Arvo began to walk through the sliding glass doors toward his car. Paula nudged Sarah and pointed after him. “Go on,” she mouthed.
Then, like that policeman on television, the one with the rumpled raincoat, Arvo popped his head back through the doors. “Just one more thing before I go,” he said.
“Yes?”
“Do you think I could give you that driving lesson sometime? And maybe afterwards we could go to dinner?”
Sarah found herself smiling. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, to both. I’d like that.”
“Have you got a friend?” Paula yelled after him as he left, then collapsed giggling on her lounge chair.
The children came running up the steps, smelling of the salt water and making wet footprints on the wooden deck. Sarah could still smell traces of the Indian spices from the meal. She took another sip of wine.
There was a lot to take in, yes, and a lot of personal demons to grapple with. But today the sun was shining, the waves were crashing on the beach, her family was with her, she still had her job, Stuart was recovering, and a handsome man was going to give her a driving lesson. On the whole, she thought, allowing herself a private smile, things weren’t looking too bad right now. Things weren’t looking too bad at all.
THE END
Acknowledgments
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK LIEUTENANT JOHN LANE and other members of the Threat Management Unit of the LAPD for being so generous with their time and expertise; also, thanks to Detective Dennis Payne of the Robbery-Homicide Department, LAPD.
Special thanks are due to Patricia McFall, Michael Connelly and Richard and Barbara Matthews for reading and commenting on earlier drafts of the manuscript, and to Linda Grant for her help with the San Francisco chapters.
So many people extended their kindness and hospitality on my visits to Los Angeles; in addition to the above I would especially like to thank Wendi Matthews for the studio tour, Karen and Eric Ende for their support, and Timothy Appleby and Sheila Whyte for the Laguna Canyon drive.
Any errors are entirely my own and were made purely in the interests of dramatic fiction.
About the Author
One of the world’s most popular and acclaimed writers, PETER ROBINSON grew up in the United Kingdom, and now divides his time between Toronto and England. The bestselling, award-winning author of twenty-two books in the Inspector Banks series, he has also written two short-story collections and three standalone novels. Among his many honors and prizes are the Edgar Award, the CWA (UK) Dagger in the Library Award, France’s Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, Sweden’s Martin Beck Award, and the Danish Palle Rosenkrantz award.
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Also by Peter Robinson
GALLOWS VIEW
A DEDICATED MAN
A NECESSARY END
THE HANGING VALLEY
PAST REASON HATED
WEDNESDAY’S CHILD
THE FIRST CUT
FINAL ACCOUNT
INNOCENT GRAVES
BLOOD AT THE ROOT
IN A DRY SEASON
COLD IS THE GRAVE
AFTERMATH
CLOSE TO HOME
PLAYING WITH FIRE
STRANGE AFFAIR
PIECE OF MY HEART
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL
ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS
THE PRICE OF LOVE AND OTHER STORIES
BAD BOY
BEFORE THE POISON
WATCHING THE DARK
CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
IN THE DARK PLACES
Credits
Cover design by Richard L. Aquan
Cover photograph ©iStockphoto
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Copyright
Published in Canada in 1995 by Penguin Canada.
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Hodder & Stoughton, a Hachette UK company.
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
NO CURE FOR LOVE. Copyright © 1995 by Eastvale Enterprises Inc. Foreword copyright © 2015 by Michael Connelly. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN 9780062405111
ISBN 978-0-06-240540-1 (trade paperback edition)
ISBN 978-0-06-246930-4 (hardcover library edition)
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