AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Brady shouted back, “Sorry, Evan. It’s evidence.”
Four guards walked past Burke’s cage holding overflowing cardboard cartons.
Burke yelled, “Hey! Where you going with my stuff?”
A feather mattress topper was bursting out of one box. Another held a terry-cloth robe, a TV, and a radio. I knew but Burke did not. All of the comfort items he’d negotiated for in exchange for his confession to innumerable murders and input on unsolved cases were now being removed. I heard Burke screaming “Nooooooo,” as we passed from the private room through the metal door and out to the public area and exit from the prison.
Back in the car again, I buzzed down my window so I could feel the breeze blowing in from the bay.
Brady said, “Well?”
I turned to look at him. He smiled and I smiled back.
“Thanks, Brady. That was a peak experience.”
He said, “For me, too. Talk to Joe and plan your vacation.”
I said, “Will do. How long can you get along without me?”
Seabirds circled. A ferry blew its horn. Sunlight capped the waves.
Brady said, “Take the time you need.”
I hugged him, and as he started the engine, I lowered the seat back and closed my eyes. Something Richie and I had said to each other many times came to me now unprompted.
I turned my head and said it to Brady.
“This is a good day to be a cop.”
Acknowledgments
Our thanks to the exceptional people who shared their time and expertise with us during the creation of this book: the real Rich Conklin, Assistant Chief, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Stamford, Connecticut Police Department; Michael A. Cizmar, Special Agent FBI, retired, and former private military contractor in Afghanistan; Donald Blaufuss, former door gunner in Vietnam, 1966; Ann Payne and the pros at Superdroid, Inc.; and our first-class legal advisor, Steve Rabinowitz, Attorney-at-law, LLP, in New York.
As always, we’re grateful to our talented researcher, Ingrid Taylar, in San Francisco, and Mary Jordan, who keeps track of the parts and pieces and keeps the whole shebang together. And, many thanks to the talented Team Patterson at Little, Brown.
Why everyone loves James Patterson and the Women’s Murder Club
‘It’s no mystery why James Patterson is the world’s most popular thriller writer. Simply put:nobody does it better.’
Jeffery Deaver
‘Smart characters,shocking twists …you count down to the very last page to discover what will happen next.’
Lisa Gardner
‘No one gets this big withoutamazing natural storytellingtalent – which is what Jim has, in spades.’
Lee Child
‘Boxer steals the showas the tough cop with a good heart.’
Mirror
‘Great plot,fantastic storytellingand characters that spring off the page.’
Heidi Perks
‘Patterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element thatdefines a characteror moves a plot along. It’s what fires off the movie projector in the reader’s mind.’
