A Case of Redemption
Page 30
Of course, Brooks could still do her in, but I sincerely doubt he will. Giving Nina up would mean acknowledging his own guilt, and I just don’t think Brooks is built for that.
And that’s probably the best explanation for my conduct, too. I’m just not built to destroy the life of someone I loved, no matter what crimes Nina committed.
• • •
Three months into my self-imposed exile, I received an email at my Sorensen and Harrington email address. The fact that I continued to check that account puts the lie to any claim that the message took me by surprise.
The sender’s address was unrecognizable, and it was unsigned, even electronically. The contents were sufficiently ambiguous to allow a denial of authorship, if it ever came to that. But I had no doubt that it was from Nina.
My Dearest Daniel:
I hope you have found a place that makes you happy. I know you’ll understand if this note is short and doesn’t address all that I’d say if given the opportunity to do so in person. Are there any more insincerely uttered phrases in the English language than “I’m sorry” and “Thank you” and “I love you”? How can I convey that all three are true?
Love
Love. There was that word again.
Sometimes I tell myself that it was more like lust than love. I was a starving man and Nina presented me with the opportunity to feast. But other times, truer moments, I accept that I was in love with Nina. It was a different type of love than the kind you experience in a decade of marriage, but it was love nonetheless.
When I arrived in St. Martin, my goal was to stay long enough to devise a plan about how to start my life over. It didn’t take me that long, however, to realize that starting over is not a possibility. There’s just no reset button in life.
Perhaps a better way of looking at it is that I’ve already started over. I’m now content with the days drifting into weeks without any accomplishment to mark the passage of time. Simply taking time for myself. To think. To appreciate what I once had and to contemplate what still lies before me.
I’ve started running again. Not too often or that far, but a few miles along the sand every couple of days. Although I keep a bottle of scotch in my kitchen, it’s the only bottle I’ve bought down here, and it’s still more than half-full.
I can’t help but think that Sarah would approve of my new life. I’m only sorry I didn’t reach this realization sooner, so I could have shared this version of myself with my wife and daughter. But all I can do is take comfort that I’ve discovered this path now, and not later, or never at all.
And I know Alexa would have loved living so close to the ocean.
I began with the question “Where should I start?” and so I suppose it’s fitting to ask, “Where should I end?” I’ve chosen this point, which I also believe to be the middle.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A Case of Redemption is my second novel, and people sometimes ask if writing the second book is more difficult than the first. The answer is yes, although perhaps not for the reason people think. I have the sense that readers and friends alike assume that an author’s first book is autobiographical and the second requires more creativity. At least in my case that’s not actually true (both are very loosely autobiographical, and other than that, completely made up). However, the second book was more difficult to write for me because I knew from the outset that people other than my friends and family would read it, and that put pressure on me to make it as good as it possibly could be.
It is my great hope that such pressure made my second effort superior to the first. And like with A Conflict of Interest, if that is the case, it has much to do with the people I’m about to thank, all of whom were instrumental in shaping the book.
I am greatly indebted to everyone who reads my work. One of my favorite things about publishing A Conflict of Interest, and something I’m already looking forward to after A Case of Redemption comes out, are the emails I receive from readers. Whether they are short notes of praise or longer discussions about things that made them angry or that I got wrong, I truly enjoy reading every email, and encourage all readers to share their thoughts with me at adam@adammitzner.com. I answer them all, so you’ll hear my views, too.
Heartfelt thanks to the troika that took my work from my family and friends to a readership beyond my wildest dreams: Scott Miller, my agent at Trident; Ed Stackler, a freelance editor who reviews the early drafts; and Ed Schlesinger, my editor at Simon & Schuster’s Gallery Books imprint, who does the hard work after I think the book is finished to make it so much better. In addition to all their good advice and counsel, there are others who work with them to whom I’m equally grateful: Scott’s assistant, Stephanie Hoover, and all the people at Simon & Schuster and Gallery Books, including the wonderful people in PR, Jean Anne Rose and Stephanie DeLuca, and my copyeditor, Stephanie Evans.
I also am indebted to the team at FSB Associates, Fauzia Burke, Leyane Jerejian, Julie Harabedian, and Courtney Elise, for getting the word out to the blogosphere about my books and for being great supporters of my work.
Another big difference between the first and second novels is that it is much easier after you’re a published author to get people to read your manuscript. The following people, however, were readers even before they knew that their names might someday appear in the acknowledgments of a published book, and I am deeply appreciative of their early insight and comments: Anna Gryzmala-Busse, Clint Broden, Jane Cleary, Gregg Goldman, Sofia Logue, Margaret Martin, Natasha Mayer, Debbie Peikes, Ted Quinn, Elisa Reza, Kevin and Jessica Shacter, Ellice Schwab, Linda Sansotta, Lisa Sheffield, Marilyn Steinthal, and Jodi Siskind.
There is an old joke about how, in an egg-and-bacon breakfast, the hen is involved but the pig is truly committed. In that vein, perhaps even greater thanks must go to those who contributed their names to this book. In each and every instance the character is completely fictional, but it is still fun for me to be able to use names of people I know and shape the character in some way around them. In A Case of Redemption, I thank the following for letting me fictionalize them: Linda A. Pielmeier, Jordan Ringel, Steven Weitzen, Marty Popofsky (and his family, who purchased the naming right at a school auction), Kimberly Newman, Nancy Wong, and Lisa Kaplan.
Special thanks in this category to Matt Brooks, one of my closest friends for nearly thirty years. He was helpful in shaping the Matt Brooks character (filling me in on, among other things, the particulars of private helicopters and blackjack), and I’m only disappointed that the storyline did not permit more of the real Matt Brooks to come through, for there is an entire novel (if not a series of books) that could be built around his real-life persona.
Although some people might think that having two jobs is the worst of all worlds, for me it is truly a blessing. By day I am a partner at the law firm of Pavia & Harcourt, and I am very grateful to my partners and all the lawyers and staff at the firm for being supportive of my nighttime activities as a writer.
My parents, Linda and Milton Mitzner, both died before my first novel was published, but I am grateful that they lived long enough to know that such a day would arrive. Shortly before my father’s death, he introduced me to his roommate in the hospital as “my son, the author,” the first time anyone referred to me that way, which is a memory that I will always cherish.
The major life event for me between the publication of A Conflict of Interest and A Case of Redemption is that I got married, which has enriched my life in more ways than I could have ever imagined. Among them is that I am grateful to be the stepfather to Michael and Benjamin, who bring enormous joy to my life and who never fail to have insightful comments when we try to work out plot points over dinner conversation.
My daughters, Rebecca and Emily, continue to be my greatest inspiration, and nothing quite matches the feeling of knowing that your children are proud of you.
Our puppy (who is three years old, so not quite a puppy anymore), Onyx or Nixie, does not help my writing in any wa
y, but we love her, and so she deserves mention just for that.
Most of all, I want to thank my wife, Susan, to whom A Case of Redemption is dedicated, for so many more reasons than I could ever mention. Being a writer’s wife is different than I think she imagined, both in the amount of time I’m focused on my work and the number of times I ask her to read the book in draft. Susan has always been and remains my toughest critic, most ardent supporter, and the best editor and sounding board I could ever imagine. Beyond her help in making this book, and everything I’ll ever write, much better than it would have been without her input, I know that without her in my life, I would have never been able to write a word, and with her, it truly does not matter if I ever write another word, for my life is fulfilled beyond what I could have ever imagined.
ADAM MITZNER, a lawyer by day, is also the author of A Conflict of Interest, one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of 2011. He lives in New York City.
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Also by Adam Mitzner
A Conflict of Interest
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Adam Mitzner
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First Gallery Books hardcover edition May 2013
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mitzner, Adam.
A case of redemption / Adam Mitzner.—First Gallery Books hardcover edition.
p. cm.
1. Legal stories. 2. Suspense fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.I88C37 2013
813'.6—dc23
2012049976
ISBN 978-1-4516-7479-8
ISBN 978-1-4516-7481-1 (ebook)