“Vaguely.”
“They didn’t stop to think that serial killers are the only ones with a ready supply of duct tape, since it’s a tool of their trade. So they’d survive while the rest of us died. I bet very few people thought of that.”
“I bet you’re right,” I tell her.
Violet has lost none of her sinister sense of humor, despite her own recent brush with the macabre. She seals the last carton of books, stands up, and claps the dust off her hands.
“There! That’s the library done!” She looks around the room. “I won’t be sad to leave this house. It was always more of a stage set than a home…. Just a sec. I want to show you something.”
She reaches inside her pocket and hands me a copy of a letter. It’s written on her personal stationery, addressed to “Ms. Jenny Tilbert, Class Correspondent, Passages Alumnae Magazine,” and it’s folded in half.
“Just read the top part for now,” she instructs me.
The letter reads simply:
Dear Jenny, this is to inform you and all my classmates that everything I wrote about myself before I moved to Washington and married Grant Bolton was a pack of bald-faced lies concocted out of vanity, insecurity, and a childish need for self-aggrandizement. I apologize to each and every one of you for any misconceptions, inconvenience, or envy I might have caused as a result of my mendacity. Yours sincerely, Violet McCloud Bolton.
I look up at her incredulously and say, “Are you really going to send this?”
“I already did,” she replies with a grin. “I’m sure a lot of them know it already—it’s been all over the Internet. But can’t you just see the look on poor old Jenny’s face when she reads that? Provided she doesn’t die of shock, she may finally give up bugging people to write in with news!…Now read the bottom part.”
I unfold the letter. The bottom half reads:
P.S. I know everyone always says it’s family that you turn to in the tough times, that it’s family that gets you through. But I don’t have a family, and so for me it’s friendship that got me through. And I just want to thank my best friend, Reven Lynch, for saving my life.
I gotta say, I feel the old tears coming on, but I decide not to ruin the moment.
“So now can we finally talk about everything? And I mean everything? Violet McCloud, the lost years?”
“Oh, God,” Violet sighs. “Where to start…”
Acknowledgments
My deepest thanks to my wonderful editor Marjorie Braman, who helped and encouraged me all through the writing of this book. My thanks as well to Jennifer Barth, who was instrumental in polishing up the final draft; and to Jonathan Burnham, who made it all possible.
I am indebted to Carol Joynt, Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, and Captain C.V. Morris for their indispensible assistance.
Deep thanks, also, to Susan Cheever, Linda Fairstein, and Kathy Rayner, dear friends all, who patiently listened to and read countless drafts of the book.
The following people supported and spurred me on. I couldn’t have gotten through it without them: Lily and Lee Hoagland, John, Helen, and Serena Wong, Natalie Linkins, Josh Beach, Richard Braunstein, Jim Fennell, Jane Ellis, Dr. Chand Khanna, Dr. Alexandra Sahora, Ms. Cindy Gonzales, and all the staff at Friendship Hospital for Animals.
And finally, a special thanks to Miss Coco Loco Hoagland, my beautiful little Westie, who was with me all through the writing of this book and who promised she would see it through to the end. She kept her promise. Though she is gone, she is with me still in spirit.
About the Author
JANE STANTON HITCHCOCK is the New York Times bestselling author of The Witches’ Hammer, Trick of the Eye, Social Crimes, and One Dangerous Lady, as well as several plays. She is married to syndicated foreign affairs columnist Jim Hoagland. They live in New York City and Washington, D.C.
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Also by Jane Stanton Hitchcock
The Witches’ Hammer
One Dangerous Lady
Social Crimes
Trick of the Eye
Credits
Jacket photograph by Herman Estevez
Jewelry by Pat Saling
Jacket design by Christine Van Bree
Copyright
This novel is a work of fiction. Any reference to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, and places, and all dialogue and incidents portrayed in this book are the product of the author’s imagination.
MORTAL FRIENDS. Copyright © 2009 by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. 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.
Adobe Digital Edition May 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-194051-4
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Epigraph
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Other Books by Jane Stanton Hitchcock
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
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Jane Stanton Hitchcock, Mortal Friends
Mortal Friends Page 37