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Chapters (73)
  1. Goodbye to the Dead
  2. Also By Brian Freeman
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. CONTENTS
  8. PROLOGUE
  9. THEN
  10. 1
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 7
  17. 8
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. NOW
  46. 36
  47. 37
  48. 38
  49. 39
  50. 40
  51. 41
  52. 42
  53. 43
  54. 44
  55. 45
  56. 46
  57. 47
  58. 48
  59. 49
  60. 50
  61. 51
  62. 52
  63. 53
  64. 54
  65. 55
  66. 56
  67. 57
  68. 58
  69. 59
  70. 60
  71. 61
  72. FROM THE AUTHOR
  73. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Stride did. So did Serena. Curt was a janitor at one of the Canal Park hotels, but he also ran an endless series of low-level scams to feed his need for cash. He’d been a pimp hooking up tourists with UMD girls. A petty thief stealing stingray pups from the Aquarium. A scalper of counterfeit Yanni concert tickets. He wasn’t violent, but he was the kind of streetwise kid who would never go straight. Stride had known him since he was fifteen.

‘Curt sold this guy the ring?’ Stride asked. ‘Where the hell did he get it?’

‘That’s what I’m trying to find out,’ Maggie said. ‘Curt’s been under the radar for a few days, but I just got a call. He’s got a new thing going. Duluth ghost tours. I’m going to track him down now.’

‘Good.’

Maggie stood up and headed for the door, but then she stopped. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans and blew the bangs out of her eyes.

‘You want to come with me?’ she asked Serena. ‘We could be like Rizzoli and Isles or something.’

Stride saw the surprise in Serena’s face. He was surprised, too. Maybe there was a chance of a thaw in the ice between them. He didn’t know what Serena’s reaction would be, but she wasted no time sliding off the credenza. The two women stood next to each other, short and tall.

‘Okay, let’s go,’ she deadpanned to Maggie, ‘but I get to be Angie Harmon.’

49

49

It had taken Janine two whole years to stop dreaming about her old life when she fell asleep at night. Her unconscious brain would whisk her back to her mansion on the hill or stand her in scrubs over the open chests of patients in the operating room at St. Anne’s. Even awake, she would find herself making false mental leaps whenever she read a book or a magazine.

I should look for those shoes the next time I’m at Macy’s.

Abruzzo in Italy – that should be my spring vacation.

I need to try the lobster ravioli at Bellisio’s.

Then she would wake up or she would remember: Those things are never going to happen again. Don’t dream, don’t fantasize, because dwelling on what you can’t have will drive you insane.

Except now life had turned on its head again. It was happening so quickly that she was disoriented. Nothing seemed real. She hardly dared to believe it. Right now, she was at Shakopee, and at the same time tomorrow, she would be on the other side of the security doors. She wondered how long it would take her brain to give up thoughts of prison when she dreamed.

‘Will they attempt to try me again?’ she asked Archie on the phone.