Dark Tort (39 page)

To which Tom said, “Nice and quiet we’re not. But come anyway.”

Tom is better than ever. He’s back down at the department, working a big forgery case. When I asked him to tell me about it, he refused.

I’m not working at H&J anymore. For my part, I’m a little jealous, too: but only for peace and quiet. We’ll see if I actually get it. But in the meantime, our extended family has grown to include Sally, John, and Colin Routt at big biweekly dinners. Tonight Gus is spending the night with Arch, and the two of them have vowed to teach Colin how to throw a Frisbee. For dessert, we’re having the carrot cake that was meant to be Dusty’s birthday cake, and will toast her memory. Tom, bless his heart, had thought to wrap it up and freeze it. My dear husband is also making us gnocchi in veal sauce.

I can’t wait.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the help of the following people: Jim Davidson; Jeff, Rosa, Ryan, and Nicholas Davidson;

J. Z. Davidson; Joey Davidson; Sandra Dijkstra, my phenomenal agent; Carolyn Marino, my brilliant editor; Jennifer Civiletto and the entire stupendous team at Morrow/HarperCollins; Kathy Saideman, for her insightful reading of the manuscript; Susan Stewart, fine artist, Littleton, Colorado; Ann Bunn, collage artist, Evergreen, Colorado; Dee Minault, partner, Cumberland Art Conservation, Nashville, Tennessee; Lisa Shannon Davidson, paralegal, Chicago; Roz Lynn Dorf, freelance paralegal, Boulder; the following helpful folks from Holme, Roberts & Owen in Denver: Wendy Tellier Casaday, paralegal, Frank Erisman, Esquire, and Judson Detrick, Esquire; Stephanie Kane, Esquire, Denver; Brian Streelman, Esquire, Golden, Colorado; Diane Barrett, Esquire, chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado; Ken Iwamasa, M.A., associate professor of art, University of Colorado; Shirley Carnahan, Ph.D., senior instructor in the humanities, University of Colorado; Patrick N. Allitt, Ph.D., professor of history, Emory University; the following writer friends, who supplied ongoing support: Jasmine Cresswell, Julie Kaewert, and Leslie O’Kane; the Reverend Jean Treece; John William Schenk and Kirsten Schenk, caterers extraordinaire; and as always, my unparalleled source on police procedure, Sergeant Richard Millsapps, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, Golden, Colorado.

About the Author 

Diane Mott DaviDson is the author of twelve bestselling novels. she lives in Colorado with her family.

www.dianemottdavidson.com

visit www.authortracker.com for exclusive information on Diane Mott Davidson.

Available from HarperAudio and HarperLargePrint

ALSO BY DIANE MOTT DAVIDSON

Catering to Nobody

Dying for Chocolate

The Cereal Murders

The Last Suppers

Killer Pancake

The Main Corpse

The Grilling Season

Prime Cut

Tough Cookie

Sticks & Scones

Chopping Spree

Double Shot

Credits

Jacket design by Amy King Jacket photograph by Douglas Whyte

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DARK TORT. Copyright © 2006 by Diane Mott Davidson. All rights reserved. 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.

HarperCollins e-books and the HarperCollins e-books logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader March 2006 ISBN 0-06-117035-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Davidson, Diane Mott. Dark tort / Diane Mott Davidson.—1st ed.

p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-06-052731-0 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-06-052731-5 (alk. paper)

10987654321