The Killing of Bobbi Lomax (25 page)
I can see the city as I rise above it.
All I know is here somewhere.
Something stops me, maybe gravity.
And, as earth fast approaches, I feel the warmth
of its air beneath me,
Feel the heat and its efforts to devour me.
Funny, I can’t hear anything.
All I taste is sulphur, with a hint of mercury.
As I fall to earth, I don’t smile,
I think
No Man Knows My Name
And then I smile.
Cliff Hartman, Halloween 1983
Clark Houseman
: Abraham City had to move Clark’s trial upstate to ensure he would receive at least the appearance of a fair trial. To avoid the death penalty Clark pleaded guilty and now earns pin money in jail writing love letters to other prisoners’ wives, girlfriends, and sometimes boyfriends, in their hand, but not with their words. The inmates call him Cyrano.
Edie Houseman
and her children moved to Wyoming to be near her younger sister, who has cable. After divorcing Clark the day after he pleaded guilty, she married a cattle rancher and now has five children, two boys and three girls.
The Rooks
rebuilt their store with the help of the good citizens of Abraham City and continue to trade.
Arnold Lomax
finally co-operated with the authorities and Judge Laidlaw signed an order for him to repay his investors in full. He also signed another order to seize and sell any of Clark’s forgeries as curiosities and also to sell his genuine first editions in order to facilitate repayment to his creditors.
Since 1983
the Faith
has expanded into forty-seven further countries and each day a silent prayer is offered by members the world over to planet Lumina for its deliverance from Clark Houseman and his heretical intentions. Clark didn’t like to think that by attempting to destroy the Faith he had strengthened even its weakest links.
Betty Gudsen
never remarried. Her boys all graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Faith’s university.
Sanford T. Winkleman
is still looking for
Alice
, his brother and Dougie Wild. He has hired a private detective agency to assist. When he finds them, he’ll hire a hitman.
Ziggy
lives on Santa Monica Beach, just down from the pier, and reads a book a day, mostly crime fiction, except for Sundays when he reads two.
Kenny
got the hell out of Dodge. And stayed out.
Cal Moriarty also writes for film, television and theatre, and previously worked as a private eye. She attended both the ‘Writing a Novel’ and ‘Edit Your Novel’ courses on the Faber Academy in 2012-13.
To find out more visit:
www.calmoriarty.com
or
http://uk.pinterest.com/calmoriarty/
and follow her on Twitter @calmoriarty.
First published in 2015
by Faber & Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
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London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2015
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© Cal Moriarty, 2015
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ISBN
978–0–571–30541–4