I looked out to the horizon. The brightening sun exposed everything—every bit of glory. It rose, stretching its light across the sky to turn it an indifferent pastel blue that said good-bye to the night, to the darkness, for just a little while.
Acknowledgments
With each book, my list of people to thank grows larger. Enormous thank-yous to the amazing team of publishing professionals at Atria for their hard work in seeing this novel through to publication; to my editor, Daniella Wexler, for her excellent feedback and impressive editing skills; and to Trent Duffy for catching my many repetitions and inconsistencies and helping to bring coherency to illogical sequences. Both made The Weight of Night far, far better than the version I submitted. Huge thanks to David Brown for his untiring, enthusiastic help in publicity, Hillary Tisman and Jin Yu for their guidance and hard work in marketing, Chris Sergio for his fabulous design work, and Haley Weaver for assisting. I continue to express my gratitude and admiration to Judith Curr, the revered president and publisher of Atria Books.
I owe endless thanks to my wonderful agent, Nancy Yost, for numerous things, but especially for her unwavering support, keen guidance, and ability to make me smile. Thank you also to Sarah Younger for being so helpful.
Once again, I relied on generous assistance from Frank Garner, former chief of police in Kalispell, and Gary Moses, former lead ranger in Glacier National Park, and cannot thank them enough for their time in explaining local law enforcement practices to a layperson like me. I’d also like to thank Commander Brandy Hinzman with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office for her insights; and Lisa Black, fellow suspense writer, latent-print examiner, and crime scene investigator, for her help with many forensic details.
I am more than grateful to my dear friend Suzanne Siegel, who always seems to find exactly what I’m searching for whenever I need information. My appreciation is beyond words for all her valuable research, reading of drafts, feedback, wise counsel, and limitless reassurance. And much gratitude to Kathy Dunnehoff, friend and brilliant plotter, who never tires of tapping into her muse to help me sort out story-line issues, or having coffee with me to keep me sane. And to Janet Vandemeer, for the enormous support in reading pass pages and for all the invaluable book-launch help.
I continue to find my way through the world of publishing with my husband Jamie’s rock-solid support, guidance, and reassurance; plus, he’s not a bad plotter himself when I run into a hitch. Endless appreciation goes to my parents, Robert and Jeanine Schimpff, for providing a lifetime of love, support, and wisdom, and to my dad for always knowing the answer to just about any question I have. To my brothers, Cliff and Eric, and their wives, Pam and LeAnn, for their support. To my aunts, Janie Fontaine and Barbara Dulac, for always bolstering me from afar. Much love to my children, Mathew, Caroline, and Lexie, for continually motivating me with their enthusiasm. Mathew, thank you for helping me work through this ending!
As many Glacier Park visitors and locals know, the summer of 2015 was a particularly bad fire year for the park and the surrounding areas. I used one of the actual fires in this story: the Sheep Fire, one of the three fires in the Thompson Divide Complex near Essex. For the most part, though, I fictionalized how some of it occurred for dramatic purposes and also created the imaginary Ole, Trail Creek, Desert Mountain, and Columbia Mountain fires.
Also, as in my two novels preceding this one, I formed a fictional Park Police force in Glacier. It is not meant to make light of the tremendous work GNP rangers do and the valuable services and law enforcement they provide. I also took liberties with the way the Flathead County Sheriff’s Crime Scene Team is structured.
I tried but failed to get a tour of the aluminum plant in Columbia Falls, so I went with my imagination. I’m sure I got many things wrong in trying to describe it, but I couldn’t resist writing about the deserted mammoth of a place that was once an essential part of the Flathead Valley’s industrial backbone. When I wrote this, the jury was still out on whether the plant would be included in the EPA’s Superfund Program’s National Priorities List, and it has since been listed as one of the nation’s most contaminated sites.
I owe countless thanks to many more folks for their generous support in my journey as an author: some fellow writers, some friends, some readers. Many thanks, or Tusen Takk, to Vibecke Cates and Thomas Korsdalen for their help with information about Norway and its language. As for the rest, I couldn’t name them all, but I’ll throw heartfelt thank-yous to Jackie Brown, Steve Streich, Patti Spence, Mark Stevens, Shannon Baker, Ginnie Cronk, Mara Goligoski, Dennis Foley, Marian Ellison, Sarah Fajardo, Pat and Missy Carloss, Adrienne Cardan, Tony and Marci Stais, and Paisley and Diego Amaya. I thank Glacier National Park Conservancy for their kind support, all the amazing book clubs I’ve participated in, both local and afar, all the extraordinary booksellers out there, and, of course, all the wonderful readers! With each book, I continue to be overwhelmed and inspired by the encouragement I receive.
Any mention of landmarks, popular local establishments, or made-up establishments resembling actual businesses is done only to gain verisimilitude. Always, all errors, deliberate or by mistake, are wholly mine.
About the Author
Christine Carbo is the author of The Wild Inside, Mortal Fall,and The Weight of Night. A Florida native, she and her family live in Whitefish, Montana. Find out more at ChristineCarbo.com.
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ALSO BY CHRISTINE CARBO
The Wild Inside
Mortal Fall
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Christine Carbo
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First Atria Paperback edition June 2017
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Author photograph © Scott Wilson Photography 2014
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Carbo, Christine, author.
Title: The weight of night : a novel of suspense / Christine Carbo.
Description: First Atria Paperback edition. | New York : Atria Paperback,
2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016049055 (print) | LCCN 2016057439 (ebook) | ISBN
9781501156236 (softcover) | ISBN 9781501156243 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Government investigators—Fiction. | Cold cases (Criminal
investigation)—Fiction. | Missing persons—Investigation—Fiction. |
Glacier National Park (Mont.)—Fiction. | Wilderness areas—Fiction. |
Forest fires—Fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Crime. | FICTION / Mystery &
Detective / General. | GSAFD: Suspense fiction. | Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3603.A726 W45 2017 (print) | LCC PS3603.A726 (ebook) |
DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016049055
ISBN 978-1-5011-5623-6
ISBN 978-1-5011-5624-3 (ebook)
The Weight of Night Page 41