She stepped forward, her eyes cold.
“Wait, stop . . .”
The woman wordlessly raised a gun with a silencer in her gloved hands, the muzzle pointed directly at his forehead. “For Natalie, and for the rest.” There was a gunshot, and then there was nothing. Frank Betcher’s head splattered on the wall behind him, the killer dead before his beer could even finish pouring out onto the cabin floor.
Very calmly, the woman picked up her purse and exited the cabin, but not before marking his basement door with a giant X of black spray paint, where she knew he hid the evidence of his murders. She proceeded to walk the three miles to her car through the mucky forest, dropping her blond wig into the river and covering her tracks as she went. Her car was parked in a shady grove, hidden from view.
Sahil looked up at her from the passenger seat, aviator glasses hiding his brown eyes. “Is it finished?” he asked. Nixon nodded and reapplied her lipstick.
Within minutes they were on the open highway, heading north. The papers stolen from Natalie’s file fluttered and leaped in the warm air of the back seat. Sahil picked up a phone and dialed the Austin police line. “Yes, I have an anonymous tip to report on the Natalie Fisher murder. Yes, I’ll hold.”
The road stretched out before them, the heat simmering across the wide expanse of granite. After a half hour or so, Nixon opened her window. A black coat fluttered out and came to rest on the highway, nothing more than a spot of black on the already desolate landscape.
Acknowledgments
First of all, thank you to my readers. I have the best job in the world, thanks to you. I wouldn’t be in this position and able to share this story without the help of some truly incredible people.
Thank you to my two editors for The Black Coats, Emilia Rhodes, who first saw the potential in Thea’s journey, and Alice Jerman, who saw the project through to the very end. You are both so wise, and I’m so lucky that I got to work with each of you. You deserve special editor coats, with hidden pen pockets and clandestine laptops. You are the type of editors who writers hope to work with.
Thank you to everyone at HarperCollins for your enthusiasm and hard work, for seeing this story of revenge and justice for what it was and believing in it. Thank you to Jon Howard and Clare Vaughn for the copy editing; to Jenna Stempel-Lobell, who has now designed four perfect covers for my books; and to the epic team at Epic Reads, who do the hard work for me.
Thank you to: my agents, Jen Unter, who sold and championed The Black Coats, and to Ginger Clark, who now watches my back like a hawk. I’m grateful for you both.
Thank you to Kelley Pichel for her tenacious editing and honest advice.
A passionate embrace and confetti cannon should be aimed at the following individuals for their support and love: Cynthia McCulley, for taking on challenges like the fiercest among us; Tricia McCulley, for always modeling a strong woman and speaking loudly for those who have no voice; and Ron McCulley, whose architect’s soul inspired Mademoiselle Corday. Thanks for showing me 19,000 pictures of old Victorians.
Thanks also to Denise McCulley, Butch and Lynette Oakes, Cassandra and Maddie Splittgerber, Nicole London, Kimberly Stein, Elizabeth Wagner, Brianna Shrum, Mason Torall, Angela Turner, Karen Groves, Sarah Glover, Emily Doehling, Erin Armknecht, Patty Jones, and Katie Blumhorst. I’m grateful for your honesty and friendship, for believing in book after book, imaginary conversation by imaginary conversation. Creativity flourishes under the care of those who love the creator. Thanks for loving me.
The presidents in this book were inspired by the girls I lovingly call my coven: Katie Hall, Amanda Sanders, and Erin Burt (Kennedy, Nixon, and McKinley, respectively). Thanks for beta reading the first draft—your feedback helped sculpt this book into what it is. In addition, you three reminded me, at just the right time, of how beautiful and life-changing female friendships can be, something that is the core of this story. Also, let’s try not to get separated in a swamp again, okay?
Thank you to all the librarians, teachers, bookstores, book bloggers, bookstagrammars, writers, and readers who have raised their voices to help foster literacy. You are more important than you know. Keep reading, keep dreaming, keep writing.
Thanks to the city of Austin, which, in two days, won me over and claimed the city for this story as its own. I can’t wait to go back.
Thanks above all to Ryan and Maine, who remind me every day of how much I have been given. Thanks for all the hugs, picked garden flowers, and coffee runs. You give me something to fight for.
A Note from the Author
The Black Coats was the book that wrote itself. Born out of the still-burning ashes of a (failed) book, the story of a grieving teen and her quest to find peace through vengeance rose up like an angry demon, screaming for her story to be told.
It was both the easiest and the hardest book I have ever written.
The inspiration came from a handful of different places, each a thousand miles from each other.
A black peacoat lying abandoned on a road in Nebraska.
The unexpected loss of a young friend, whose death left our lives spinning.
My perpetual fascination with vigilante justice. (I would be Batman if I had the wealth and physical prowess. I am sadly lacking in both these areas.)
And finally, my growing anger at the mind-blowing statistics of violence against women and the ever-present question in my mind: Why wasn’t anyone talking about this?
I finished this book in the middle of 2016, long before the #Metoo movement had started, and long before we had a president who boasted of sexually assaulting women. Violence against women felt like a taboo topic, even though *so much* aggression was being hurled at women in their homes, in their workplaces, and out in the world. It was just all unspoken. Now, with my book in edits, I watched with amazement as the things I had written about became the national conversation. Women stepped out of the shadows and left us in awe. I write about heroines who conquer worlds and yet I have never seen such real-life bravery in the face of enormous consequences as these women exhibited.
I rejoice in the fact that these things are being discussed on a global scale, that women are finding more safe places to speak up. That as a group we can say, Enough. That we can say, Me too, but not anymore. We can say, We’re with you, you are not alone. We are all saying No more.
There is still so much work to do.
I hope The Black Coats encourages you to lend your voice to the fight. While Thea learns in the book that vigilante justice is itself morally gray, there are ways to fight for women that don’t involve shadowy organizations: Volunteer. Support charity organizations that help women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. And vote for those who would speak for them. Rise, women of vengeance.
Thank you for reading The Black Coats.
Colleen Oakes
Resources
FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT: RAINN National Sexual Assault Helpline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
FOR CHILD ABUSE: Childhelp National Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (224453)
About the Author
Photo credit Erin Burt
COLLEEN OAKES is the bestselling author of books for both teens and adults, including the Queen of Hearts series and the Wendy Darling saga. She lives in North Denver with her husband and son and is always working on her next book. Visit her at www.colleenoakes.org or on social media.
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Books by Colleen Oakes
Queen of Hearts
Blood of Wonderland
War of the Cards
The Black Coats
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Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE BLACK COATS. Copyright © 2019 by Colleen Oakes. 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, 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
Cover art © 2019 by Rose Stallard
Cover design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018952014
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-267965-9
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-267962-8 (trade bdg.)
1819202122PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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