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Back Never Look Back Save as PDF
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Acknowledgments
  47. P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
  48. About the Author
  49. About the Book
  50. Also by Alison Gaylin
  51. About the Publisher

Gabriel said he knew Ed Hart well when he was little. As it turns out, Gabriel’s real dad is a hotshot entertainment lawyer who used to take him to movie and TV sets a lot. He stopped doing that a long time ago, when he left Gabriel’s mom for a dancer on the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and never saw the family again. Gabriel hates him, of course, and that’s why he never spoke about him to me before. But back when he was in elementary school, Gabriel used to worship his dad, and he and Ed were pals. He met him on the set of some cop show, and while his dad yapped away with his TV producer client, Ed showed Gabriel prop guns, fake handcuffs, even a phony bomb. They got together a few times after that, and Ed told him that when he was old enough, Gabriel could apprentice for him. Become a property master himself.

“He’ll be glad to see me,” Gabriel said. “He was like a second father.” But when he answered the door, Ed didn’t seem to have any idea who we were.

Ed Hart was balding and kind of short. He was wearing baggy, Wrangler-type jeans and a green Lacoste sports shirt that stretched tight across his belly. His eyes were wide and bright and his cheeks were very red, as though he’d once gotten so embarrassed that his face froze like that. He had a sweet, confused smile that reminded me a little of Jenny. Even though Ed was old enough to be a dad or maybe even a grandfather, there was something almost babyish about him—something that made it hard to look him in the eye for very long. “Can I help you kids with anything?” he said.

I will never understand why he opened the door all the way.

June 15, 1976

4:00 A.M.

From the Inland Empire Eagle

WEST COVINA, June 14—Police are investigating the apparent murder of property master Edward Royland Hart, 61, after his body was found this morning in his home at 655 Mercer Lane, bound at the wrists and feet and riddled with more than a dozen bullet wounds.

The body was discovered by Mr. Hart’s housekeeper, Margaret Ingram, who immediately called police. “This is tragic,” Mrs. Ingram said. “Mr. Hart was such a nice man. He had no enemies. I never even heard him raise his voice to anyone.”