Friends Like These(90)
The door opens, startling me. “Oh, sorry, Lieutenant, I didn’t realize you were still in here,” Cartright says. “The record storage guy’s here for the files. You want me to hold him off?”
Cartright is growing on me. He’s trying, at least. Not that he’s got much of a choice. I’m his boss now. The boss, until Seldon’s replacement arrives. It took a while to find an underage girl willing to testify against Seldon and Gaffney about the extra extracurriculars on their fishing weekends. But I did eventually. I am tenacious. I know how to sink my teeth into something until they knock against bone.
Dan appears in the doorway next to Cartright. “You’re still here,” he says, his eyes moving to the files. “Take your time. I can meet you at home.”
He gets it, of course he does. Dan’s been exactly what and where I needed him to be this entire time. Patient and kind, but honest, too. A really good friend. And, it turns out, so much more.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll come,” I say, rising slowly to my feet. “I’m ready to go.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Endless thanks to my supremely talented editor, Jennifer Barth, for bravely stepping into this book— well, before it was a book and for doing so with indefatigable grace and profound generosity. I am grateful for your wisdom, creativity, and compassion and for your unwavering ability to see past what is, to the glory of what could be.
Much gratitude to Jonathan Burnham and Doug Jones for your relentless passion and deep commitment. To everyone else at Harper in the marketing, publicity, sales, and library departments— thank you so much for your hard work and dedication. Special thanks to Leah Wasielewski, Tina Andreadis and Amelia Beckerman. Leslie Cohen and Katie O’Callaghan— I adore you both. Thank you for being so gifted at what you do and for being such delightful people. Thanks also to the very talented Sarah Ried, production editor Lydia Weaver, copyeditor Miranda Ottewell and the rest of the Harper managing editorial team for always working so hard on my behalf. My deepest gratitude to incredibly talented designer Jaya Micelli for my beautiful cover and to Robin Bilardello for so patiently shepherding the process. Thanks also to Kyle O’Brien for the lovely interior design.
To the world’s best literary agent, Dorian Karchmar— it’s a gift to have you on my team and in my life. I’m grateful to be the beneficiary of your immense creative skills, your keen judgment— about all the things— and your boundless empathy. Sincere thanks to the lovely and dedicated Anna DeRoy for all your hard work and your belief in me. My appreciation also to Matilda Forbes Watson, James Munro, Alex Kane, Jessica Spitz, Christina Lee, Megan Pelson, and everyone else at WME. Thank you for all your efforts on my behalf.
Thank you to my beloved lawyer and law school bestie Victoria Cook— such a gift to always have you in my corner. Thanks also to the ever-fabulous Mark Merriman. To Katherine Faw, my own personal savior, I have absolutely no idea what I’d do without you— so I’m afraid you can never leave. Thanks also to Claudia Herr, Darren Carter, Deena Warner, Brendan Kennedy, and Harris Davis.
To my best friends and beautiful beta readers— Megan Crane, Cara Cragan, Elena Evangelo, Heather Frattone, Tania Garcia, Nicole Kear, and Motoko Rich— thank you for always dropping everything to read and then finding a way to be both truthful and kind. I’m so lucky to have you all in my life. An extra thank-you to Tara Pometti and Jon Reinish, who not only served as early readers, but tracked down experts for me. Huge thanks to Parky Lee for taking my out-of-the-blue call and helping with such generosity and warmth. Thank you also to Joe Daniels, Teresa Maloney, David Fischer, D. Ann Williams, and Zhui Ning Chang. And remember everyone: only the good parts of this book are about my friendships with all of you.
To my amazing experts without whom I would be hopelessly lost— thank you for so patiently answering my endless questions about how art is sold, how guns go off, how many plastic gloves you actually use at a crime scene and whether you really can pull an IV out your own arm. Bless you: Stanley Dohm, Dr. Ora Pearlstein, Jim Reinish, and Professor Linda C. Rourke. A special thank-you to retired detective Peter Frederick for combing through the manuscript in detail, for always being there to consider even my most outlandish follow-up queries, and for being kind enough to make me laugh while telling me I got things totally wrong.
As always, thank you to the miraculous Nike Arowolo for everything you do and much gratitude to Martin and Clare Prentice for your unfailing support.
Thank you Tony, Harper, and Emerson for allowing me the space to write this book in an insane lockdown world— when space was precisely what none of us had to give. I can only imagine how hard it was. And I will be forever grateful.