Still Lives(87)

Over a century later, immense, overcrowded, and corrupted, that’s still the Los Angeles that people fall in love with, the Los Angeles that drew Greg and me, and Kim and her paintings, and even Evie. It’s also the city where monstrous appetites meet private hopes, again and again, and devour them. Where ambition is savaged and changed to devastation, where a brilliant artist can be beaten, stabbed, and locked away to die while her party goes on, cups are raised, and bright beats begin to play.

Los Angeles hangs before me now, though I am looking at my own familiar, humble slopes of pines, my own jags of granite, and it’s what I breathe though I am gulping the sweet, sharp scent of hemlock and wild raspberry. It gathers in my ears, L.A., like the harsh wind up here that won’t stop blowing, though I have ducked my chin and tucked my head into my jacket collar, and am turning away, down the hill.

I’ll be back, I promise inside to so many people. It’s hard to see my destination, or who I’ll find there. I only know that I’m going.





Acknowledgments

My deepest thanks to the following friends and mentors, who were all instrumental in realizing this novel: Rita Mae Reese, Sarah Frisch, Melanie Abrams, Sara Houghteling, Malena Watrous, Robin Ekiss, Glori Simmons, Kasie Carlisle, Karen Lofgren, Eavan Boland, Tobias Wolff, Ken Fields, Adam Johnson, and Tom Kealey. I am indebted to Stanford University, the Jones lecturers, and my former coworkers at the Museum of Contemporary Art. I would also like to thank the University of Vermont, UVM’s Office of the Vice President for Research, and my dear colleagues for supporting the book in a myriad of ways.

Thank you to Dan Smetanka, an editor of unparalleled dedication and brilliance, for deepening this story page by page. Thank you to my wonderful agent, Gail Hochman, for many times setting me straight on mystery writing, and to Megan Fishmann, Jennifer Kovitz, Sarah Baline, and the whole crew at Counterpoint and Catapult for bringing this book to readers.

My loving family cannot be thanked enough. My everlasting gratitude goes to all the Hummels, Parmelees, Greenfields, Ochiais, Shettys, Hallans, Cohens, and Creasons, and especially to Bowie, Bruce, and Kyle.