (Music CD of original songs) Carte Blanche, a James Bond Novel Edge
The Burning Wire*
Best American Mystery Stories 2009 (Editor) The Watch List (The Copper Bracelet and The Chopin Manuscript) (Contributor) Roadside Crosses**
The Bodies Left Behind
The Broken Window*
The Sleeping Doll**
More Twisted: Collected Stories, Volume Two The Cold Moon*/**
The Twelfth Card*
Garden of Beasts
Twisted: Collected Stories The Vanished Man*
The Stone Monkey*
The Blue Nowhere
The Empty Chair*
Speaking in Tongues
The Devil's Teardrop
The Coffin Dancer*
The Bone Collector*
A Maiden's Grave
Praying for Sleep
The Lesson of Her Death Mistress of Justice
Hard News
Death of a Blue Movie Star Manhattan Is My Beat
Hell's Kitchen
Bloody River Blues
Shallow Graves
A Century of Great Suspense Stories (Editor) A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime (Editor) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Introduction)
*Featuring Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs **Featuring Kathryn Dance
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
FrenzyChapter 1
Chapter 2
BaselineChapter 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
The GetChapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Precaut
ionsChapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Flash MobChapter 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
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
The Secrets ClubChapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
The Blood of AllChapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
The Last DareChapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Jeffery Deaver
Newsletters
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright (c) 2015 by Gunner Publications, LLC
Cover design by Jerry Todd.
Cover photograph of woman in a field (c) Mark Owen/Trevillion Images.
Cover copyright (c) 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at
[email protected] Thank you for your support of the author's rights.
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First ebook edition: May 2015
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ISBN 978-1-4555-1716-9
E3
Jeffery Deaver, Solitude Creek
(Series: Kathryn Dance # 4)
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