Everything You Want Me to Be

by Mindy Mejia

  As the sun broke over the horizon in fiery oranges and reds, I opened the envelope the sheriff had given me and pulled out the note.

  Go to New York . . .

  Although it was my handwriting, the words were hers, whispered in the air all around me, breathing in the land rushing past, and they filled my chest with a buoyant kind of pain, a lover’s keepsake that I would carry for the rest of my life, guiding me toward an impossible atonement.

  . . . Know that I loved you.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First and foremost, I must thank Emily Bestler for not only her fabulous editorial eye but also her dedication and enthusiasm throughout the publication process. It’s an honor to be an Emily Bestler Books author. Many thanks to Claire Miller for being my first reader when the book was just a rough sketch of images, and to Brandon Holscher for providing me a theater primer. Thank you to Investigator Renee Brandt and Officer Brandon Howard for giving me a glimpse into their law enforcement worlds and correcting many of my erroneous assumptions. (Up to a year for DNA!) My thanks to Sharon Amundson for her expert mystery reader’s feedback. I am indebted to Josh Wodarz for all his advice and support, and most of all for his ability to see the book as it could be and not as it was. Thank you to Ellen Goodson for finding that quiet Friday afternoon and mug of hot coffee. Gratitude is a poor word when I think about what Stephanie Cabot has done to turn this manuscript into an international release. Superagents of the world, you have nothing on this woman. (Her husband even comes up with brilliant titles.) My thanks always to Tom and Linda Montgomery, for never telling me I couldn’t fit six quarts into a five-quart jug. And, of course, thank you to Sean Montgomery for keeping me focused on what’s really important—his RV.

  MINDY MEJIA received her MFA from Hamline University. Her debut novel, The Dragon Keeper, was published in 2012. The granddaughter of Minnesota farmers, she lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two children. Visit her website at MindyMejia.com.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Mindy Mejia

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books hardcover edition January 2017

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  Interior design by Kyoko Watanabe

  Jacket design by Jamie Keenan

  Jacket photograph © Anneleven/Getty Images

  Author photograph by Bree Allen

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Mejia, Mindy, author. Title: Everything you want me to be / by Mindy Mejia.

  Description: First Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books hardcover edition. | New York, NY : Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books, [2016] | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2015044141 (print) | LCCN 2015041111 (ebook)

  Classification: LCC PS3613.E4443 (print) | LCC PS3613.E4443 E94 2016 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044141

  ISBN 978-1-5011-2342-9

  ISBN 978-1-5011-2344-3 (ebook)