by Ann McMan
“What?”
Byron directed the beam of his flashlight to an area just beyond the water’s edge.
“There. On the bank. The dirt is all scuffed up—like something got dragged over it.”
They looked at each other with sickening understanding.
Byron noticed something else. “I’ll wager that’s the piece of wood Dorothy said she hit him with.” He cursed and cast about for Charlie, who was combing the area by the trail. “Davis!” he called out.
“Yes, sir?” Charlie responded.
“We need to secure this area and get some backup. It looks like we might have a 10-70.”
Charlie hesitated only an instant before waving an acknowledgment at Byron and taking off at a run.
Byron slowly exhaled. “Helluva way to end a perfect day.”
Maddie closed her eyes, not wanting to see any more of the spastic flashing lights that were making the bile rise in her throat—and not wanting to bear witness to the wrongful death that lay stretched out beneath her.
The deafening booms continued. They were closer together now, rolling faster and stronger in a frenetic race to the finish.
Byron was right. It was a helluva way to end a perfect day.
And it was a worse way to end a life.
She knelt next to the body of the man in the water, and set about doing her job.
Watson’s eyes were open, but he wasn’t seeing anything—not anymore.
His reign of terror had finally ended.
Its repercussions were just beginning.
About the Author
ANN McMAN is the author of seven novels and two short story collections. She is a recipient of both the Alice B. Lavender Certificate for Outstanding Debut Novel (Jericho) and the 2017 Alice B. Medal for Outstanding Body of Work. Her novel Hoosier Daddy was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her books Sidecar and Three won Golden Crown Literary Society Awards for Best Short Story Collection, and Backcast was awarded the Silver Medal for Fiction in the Independent Publisher Awards (IPPYs) for the Northeast Region. Backcast also received the Rainbow Award for Best Lesbian Book of 2016. A career graphic designer, Ann is a two-time recipient of the Tee Corinne Award for Outstanding Cover Design.
Ann and her wife, Bywater Books Publisher Salem West, live in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with two dogs, two cats, and an exhaustive supply of vacuum cleaner bags.
Also by Ann McMan
Dust
Hoosier Daddy
Festival Nurse
Backcast
The Jericho Series
Jericho
Aftermath
Goldenrod
Story Collections
Sidecar
Three (plus one)
Acknowledgments
Many people have asked why it took so long for me to return to Jericho. The answer is complicated. I could cite the literal reasons for the delay: a protracted process to secure ownership of rights to the series, the glittery allure of other projects, and the intrusion of real-life events that landed me squarely in the middle of a twenty-four-month season in hell. I could cite all those things, and they’d all be true. But there’s another reason. The prospect of mucking around in the lives of all these wonderfully sleeping dogs frightened me more than a little bit. To be honest, I had no idea what kind of trouble I’d be starting if I woke them all up. Where would they take me? What kind of journey would it be? And if it didn’t work out, would I have enough cab fare to get myself out of there?
For the most part, they treated me kindly. I enjoyed spending time with all of them again. They reminded me of old, endearing things I was sad to have forgotten—and introduced me to a slew of new things I’ll be happy to forget.
No one writes in a vacuum—not unless they work for Oreck. None of this book would have been possible without the keen insight, collaboration, participation, determination and steadfast encouragement (often delivered in the form of a Nike-clad foot up the wiz wang) of my beloved Buddha. You make everything I do better, and I never want to learn what it would be like to write a book—or live a life—without you.
Ferret voices, notwithstanding . . .
To my Bywater family—Slumdog, Hot Lips, SKP, Marlo and Radar—I don’t ever want to leave home without you. In fact, I pretty much don’t want to leave home period—unless it’s to go to Vermont. And even then, I want you all along for the ride. Thank you all for keeping our little joint by the Great Lake the best book mill on the planet.
Nancy Squires—you improve everything you touch, and I thank you for your superb job editing this book. [Do I need to add another pronoun here?]
Thanks to my beloved Nurse, Short Stack, Anna (Peg Leg), KG, Christine and Lou Lou for reading early drafts of the book. Since none of you gouged out your eyes, I took that as encouragement to keep writing. Thanks, too, to my sainted and truth-telling mother, Dee Dee—who told me it didn’t suck, and noted that the cover worked very well on her coffee table.
Vermont owns the best part of my soul, and I’d be nothing without the people who make it so special—and who give me such a perfect space to write. Domina and HB. Susan and Cathy. Lee and John. My entire Shore Acres family. You are all very dear to me. And Danny? Thanks for saving my life. Really. (Now that I’ve buttered you up—can I have a burger?)
Father Frank, Flora and Biz—you make us feel loved and valued every single day. Every. Single. Day. Thanks for sharing The Big Journey with us.
Lee Lynch and Dorothy Allison—you inform and inspire everything I write. I shall always be indebted to you both. Thank you for your great contributions to our literature—and to my life.
Love and thanks are due to Christine “Bruno” Williams—the voice that launched a thousand Subarus. Bruno? People would line up to listen to you read the phone book. You always manage to make my words sound better than they are. Please continue this activity . . .
Skippy, Butch and Bucko—you know how much I love you.
Thanks are also due to Casey Otis and Kirk Sanders. Without you two, this book would not have been possible. Kirk? Thank god Gracie kept you on speed dial . . .
Lastly, I would be remiss and abrogate a sincere promise made to my dear friend, Sandra Moran Famous Author™ if I failed to make mention of the untold agonies endured by her mother, Cherie Moran, during her staggering 46-years of labor pains. Cherie gave up her meteoric rise to international prominence as the Skip of a Lithuanian curling team to bring SMFA into the world. I know I speak for all of us when I say we shall forever be grateful.
Fact.
Bywater Books
Copyright © 2017 Ann McMan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Print ISBN: 978-1-61294-083-0
Bywater Books First Edition: July 2017
Quote in Chapter Three: Burnford, Sheila. The Incredible Journey. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1960/1988.
E-Book ISBN: 978-1-61294-084-7
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 Bywater Books.
Cover designer: Ann McMan, TreeHouse Studio
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This novel is a work of fiction.
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