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Back Lost Hills Save as PDF
Chapters (49)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. Contents
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
  49. About the Author

But Eve turned her back on him and walked out of the room. Duncan was leaning against a wall, scrolling through something on his phone screen, when she stepped into the hallway.

“How did it go?” Duncan asked, looking up from his phone.

“He wanted to make a deal.”

“A little late for that. The news broke while you were inside with him. Your video is going viral.”

“I don’t see why.” Eve started walking down the hall, Duncan falling into step beside her. “The video is old news.”

“Not that one. I’m talking about Deathfist II, your new viral video.”

“I don’t have a new video.”

“Yes you do. There was a camera mounted on the chopper that picked you up. One of the firefighters leaked the video to the press. It’s you with Caitlin in your arms, running across a field, chased by a firestorm. It’s pretty amazing stuff.”

He stopped and showed her the video on his phone. The woman on-screen, her bloody face set in grim determination, held the child tight to her chest and ran toward the camera, the tongues of flame licking at her back. Eve didn’t see herself in the video. It was as if the woman with the blood and soot on her face was somebody else.

Duncan pocketed his phone. “Don’t let me forget to get your autograph once the cast is off.”

Eve suddenly felt very tired. “You know what I really need right now?”

“A William Morris agent?”

“A donut,” she said.

“That’s the best idea you’ve had since the day we met.” He smiled, put a fatherly arm around her, and gently led her toward the security gate. “I’m starting to think you might just make it as a homicide detective, though I suppose now you’ll want to be sheriff.”

“Not yet,” Eve said.

“You sure? After what you did today, and this video, you could probably win the election in a landslide.”

“I think I still have a few more things to learn.”

“That’s the first lesson right there,” he said. “The second is never get a donut filled with anything because it’s going to end up on your shirt.”

“You’re a fount of wisdom, Duncan.”

Author’s Note and Acknowledgments

Author’s Note and Acknowledgments

This novel is entirely a work of fiction but it was inspired by an actual case that I learned about as one of three civilian guests attending a professional homicide investigators training seminar in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

I couldn’t have written this book without the patient help of Joe Dietz and Daniel Winterich, two of the law enforcement officers who conducted that investigation, presented the case at the seminar, and then allowed me to bombard them with questions for weeks afterward.