by Lee Goldberg
He wanted his death to be fast, and memorable, and it sickened her that he believed she’d actually go for it just so she could have a few more minutes of fame.
She stood up. “I’m going to enjoy watching you die.”
“Wait!” he said.
But Eve turned her back on him and walked out of the room. Duncan was leaning against a wall, scrolling through something on his phone screen, when she stepped into the hallway.
“How did it go?” Duncan asked, looking up from his phone.
“He wanted to make a deal.”
“A little late for that. The news broke while you were inside with him. Your video is going viral.”
“I don’t see why.” Eve started walking down the hall, Duncan falling into step beside her. “The video is old news.”
“Not that one. I’m talking about Deathfist II, your new viral video.”
“I don’t have a new video.”
“Yes you do. There was a camera mounted on the chopper that picked you up. One of the firefighters leaked the video to the press. It’s you with Caitlin in your arms, running across a field, chased by a firestorm. It’s pretty amazing stuff.”
He stopped and showed her the video on his phone. The woman on-screen, her bloody face set in grim determination, held the child tight to her chest and ran toward the camera, the tongues of flame licking at her back. Eve didn’t see herself in the video. It was as if the woman with the blood and soot on her face was somebody else.
Duncan pocketed his phone. “Don’t let me forget to get your autograph once the cast is off.”
Eve suddenly felt very tired. “You know what I really need right now?”
“A William Morris agent?”
“A donut,” she said.
“That’s the best idea you’ve had since the day we met.” He smiled, put a fatherly arm around her, and gently led her toward the security gate. “I’m starting to think you might just make it as a homicide detective, though I suppose now you’ll want to be sheriff.”
“Not yet,” Eve said.
“You sure? After what you did today, and this video, you could probably win the election in a landslide.”
“I think I still have a few more things to learn.”
“That’s the first lesson right there,” he said. “The second is never get a donut filled with anything because it’s going to end up on your shirt.”
“You’re a fount of wisdom, Duncan.”
Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
This novel is entirely a work of fiction but it was inspired by an actual case that I learned about as one of three civilian guests attending a professional homicide investigators training seminar in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
I couldn’t have written this book without the patient help of Joe Dietz and Daniel Winterich, two of the law enforcement officers who conducted that investigation, presented the case at the seminar, and then allowed me to bombard them with questions for weeks afterward.
I’m also indebted to several other past and present law enforcement officers for their wise counsel—including Paul Bishop, Robin Burcell, David Putnam, and Lee Lofland.
And, finally, I’m grateful to authors Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot, the other two civilians at the seminar, for letting me take dibs on this great story.
The wildfire at the end of this book is also a work of fiction . . . or at least it was when I wrote it.
I completed this novel months before the Woolsey Fire swept through Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, Agoura, Bell Canyon, West Hills, Calabasas, and Malibu in November 2018, eventually burning 97,000 acres and 1,600 structures during its devastating march to the sea.
The fire forced me and my family to evacuate our Calabasas home and seek shelter with my sister in Santa Clarita. One of the things I brought with me (among the important papers, jewelry, family photos, artwork, et cetera that we hurriedly gathered and stuffed in the car) was the copyedited manuscript for this book, which my editor had sent me a few days earlier to proofread.
So I found myself in the surreal situation of editing my scenes of a wildfire sweeping through Malibu Creek State Park as the same events I had imagined were happening live on TV.
I’m glad to say our home survived the fire, though the flames came frighteningly close . . . almost as close as my fiction came to reality.
About the Author
Photo © Roland Scarpa
Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including the Ian Ludlow thrillers Killer Thriller and True Fiction, King City, The Walk, fifteen Monk mysteries, and the internationally bestselling Fox & O’Hare books (The Heist, The Chase, The Job, The Scam, and The Pursuit) cowritten with Janet Evanovich. He has also written and/or produced many TV shows, including Diagnosis Murder, SeaQuest, and Monk, and is the co-creator of the Hallmark movie series Mystery 101. As an international television consultant, he has advised networks and studios in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, China, Sweden, and the Netherlands on the creation, writing, and production of episodic television series. You can find more information about Lee and his work at www.leegoldberg.com.
