by Earl Emerson
We were still laughing when Vanessa Pennington pulled up in her BMW, got out, and said, “What’s going on?”
We must have looked like lunatics.
I stopped laughing and walked her to the front porch. “It’s just a silly practical joke. The main thing is your grandmother’s going to be okay. The medics are pretty sure she just fainted. They’re not even suggesting she go to the hospital, although maybe she should see her doctor tomorrow.”
“I broke every speed limit on the way here. The housekeeper called me right after she called nine one one.”
“You shouldn’t have worried. These are probably the best medics in the world.”
We looked at each other for a few moments. We hadn’t seen each other in months and hadn’t spoken since she’d refused to go out with me. “You’re looking good,” I said.
“So are you.”
“I’ve thought about you. I feel like I had a shot at the majors and blew it.”
She smiled, embarrassed. “That’s an interesting way to put it. I’ve thought about you too.”
“I know I was volatile before. I’ve changed.”
“What happened?”
“I grew up. I’m not done, but I’m on my way. I would still like to take you out to dinner.”
She evaluated me for several long moments. “Why don’t you come over to my place? Tomorrow night? Say around seven? And maybe you can tell me about the joke.”
“See you then.”
We both knew she was savvy enough to have placed our meeting on neutral ground if she’d wanted to, yet she’d invited me to her apartment. It was a good sign. A very good sign. Things might or might not work out between us, but I was a solid citizen of the world now, and if I didn’t hook up with Vanessa, I’d hook up with somebody else, and eventually I’d have a wife and family. Just as in the past I’d known it would never happen, I now knew it was sure to. Life had turned around for me, and nothing could stop it, least of all myself.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
EARL EMERSON is a lieutenant in the Seattle Fire Department. He is the Shamus Award–winning author of Vertical Burn, Into the Inferno, as well as the Thomas Black detective series, which includes The Rainy City, Poverty Bay, Nervous Laughter, Fat Tuesday, Deviant Behavior, Yellow Dog Party, The Portland Laugher, The Vanishing Smile, The Million-Dollar Tattoo, Deception Pass, and Catfish Café. He lives in North Bend, Washington.
BY EARL EMERSON
Vertical Burn
Into the Inferno
Pyro
THE THOMAS BLACK NOVELS
The Rainy City
Poverty Bay
Nervous Laughter
Fat Tuesday
Deviant Behavior
Yellow Dog Party
The Portland Laugher
The Vanishing Smile
The Million-Dollar Tattoo
Deception Pass
Catfish Café
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Ballantine Book
Published by The Random House Publishing Group
Copyright © 2004 by Earl Emerson
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously
in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.ballantinebooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available from the publisher upon request.
eISBN: 978-0-345-47858-0
v3.0
