Done in One (9781466857841)
Page 22
The two shadows stopped and fell over a tombstone. Newly engraved. Jacob squeezed Jill’s hand. In her other hand she held several roses. Jill walked to the stone and placed half of the roses on top. She saved the rest of them, then stepped back to Jacob.
“I’m going to put these on Captain Bryant’s grave.”
Jill moved away, leaving Jacob alone with his old partner, with Oz.
Jacob approached the cold stone. He read the inscription.
LEE STALEY
1959–2015
THERE ARE MEN TOO GENTLE
TO LIVE AMONG WOLVES
Jacob reached into his pocket and retrieved the small cloth bag. He opened it and looked at the spent cartridge shells inside. Still just seventeen. He pulled the drawstring closed and kneaded the bag in his hand. And he thought of the last words he’d spoken to his friend.
It’s time to put the past away.
It’s time.
Jacob kneeled and placed the bag on Oz’s grave.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank our extended families for their support, as well as Robert Guinsler, Stephen Torres, Ellen Schlossberg, Peter Farris, Becky Hann Kraegel, Robert Leland Taylor, Rita Kempley, and Charlie Bennett. We are indebted to our editor, Peter Joseph, for his inspired guidance. And a special thanks to Linda Andrews and the staff of the Hoover Public Library.
ALSO BY GRANT JERKINS
The Ninth Step
At the End of the Road
A Very Simple Crime
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
GRANT JERKINS is the prize-winning author of A Very Simple Crime, At the End of the Road, and The Ninth Step. He lives in the Atlanta area with his wife and son.
JAN THOMAS has worked as a firefighter/medic, a role-player at a police academy, a weekly humor columnist, and a screenwriter. She lives in Northern California with her husband, a retired law-enforcement sniper, and their two St. Bernards. Done in One is her first novel.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
DONE IN ONE. Copyright © 2014 by Grant Jerkins and Jan Thomas. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following: Shane excerpt used with permission of Paramount Pictures.
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
www.stmartins.com
Cover design and photography by Lisa Pompillo
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-05486-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-5784-1 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466857841
First Edition: January 2015