In the Clearing (Tracy Crosswhite #3)(107)

Thank you to Kathy Taylor, forensic anthropologist at the King County Medical Examiner’s Office. Kathy’s talents are in such demand that her schedule is hectic and we couldn’t coordinate a meeting this time, but I used a lot of her expertise from past interviews to help with the forensic aspects of a body pulled from a river.

Thank you to Adrienne McCoy, King County senior deputy prosecutor, who helped me with the nuances of probable cause hearings, charging papers, and how her office would likely proceed given the unusual murder scenario I present in this novel. I am grateful for her patience and expertise.

I’ve also been fortunate to meet many wonderful people in the police community who are always generous with their time and their knowledge. I have tremendous respect for people who choose law enforcement as a profession. It is often a thankless job under trying circumstances.

I flat out could not write these books without the assistance of Detective Jennifer Southworth, of the Seattle Police Department. Jennifer first helped me with Murder One when she was working for the CSI Unit. With her promotion to the Homicide Unit, she became the inspiration for Tracy Crosswhite in My Sister’s Grave. She helped with that novel, with Her Final Breath, and again with this novel. I am so very grateful.

I also could not write these novels without Detective Scott Tompkins, King County Sheriff’s Office, Major Crimes Unit. Scott’s willingness to always help me by sharing his knowledge, or by putting me in touch with others who could provide information, has been invaluable. For this novel I literally sat down with Scott, gave him a scenario, and said, “Walk me through it.” He did, providing me cool details and suggestions along the way. Talk about patience. Scott and Jennifer are active helping the families of victims of crime through Victim Support Services, a worthy cause to which I donate signed novels. Consider it: http://victimsupportservices.org.

Thanks also to Kelly Rosa, legal services supervisor for the Most Dangerous Offender Project and the Violent Crimes Unit for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Oh, and also a lifelong friend. Kelly has helped me in just about every novel I’ve written, and she promotes them like crazy. I thought it time she take a new step in her career, so I made her a forensic anthropologist in My Sister’s Grave. I suspect she’ll be making more cameos in these books. Thanks, Kelly. You continue to be an incredible support.

Thank you to super-agent Meg Ruley and her team at the Jane Rotrosen Agency, including Rebecca Scherer, who offers terrific suggestions for my manuscripts and is an absolute wiz on everything to do with e-books. You want to know how wonderful the people who work at JRA are? When I traveled to New York and had a business dinner, Rebecca took my daughter out for a night in Manhattan, which Catherine is still talking about. Then the agency secured orchestra tickets to The Lion King. Made me look like the world’s greatest dad! To top it off, Meg and her husband delayed a trip to London to be at the International Thriller Writers awards dinner when My Sister’s Grave was nominated as one of the best thrillers of the year. Great agency, better people. These past two years have been phenomenal on so many levels, and the culmination of ten years of terrific guidance and insight into the business. I am so very grateful.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for believing in Tracy Crosswhite. This is the third book in the series, and I look forward to writing more. Special thanks to Charlotte Herscher, developmental editor. She’s edited all the Tracy Crosswhite novels and made every one infinitely better. Thanks also to Elizabeth Johnson, copyeditor. I asked for the best—grammar and punctuation not being my strength—and they immediately recommended Elizabeth. She pushes me on just about every sentence and word choice, and the books are infinitely more accurate.

Thanks to Jacque Ben-Zekry in marketing, who is a true force of nature and does an incredible job promoting my novels. Your efforts pushed me to number one in the past, and I hope we will do it again. Thanks to Tiffany Pokorny in author relations for always going the extra step to make me feel appreciated. My family has become a big fan of Thomas & Mercer for all the terrific gifts and little acknowledgments you send. You are the best. Thanks to my publicist, Gracie Doyle. She works tirelessly promoting my books and always has a creative idea and a bit of good news to go with her relentlessly upbeat demeanor. Thanks to Kjersti Egerdahl, acquisitions editor, and Sean Baker, production manager. Thanks to publisher Mikyla Bruder, associate publisher Hai-Yen Mura, and Jeff Belle, vice president of Amazon Publishing. These people all walk the walk when it comes to their authors and their authors’ work, and each has helped me to quickly feel at home.

Special thanks to Thomas & Mercer’s editorial director, Alan Turkus, for his guidance, spot-on editorial advice, and friendship. I sincerely hope we get to light the “#1” sign again and keep it lit many weeks and months. You have been a true guiding force.

Thanks to Tami Taylor, who runs my website, creates my foreign-language book covers, creates my newsletter, and otherwise does a fantastic job. Thanks to Sean McVeigh at 425 Media for his help with all my social-media needs. You’re both a lot smarter than I am, and I’m glad to have you on my team. Thanks to Pam Binder and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association for their tremendous support of my work.

Thank you also to the loyal readers who write to tell me how much they enjoy my books and await the next. You are the reason I keep looking for the next great story.

By the time this book is published, my son, Joe, will be finishing his first year of college. Today, however, as I write this, he is still at home, and I am reminiscing on just about everything over the last eighteen years. I remembered with sadness the morning I awoke to make Joe his final school lunch. After twelve years, my wife and I calculated that we had probably made him close to two thousand lunches. I’d already experienced his last high school football game, and there was his last prom, his last class, his last assembly, and his graduation dinner and ceremony. I’m not looking forward to his last night at home before we take him off to college. I’ll keep a stiff upper lip, but I’m Italian, and inside I’ll be crying like a baby—just like that final-school-lunch morning when I smeared mayonnaise on his turkey-and-cheese sandwich; and as I stood in the stands and watched the clock tick to 0:00; and when I tried to tell him at that graduation dinner how proud I am of him; and as I sat in the audience and wiped tears as he walked across the stage in his cap and gown with a big smile on his face. You get the point. The thing is, I’m not just sending a son off to college. I’m losing my late-night TV partner, the best sandwich maker in Seattle, my workout buddy, and the audience for all my Seinfeld references and corny jokes. I know this is not an ending but a beginning, and I’m excited for Joe as he starts what will be a great next stage in his life. I’m proud of you, son. Time to fly.