The Corpse Will Keep

by Pat Capponi

  “Look at all those children. Makes you think, doesn’t it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “How it would be, to have some of your own.”

  It hadn’t occurred to me. It makes me nervous that it occurred to him. I turn and look up at him. For a cop, he has an awfully sentimental look in his eyes. He folds me to him and there’s a very nice Christmas kiss, accompanied by cheers, whistling, and clapping.

  “I can’t stay. Price is waiting for me in the car.” I would never have thought I’d be happy to hear the name of Price, Ed’s gung-ho partner, but I am. “Is Bernie here? I’d like to meet him.”

  “No, he and his mother are spending the holidays together, taking the time to get to know each other. I don’t know how it will play out, but I’m hoping for the best.”

  As I watch Ed leave, I realize that I don’t know how our relationship will play out either. I need to understand why I was so attracted to Jesse, to the man I thought he was, and what that means about my feelings for Ed. But not now, not today, because I’ve just heard Santa call out my name, and he’s one man you don’t want to keep waiting.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I am a very fortunate person in my circle of support, and I wish to thank once again all those who’ve stood by me through the years: Paul Quinn, Reva Gerstein, Elizabeth Gray, Diana and Julia Capponi, Nora McCabe, and Joey Slinger. June, I miss you.

  Thanks to Valerie Quinn for your assistance in developing the character of Miss Semple.

  To my first readers, Joyce Brown and Becky McFarlane, I couldn’t do it without you; and to my agent, Bev Slopen, for your tireless work on my behalf.

  To Cynthia Good, my very best friend, who started me off in this writing business a few decades ago now; we have to start plotting out the next one.

  And special thanks to a wonderful and talented editor, Jennifer Lambert, for ensuring this is quality work.

  I would also like to thank the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Woodcock Fund for their timely and critical financial assistance, without which I might not have been able to complete this book.

  Copyright

  The Corpse Will Keep

  © 2008 by Pat Capponi.

  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, downloaded, 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 © APRIL 2010 ISBN: 978-1-554-68912-5

  Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  First edition

  All the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

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  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Capponi, Pat, 1949–

  The corpse will keep / Pat Capponi.—1st ed.

  (A Dana Leoni mystery)

  ISBN 978-1-55468-100-6

  I. Title. II. Series: Capponi, Pat, 1949– Dana Leoni mystery.

  PS8605.A65C67 2008 C813’.6 C2008-901814-1

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