She laughed. “All right.” She looked down at Hannah, who was busy with her midnight snack. “She is so beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Yep.” Decker snuggled next to his wife and child and put his arm around Rina’s shoulder. It was time to stop and smell the roses. Maybe Tandy wouldn’t get the help she desperately needed. Maybe no matter how hard Pomerantz worked, the jury would believe Marie—that she was delusional and had masterminded everything. Maybe Marie really would die for Tandy’s sins.

Some things are just out of your control.

As if to imply that some things are in your control.

Control may be an illusion, but it’s the illusions that keep you sane.

Decker hugged his wife’s shoulder. “She’s gorgeous, like her mom.”

Rina kissed his cheeks. “This is nice, isn’t it?”

Decker let go with a full grin. “Darlin’, it don’t get much better than this.”

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Dr. Lawrence Platt
and Dr. Irwin Frankel

About the Author

FAYE KELLERMAN introduced L.A. cop Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, to the mystery world nineteen years ago. Since then she has published fifteen Decker/Lazarus novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Street Dreams, The Forgotten and Stalker. She is also the author of Moon Music, a contemporary thriller set in Las Vegas; The Quality of Mercy, an historical novel of Elizabethan England; and Double Homicide, co-authored with her husband, Jonathan Kellerman. Her latest novel is Straight Into Darkness, an historical mystery set in Germany during the rise of Adolph Hitler and National Socialism. Ms. Kellerman lives in California with her husband, noted author Jonathan Kellerman, and their four children, three dogs, and fish too numerous to count.

"KELLERMAN IS SPLENDID."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Resounding praise for
New York Times bestselling author
FAYE KELLERMAN
and her acclaimed
PETER DECKER / RINA LAZARUS novels

"One of the finest sisters in crime."

Los Angeles Times

"No one working in the crime genre is better."

Baltimore Sun

"Kellerman's novels sustain a quality that is unusually high."

Chicago Tribune

"This series…just gets better and better."

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Reading a good thriller is very much like taking a great vacation: half the fun is getting there. Faye kellerman is one heck of a tour guide."

Detroit Free Press

"Kellerman has become a real pro at setting up crime puzzles, laying on lots of real and fake clues, and keeping everyone guessing."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"She does for the American cop story what P.D. James has done for the British mystery, lifting it beyond genre."

Richmond Times-Dispatch

"Kellerman has a flair for characterization…The major players are sharply defined and hero cop Decker is particularly well-drawn. His devotion to his pregnant wife and family is a touching counterpoint to the warped people with whom he must deal."

Orange County Register

"Mystery fans value Faye Kellerman for her superb Peter Decker / Rina Lazarus novels."

Washington Post Book World

"Kellerman is terrific."

Newsday