Eventually, Abel said, “Your partner’s back. Swinging some fine hips. What were you conferring about out there?”

“Business.”

“Where’re you guys off to?”

“Shooting range at the academy.” Decker hesitated, then said, “She had some trouble a week ago. Some asshole tried to bash her head in. Her confidence needs a little bolstering. I was giving her a pep talk. I don’t think she bought everything I was saying. But if she bought some of it, that’s good enough.”

Abel didn’t answer right away. Eventually, he said, “That woman out there. Know what she is?”

“What?”

“She’s your new macho love affair, Doc,” Abel said. “Go out and create some memories with her. Leave the past behind.”

“Sage words,” Decker said. He stood from the table. “Maybe you should follow them.”

“I should,” Abel said. “But I won’t.”

They exchanged weak smiles.

Then they embraced.

About the Author

FAYE KELLERMAN introduced LA cop Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, to the mystery world seventeen years ago. Since then she has published twelve Decker/Lazarus novels, including her recent New York Times bestseller The Forgotten. She is also the author of Moon Music, a contemporary thriller set in Las Vegas, and The Quality of Mercy, an historical novel of Elizabethan England. Ms. Kellerman lives in California with her husband, noted author Jonathan Kellerman, and their four children, three dogs, and fish too numerous to count.

Praise for New York Times bestselling author

FAYE KELLERMAN
and
MILK AND HONEY

“Faye Kellerman’s best novel to date: deeper, richer, more emotionally complex.”

James Ellroy

“No one working in the crime genre is better.”

Baltimore Sun

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

Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Compelling…Her characters are fully drawn and the gritty story moves on relentlessly.”

Indianapolis Star

“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

“A rich, nourishing feast of a novel. Kellerman has never been better and Rina and Decker have never been more endearing.”

Nancy Pickard

“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

“Faye Kellerman spins a deft tale of dogged detective work…[It] easily puts her into a class with the most literate, facile, and engaging writers in the business.”

Associated Press

“Kellerman’s novels sustain a quality that is unusually high.”

Chicago Tribune

“A delight…Kellerman is a gutsy, forceful writer. Her cop talk in the station house fairly crackles.”

Booklist

“Kellerman is splendid.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Engrossing…horribly riveting.”

Roanoke Times & World News

“A wonderful mystery…MILK AND HONEY is one of those books that leaves strong reminders long after the last page is turned. It is startling in its content and frightening in its execution.”