by Helen Phifer
Addison nodded. ‘Yep, oh and a yearly bonus for having to keep it all quiet. You know it won’t be something you can talk about down The Cat.’
Frankie leant forward. ‘How much of a bonus?’
‘An extra ten thousand a year.’
‘I’m in, what about you Maria?’
‘If you’re in, I’m in.’
Addison stood up and passed them a file each. ‘Good, this is your next case. I’ll show you where your new office is. I’ll still be in charge, anything you need you come to me about.’
They both nodded, Addison began to walk towards the door and Frankie whispered. ‘Ten K.’
Maria hoped the money was worth it as she stood up and followed Addison could you put a price on their sanity? She wasn’t too sure if they could.
Harrison smiled at Maria, she didn’t berate him for picking her up in a limousine. She wanted this to be special, it parked outside the entrance to the hospital and she got out. ‘I won’t be long.’ She went inside, her mind a whir. Today had been both surreal and amazing, this was going to be by far the best part. She walked along the corridor until she reached the private room, knocking gently she pushed open the door and smiled.
‘Maria, I’ve never been so happy to see you.’
Maria walked over and kissed Miss Green on the cheek. ‘I’m even happier to see you.’ She turned to look at the woman sitting on the chair. ‘How are you Emilia?’
Emilia laughed. ‘Much better now I don’t have to come to this damn hospital every day.’
Maria took hold of the wheelchair Miss Green was sitting in. ‘Come on then, your carriage awaits. I can’t believe you two are going to be sharing Miss Green’s apartment. It’s amazing.’
Emilia grinned. ‘Well someone has to look after her, it might as well be me.’
Miss Green nodded. ‘Uhuh, that’s true. It will be nice to have some company. And Maria, you really have to start calling me Missy. Miss Green makes me sound far too old’
Emilia shook her head. ‘I hate to upset you Missy, but we are old.’
Maria laughed. ‘You two better not argue all the time.’
Emilia grabbed hold of Missy’s hand. ‘Oh, we won’t, at least not all the time.’
The End.
A LETTER FROM HELEN
First of all, I’d like to thank you, my fabulous readers from the bottom of my heart for buying this book and I hope you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review. They make such a difference and are a wonderful way to let other readers know about my books.
If you want to know more about my other books you can find them all on my website at www.helenphifer.com You can also sign up for my newsletter there to keep up with my bookish news.
Since I was a little girl I’ve dreamt about visiting New York City. In 2015 I was lucky enough to be invited to a Black & White Ball at the Waldorf Astoria by my first publishers Harlequin. I like to think it was fate that it came at a time when I could make this dream come true. What can I say, three weeks later I was in New York and speechless. I’ve never felt more at home anywhere in the world than I did there, and I fell completely head over heels in love with it.
I knew I wanted to set a book on the streets of New York and as we toured the city and all its attractions the idea for tough, homicide detective, Maria Miller began to take shape. I was lucky enough to visit again July 2017, this time it was a research trip for the story that I knew I had to write. I dragged my poor husband Steve along on a two-hour walking ghost tour of Greenwich Village which I loved, he wasn’t so enthusiastic, bless him.
The walk started in Washington Square Park, where I stood and listened to the most amazing pianist who did indeed push his piano home when he finished. I know this because I passed him an hour later, with his piano. He was so good I could have stayed there and listened to him all night. From there we toured the haunted locations of the village. The Fat Black Pussycat is a real bar, so are all the streets and most of the locations used in this book. There is a haunted house on West 10th Street which I’d read about and this became the inspiration for my story. The house and the haunting are a lot different to how I’ve portrayed it, but I’m a writer and making stuff up is what I do best.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank my fabulous beta readers and very good friends Jo Bartlett, Sharon Booth and Julie Heslington who are all brilliant authors. They have a whole array of best selling, fabulous books on Amazon so go check them out. They have held my hand through this process and made me believe that I could do it.
I’d like to thank my good friend Deirdre Palmer for helping me to format this book. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Deirdre is another bestselling writer whose books are available to buy on Amazon.
I’d also like to say a huge thank you to the rest of the Write Romantics for their unwavering support. Jackie Ladbury, Lynne Davidson, Helen Rolfe, Alex Weston and Rachael Thomas. All of them successful authors, we got together five years ago, and it’s been one hell of a rollercoaster ride. The pride I have at seeing all my super talented friends filling the Amazon charts is mind blowing.
A huge thank you to the amazing Gina Dickerson @Rosewolf Design for my amazing cover artwork. I’ve never had so much fun choosing a cover for a book, if you ever need one then Gina is your girl.
Thank you to the fabulous Jeff Gardiner for his editing of this book, it really made a difference.
A very special heartfelt thank you goes to Paul O’Neill for his amazing surveyors report and proofreading at such a difficult time. Also, to his gorgeous wife and a very special friend Gail. You have been my biggest cheerleader from day one and I can’t express how much you both mean to me.
I’d also like to thank Trisha Sherwood for her excellent proofreading.
Thank you to Joanne Grainger, Donna Trinder, Nikkie Capstick and Kirsty Ann Dawson. You have no idea how much I appreciate all your support.
A special thank you goes to the fabulous Cara Alwill Leyba who motivates and inspires me every single day to be the best that I can be. Cara, reading your books changed my life and I can’t thank you enough. You need to check out Cara’s amazing podcasts and books, they really will motivate you to change your life.
As always, I’d like to thank Sam Thomas and Tina Sykes for being my go to coffee girls. Good friends are hard to come by and I’m very lucky to have you both.
As always, a very special thank you goes to my gorgeous family, who both drive me mad and fill me with more love than I know what to do with. I’m a truly lucky woman to have such an amazing, supportive tribe around me. One day we’ll have a table big enough to sit around for Christmas dinner without having to bring out the emergency chairs.