The Deep Dark Descending
Page 26
“Goodbye Max.”
I kill the connection and shut my phone off.
I am alone now, more alone than I have ever been, but I feel awash in calmness. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I wasn’t supposed to be okay with what I’d done. Where was the anguish, the regret? I wait for it, but nothing happens. The snow starts to fall again in big, popcorn flakes that purl in lazy swoops past my front window. It is beautiful and it makes me want to smile—so I smile.
The impact of what I did out on that frozen lake may visit me at some point. There may come a day when the darkness inside of me roils up in my chest to scream its damnation at me—but that day is not today. I lean back in my chair and close my eyes, letting the aroma of the burning pine take me back to my house in Logan Park, to a day when Jenni was at my side. The wolves are gone, and for now, I am at peace.
THE END
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Sgt. Robert Dale, Detective with the Minneapolis Police Department, and Special Agent Ann Quinn of the Minnesota BCA for their insight into the criminal world in Minnesota. I would also like to thank John Filliman and Sheryl Hindermann for their expertise in the north woods.
I would like to thank my wife, Joely for her patience and help. Thank you Nancy and all my friends who have offered editorial assistance for this book. Thank you Amy Cloughley, my agent, for your sure-handed guidance. Finally, I would like to extend my heart-felt gratitude to Dan Mayer, my editor, and everyone at Seventh Street Books for everything you have done for me.
About the Author
About the Author
Allen Eskens is the bestselling author of The Life We Bury, The Guise of Another, The Heavens May Fall, and The Deep Dark Descending. He is the recipient of the Barry Award, Minnesota Book Award, Rosebud Award (Left Coast Crime), and Silver Falchion Award and has been a finalist for the Edgar Award, Thriller Award, Anthony Award, and Audie Award. His books have been translated into 20 languages and his novel, The Life We Bury is in development for a feature film.
Allen is currently working on his fifth novel, the sequel to his award-winning and bestselling debut novel, The Life We Bury, due out in 2018. He lives with his wife, Joely, in Greater Minnesota and is represented by Amy Cloughley of Kimberley Cameron and Associates Literary Agency, To learn more about Allen or his books, visit him at www.alleneskens.com