Solitude Creek (51 page)

‘Oh, Jon …’

She laughed through the tears.

They walked to the door and embraced.

‘I do love you,’ he said. And touched her lips with his finger, saving her from a stick-figure response. With a rub of Dylan’s sleek muzzle, Jon Boling stepped through the front doorway and, to all intents and purposes, out of her life.

Dance returned to the Deck, sat back in the chair, enwrapped by the damp chill she hadn’t been aware of earlier. Embraced too, far more strongly, by Jon Boling’s absence. She slipped on the repaired watch and stared at the face while the second hand made full circuit, just visible in the amber light from a maritime sconce mounted on the wall above and behind her.

Then she closed her eyes and sat back, as Michael O’Neil’s words, from forty minutes earlier, came back to her now.

‘So, here’s the thing. I’ve thought about this for months, and tried to figure out some other way to say it.’

Kathryn Dance had readied herself for ex-wife Anne’s name to rear itself in the next sentence.

‘I know you’re with Jon now. He’s a good guy and I’ve seen you both together. It clicks. The kids like him. That’s important. Real important. He’ll never hurt you.’

She’d wondered: Where is this going? These words, amounting to rambling from Michael O’Neil, were disorienting. Why was he justifying to her getting back together with his ex?

His eyes fixed on the ugly yellow ceramic cat, he’d continued, ‘I was saying, months and months. But there’s no way except meeting it head on. I don’t think you’re going to want to hear it but I’ve—’

‘Michael.’

‘I want to get married.’

Remarried to Anne? she’d thought. Why the hell ask my permission?

Then he added, ‘You can say no. I’ll understand. You can say Jon’s in your life for ever. But I had to ask.’

Oh, my God. Me. He’s proposing to
me
.

‘I thought Anne was back,’ she’d said. Well, stammered.

He’d blinked. ‘Anne? Sort of, I guess. She and her boyfriend are getting a small place in the Valley. She knows she hasn’t been the best mother. She’s resolved to change that and’s going to spend a lot more time with the kids. I was proud of her.’ He’d given a shallow laugh. ‘Anne has nothing to do with us. You and me.’

‘Oh, my,’ Dance had whispered. Her eyes, too, fell on the jaundiced feline sculpture squatting on her desk. It had never been examined as much as it had in the past three minutes.

Now, sitting on the chill Deck, she recalled perfectly O’Neil’s next words: ‘So there, I’ve said it. Will you marry me?’ He looked her over closely. ‘You know, I’m thinking, after all these years knowing you, working with you, I don’t believe I’ve picked up a lick of kinesics. I have no idea what you’re thinking.’

And Dance had risen from her office chair and walked around the desk to O’Neil. He, too, had stood up.

She said, ‘Sometimes it’s better to leave kinesics out of it. And stick with words. Well, one word.’ She’d put her arms around him and, her mouth close to his ear, gripped him as tightly as she could. And answered his question. ‘Yes,’ Kathryn Dance said. ‘Yes.’

With undying gratitude to: Will and Tina Anderson, Sophie Baker, Giovanna Canton, Sonya Cheuse, Jane Davis, Julie Deaver, Jenna Dolan, Kimberly Escobar, Jamie Hodder-Williams, Kerry Hood, Mitch Hoffman, Cathy Gleason, Emma Knight, Carolyn Mays, Claire Nozieres, Hazel Orme, Abby Parsons, Seba Pezzani, Michael Pietch, Jamie Raab, Betsy Robbins, Katy Rouse, Lindsey Rose, Marissa Sangiacomo, Roberto Santachiara, Deborah Schneider, Vivienne Schuster, Madelyn Warcholik. You’re the best!

A former journalist, folksinger and attorney, Jeffery Deaver is an international number-one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the
New York Times
,
The
Times
of London, Italy’s
Corriere della Sera
, the
Sydney Morning Herald
and the
Los Angeles Times
. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages.

The author of thirty-five novels, three collections of short stories and a non-fiction law book, and a lyricist of a country-western album, he’s received or been shortlisted for dozens of awards. His
The Bodies Left Behind
was named Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association, and his Lincoln Rhyme thriller
The Broken Window
and a stand-alone,
Edge
, were also nominated for that prize. He has been awarded the Steel Dagger and the Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers’ Association and the Nero Wolfe Award, and he is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers Award for Best Short Story of the Year and a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award.
The Cold Moon
was recently named the Book of the Year by the Mystery Writers Association of Japan, as well as by
Kono Mystery Wa Sugoi
magazine. In addition, the Japanese Adventure Fiction Association awarded
The Cold Moon
and
Carte Blanche
their annual Grand Prix award. His book
The Kill Room
was awarded the Political Thriller of the Year by Killer Nashville.

Deaver has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bouchercon World Mystery Conference. And recently he received another lifetime achievement recognition, the Raymond Chandler Award, in Italy.

He contributed to the anthology,
Books To Die For
, which won the Agatha Award and the Anthony.

His most recent novels are
The October List
, a thriller told in reverse,
The Skin Collector
and
The Kill Room
, Lincoln Rhyme novels, and
XO
, a Kathryn Dance thriller, for which he wrote an album of country-western songs, available on iTunes and as a CD; and before that,
Carte Blanche
, the latest James Bond continuation novel, a number-one international bestseller.

Deaver has been nominated for seven Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, an Anthony, a Shamus and a Gumshoe. He was recently shortlisted for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Best International Author.
Roadside Crosses
was on the shortlist for the Prix Polar International 2013.

His book
A Maiden’s Grave
was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel
The Bone Collector
was a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. And, yes, the rumors are true: he did appear as a corrupt reporter on his favorite soap opera,
As the World Turns.
He was born outside Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University.

Readers can visit his website at
www.jefferydeaver.com
.