“Isn’t that how all this started? Me, not we. I can do that, without draggin’ you into it, without messin’ up your life.”
“You saved my life, twice.”
“You gave me mine back.”
He wanted to return to Twin Palms to say good-bye to Billy, but during the flight they decided against it. No reason to confuse the boy further.
The plane stopped in Denver. Saying he had to stretch his legs, he hurried into an airport shop and bought a tiny gold heart on a chain. He slipped it into her bag while she dozed over the Midwest.
The sight of soft pink and gray mists rising over the great swamp as they swept in over the Everglades brought tears to his eyes. Home at last.
He did not realize he would never have the chance to kiss her good-bye, hadn’t counted on yet another gauntlet of reporters, cameras and microphones. He put Rory and her bags in a cab. Their eyes caught as he closed the door. He watched it glide into airport traffic.
He stood for a while, alone in the crowd, then found a pay phone, fumbled for a quarter and punched in the familiar number.
“Where are you?” Kathleen gasped. “Oh, Frank, I’m so sorry. I’ve been so worried.”
“I’m coming home.”
They were waiting in the driveway as the cab made the turn beneath the overhanging branches of the huge poinciana tree. Shandi’s hair was all one color again. Apparently she had kept the ship on course while he was gone. She and Casey hugged him hard. Kathleen was thinner, her eyes swollen. They talked for hours, first the four of them, then the two of them. They might never be the all-American magazine-cover family of his fantasies. But they resolved to try. History and the future were on their side. Together, they decided, they could make it.
Frank slept well that night for the first time since his surgery. In his own bed, beside his wife, he dreamed of running. He was not alone, the other runner matched him, stride for stride, then in a burst of speed forged ahead, into the blinding sun. When Frank looked again, the runner had vanished, leaving only sky and water and a pelican that spiraled lazily over the shimmering bay.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to Charles Delmonico, the man with heart, and to all the other heroes: Sandra Gerity, R.N., coordinator of the Heart and Lung Transplant Program at the University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital; Lynn Cravero, assistant director, and Linda McBeath, aftercare coordinator, of the University of Miami Organ Procurement Agency; and to the incomparable Dr. Joseph H. Davis. My thanks, respect and admiration go to Darlene and Harry Kelton of the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station for all their noble deeds. Miami Beach Fire Fighter John Carlisle, Hungarian Honorary Consul Alexander S. Tar, Robert Feldman, Mike Sahr, Paul Steinberg and private investigator William Venturi all generously shared their expertise, as did Joel Hirschhorn, Steve Waldman, photojournalist Bill Cook and Miami Police Lt. Gerald Green—again. The usual suspects: Renee Turolla, Arnold Markowitz, Cynnie Cagney, Marilyn Lane, Ed Gadinsky, Peggy Thornburgh, David M. Thornburgh, and the Rev. Garth Thompson kept me on course, along with Michael Congdon, my agent, co-conspirator and chief accomplice.
Thanks to all of the above from the bottom of my heart.
About the Author
EDNA BUCHANAN
A Pulitzer Prize-winning Florida crime reporter with more than twenty years of experience, EDNA BUCHANAN has seen the dark side of paradise firsthand. She is the author of two highly acclaimed nonfiction books—The Corpse Had a Familar Face and Never Let Them See You Cry—and the popular suspense novels featuring reporter Britt Montero, including Contents Under Pressure and Miami, It’s Murder. Ms. Buchanan lives in Miami, Florida.
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Other Books by
Edna Buchanan
CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE
MIAMI, IT’S MURDER
Resounding praise for EDNA BUCHANAN and PULSE
“THE QUEEN OF CRIME”
Los Angeles Daily News
“BUCHANAN TELLS GREAT STORIES—
hot, horrible, homicidal stories.”
The New York Times Book Review
“ONE OF THIS SPRING’S BEST NEW CRIME
NOVELS … Buchanan has no trouble sustaining the
drama or inventing enough credible plot twists.”
Chicago Tribune
“A GREASED-LIGHTNING THRILLER FROM THE
PULITZER-WINNING CRIME REPORTER …
Buchanan rides her irresistible
premise hell-for-leather.”
Kirkus Reviews
“FRAUGHT WITH SUSPENSE AND DANGER …
Buchanan hooks you with the first line.”
Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
“IF YOU LIKE CRIME, YOU’LL LOVE BUCHANAN.”
Tampa Tribune
“A NICE, TIGHT YARN … The plot really clips along …
Edna Buchanan knows how to write a crime story.
There’s not an unnecessary page in this book,
not an irrelevant anecdote.”
Madison State Journal
“BY THE END, YOUR HEART WILL BE RACING …
I never met an Edna Buchanan murder mystery
I didn’t like … Her characters are interesting
and her plots consistently creative
and well-executed.”
Austin American-Statesman
“AN IRREPRESSIBLY GOOD WRITER
WITH A DROLL WIT AND SENSE OF SATIRE …
An author who has a unique place in an increasingly crowded genre.”
Portland Oregonian
“IT DEFTLY DELIVERS ON SUSPENSE
AND EMOTION … Buchanan again proves
that she is the mistress of Miami crime.”
Publishers Weekly.
“EDNA BUCHANAN IS OUTRAGEOUS AND UNRIVALED.”
Patricia Cornwell
“EXCITING … A GRIPPING, SUSPENSEFUL STORY,
complete with action, mystery, love and all the other ingredients that go to make up a successful mystery/crime novel.”
Ft. Lauderdale Digest
“BUCHANAN KNOWS CRIME, CRIMINALS
AND THEIR VICTIMS VERY WELL.
In addition, what she is exhibiting here is a deep
understanding of human motivation …
[Douglas’s attempt] to understand himself
[is] a difficult internal journey, and it takes a writer
with Buchanan’s skill to portray it
accurately and empathetically.”
Booklist
“PULSE REVEALS A RARE FEARLESSNESS …
Edna has heart. She doesn’t need a better one.”
Akron Beacon Journal
“BUCHANAN FANS WILL ENJOYPULSE.”
Denver Post
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
Copyright © 1998 by Edna Buchanan
Inside cover author photo by Jim Virga
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 97-32292
ISBN: 0-380-72833-8
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2010 ISBN: 978-0-061-95771-0
First Avon Books Paperback Printing: April 1999
First Avon Books Hardco
ver Printing: May 1998
AVON TRADEMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES. MARCA REGISTRADA, HECHO EN U.S.A.
WCD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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