House Rivals (28 page)

Author's Note and Acknowledgments

Legislation and lawsuits related to natural gas mentioned in this book are, for the most part, real, such as the lawsuits regarding forced pooling, water contamination caused by fracking, and the sales tax case in South Dakota. It's also true that state legislators in the Dakotas and Montana aren't paid particularly well. What is not true—at least as far as I know—is that energy companies are bribing these underpaid lawmakers to do things they want done. I imagine the legislators in these states are decent, honest public servants—but decent and honest doesn't always make for good fiction.

When I was researching this book, I tried to learn how Heckler, the detective, could monitor cell phone calls and was actually amazed to find three companies online that sold software for monitoring calls and tracking people's locations. The companies' websites said everything was aboveboard, completely legal, and that in order to monitor someone's phone you needed physical access to the phone and—wink, wink—the owner's permission. I have no idea if the monitoring software can be downloaded onto a person's phone by embedding it in an email as I do in the book—but I'll betcha it can be.

I want to apologize in advance for poking fun at the name Bertha. My mother had a beautiful name—Antoinette Nicolene—and was usually called Nicky. But for some reason, never explained to me, a number of her childhood friends called her Bertha. My mother hated the name Bertha, but could never shake it. Anyway, the only Bertha I've ever known was a terrific person and I'm sure all the other Berthas out there are wonderful, too.

I want to thank Judge James Donohue for advising me on warrants, although in one case I—or Agent Westerberg—cheated a bit to get around a warrant. I'm grateful to Dale Zimmerman of the Peacock Alley American Bar and Grill in Bismarck for emailing pictures of his restaurant so I could better describe the interior. Also, a couple of folks whose names I won't mention, for advising me on security cameras at the Radisson in Bismarck. As best I was able to determine, there are no security cameras in the guest hallways as it says in the book—and if there are, well, I could see no point in letting the facts screw up a good story.

I want to thank my editor, Jamison Stoltz, for improving this book immeasurably beyond the first draft. Also Allison Malecha, Jamison's assistant, for her help on this book as well as the DeMarco mapping project. (There will be more on the DeMarco mapping project on my website later.) I want to thank my wife, Gail, for reading this book, advising me on titles, and most of all for creating an environment in which I can write. Finally, as always, my agent, David Gernert, for keeping me in the game.