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Back Truth of the Divine Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. Also By Lindsay Ellis and Available From Titan Books
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Author’s Note
  7. Part 1: It’s A Fool Who Plays It Cool
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. Part 2: Love Has A Nasty Habit Of Disappearing Overnight
  15. 7
  16. 8
  17. 9
  18. 10
  19. 11
  20. 12
  21. 13
  22. 14
  23. 15
  24. 16
  25. 17
  26. 18
  27. 19
  28. 20
  29. 21
  30. 22
  31. 23
  32. 24
  33. 25
  34. Part 3: A Crowd Of People Stood And Stared
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. Part 4: Happiness Is A Warm Gun
  57. 47
  58. 48
  59. 49
  60. 50
  61. 51
  62. 52
  63. 53
  64. 54
  65. 55
  66. 56
  67. 57
  68. A Fiction Agreed Upon
  69. Acknowledgments
  70. About the Author

She nodded, and then turned her back to him, pulling the sheets up over her shoulder. He opened his laptop, Outlook updated, and then he saw his most recent email:

Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 6:21 AM

From: Nils Ortega <[email protected]>

To: Kaveh Mazandarani <[email protected]>

Subject: Interesting . . .

Hey, Friendo.

Got something you want to tell me?

Attachment: orangecountypolicereport.pdf

• • • • •

Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 9:43 AM

From: Nils Ortega <[email protected]>

To: Alejandro Miranda Vasquez <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Report from Anaheim PD

Jano,

Contact has been made. Suffice it to say I have his attention. I’ll let you know how things shake out. Please thank your friends in law enforcement for sending that police report my way.

Best,

Nils

41

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41

“I have some homework for you,” said Kaveh, sliding the last of his notebooks into his leather satchel. “And also a present.”

“Present?” She put her fork down. She’d made it about 60 percent through the lemon ricotta crepe he’d made, which was more than she usually did. Anything less than 50 percent sent his inner Persian mom into a frenzy, whinging, eat, eat, Yeh cheezee bokhorr deegeh! and she knew that. At any rate, he figured she was used to it. Her mom’s side was Italian, after all. Mangia!

“Just a sec,” he said, retreating upstairs to retrieve the slapdash gift bag he’d thrown together. Normally, Kaveh prided himself on being reliable, but all things considered, he figured everyone he canceled on in the last couple of days would give him a pass. He’d gotten her prescription filled, and she was due to get in her old jalopy and cart herself to the (very highly recommended and very expensive) therapist he’d arranged later that day. Everything else, however, was up to her.

He retrieved the bag from his closet, trotted back to the kitchen, and put it on the table in front of her. She pulled her gift out of the bag—a MacBook Pro—and looked at him in disbelief.

“When did you get this?”

“I overnighted it.”

“Kaveh . . .”

“I missed Christmas this year. So consider it a late Christmas present.”

“Do you celebrate Christmas?”

“Nope. If you like, consider it an early Nowruz present.”

“What’s ‘Nowruz’?”

“Persian New Year. It’s in a few weeks. It’s like our Christmas, except way more awesome. But don’t mistake, this is a work present.”

She nodded. The word work seemed to make the gift acceptable. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to write me a set of essays,” he said, sitting down next to her. “Two of them—the first one, I want you to write about Pershing Square. Basically, I want you to write a thousand-word essay about why you did what you did. What was going through your head. But imagine you’re writing this for a crowd, trying to be inspirational. Personal reasons, but also bigger-picture reasons. Like a TED Talk.”