Death's Last Run
Page 33
“You don’t have to leave.” Noah moved his rook to leave his queen unprotected.
“Are you playing stupidly on purpose?”
“Shit. Didn’t see that. No, just dumb today I guess.”
Clare took the queen.
“I thought things were going well,” Noah said. “You wanted me to go with you to see your family.”
Clare was tempted to reach for one of Noah’s cigarettes, but didn’t. “I thought so, too. I changed my mind.”
“Why? Because you bail whenever things get tricky? That’s fine when you’re a teenager. But if you keep running, you’ll end up alone with no one to love you back.”
“If I’m still single when I’m thirty, I’ll get a cat.”
“You hate cats.”
“So I’ll get a dog.”
“Dogs need love. You’ll think it’s being needy when it wants to curl up and cuddle.” Noah studied the board before moving his bishop.
Clare moved her knight so it put his king and rook in double jeopardy. “Check.”
Noah wrinkled his mouth and moved his king.
“I’m not quitting work,” Clare said. “So I guess that means I’m still a whore, still unworthy of your full-time affection.”
“You’re not unworthy. You’re amazing.”
“Noah, fuck off.” Clare couldn’t take his nice guy act — the one that lured her back every single time, because it wasn’t so much an act as it was the best side of himself.
Noah leaned back on the couch. “I can’t believe you got a job offer from the CIA. You haven’t even been back in town twenty-four hours.”
“I haven’t said yes yet.”
“But you will. And you’ll get sent off on really cool assignments. To Barcelona, or Hong Kong.”
“I’m looking forward to my first Latin lover.” Clare took the rook with her knight. It maybe wasn’t the kindest thing to say, so Clare tossed Noah a small grin to let him know she was joking.
“Okay,” Noah said finally. “I can live with it. With who you are. With what you do.”
Clare looked up at him again and held his gaze longer.
“I made a playlist for later,” Noah said. “One hundred percent Depeche Mode and Leonard Cohen.”
“So make a move. I can checkmate you on the next turn and I’m hungry for dinner.” Clare still wished he would say he was in love with her, but this was close.
“Glad your game is back, at least.” Noah pushed a pawn forward, though it was futile. “Where do you want to eat?”
“La Palapa. I have to start practicing foreign languages.”
“Going home with a Latin waiter doesn’t count as research,” Noah said, “in case you thought our relationship was that loose.”
“What — so now you want to be exclusive?” Clare moved her queen to seal the win. She met his eyes and held them. She liked what she got back.
Noah nodded, keeping her gaze. “Yeah. Assignments excluded. Think you can handle that?”
“I can.” Clare chewed her lower lip. “But let’s talk about the Latin waiter.”
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Death’s Last Run nearly died on the operating table. It was impossible to write, late for almost every deadline, and eventually turned into my favorite book in the series. To get there, I needed tons of help.
Jack David at ECW Press read an early draft and told me not to throw it out.
Emily Schultz worked magic on this manuscript as an editor. I learn from her each time we work together. Cat London’s keen copyedit eye sharpened and tightened things even further.
I call her Simon Cowell, but actually Sally Harding’s incisive honesty is the best kind of feedback there is. Her Cooke Agency team is a supportive, savvy bunch I feel lucky to have on my side.
Keith Whybrow, my husband, built my office using salvaged wood from our reno project. “Because I know you don’t care if the wood matches,” he said. “You just need a space that’s creative and you.”
Cover art is done by Cyanotype. I love their style, and they’re generous with art clips for my website.
The ECW crew — Sarah Dunn, Crissy Boylan, Jen Knoch, Erin Creasey, David Caron, Jenna Illies, Rachel Ironstone, Troy Cunningham (and probably more) are smart and awesome.
I am massively grateful for pre-readers. My sister Erin Kawalecki dissects each word like it’s her own, with encouragement and a sharp eye for making the story as strong as it can be; my cousin Chloe Dirksen cracks me up as I read her warm and witty margin commentary (like “the BJ image is heavy here . . . you might want to change dick to douche”); my cousin Christie Nash is brilliant at showing me what’s missing from character relationships; my friend Scott Hicks has finally realized I am not, nor never will be a literary short story writer like his hero Alice Munro, still he pores over my words in coffee shops, helping me hone them; my friend Christine Cheng worked hard with me on Martha’s politics, and ultimately she found the research article that saved the day; my mom Dona Matthews, reads with just the right balance of glowing praise and a (helpfully) critical eye; my aunt Shelley Peterson helps me separate and define the characters, not let one slip into another’s dialogue; my aunt Carole Matthews helped me flesh out the Whistler setting to bring out its character; my grandmother Joyce Matthews hasn’t read the book at the time of these acknowledgments but plans to pore over the proofread and catch mistakes. (So if there are issues with the final draft, I’ll give you her email address, not mine.)
Huge thanks for the time commitment from my colleagues Angie Abdou, Deryn Collier, Ian Hamilton, Owen Laukkanen, and Dorothy McIntosh for reading and endorsing Death’s Last Run.
Fellow writers Steph VanderMeulen and Deryn Collier read trouble segments and gave me excellent specific feedback on demand.
Angie Abdou and Commit Snow & Skate in Fernie hooked me up with the raddest snowboarder slang. Angie mailed me her terrific book, The Canterbury Trail, so I could groove with mountain culture.
Chevy Stevens was hugely generous with writing tips that helped me hone my writing skills for this book. She made me name a plant after her for her troubles. The plant died, so we named a tree for her instead.
Pam Gross Barnsley gave me Whistler details from a local’s perspective, including making Chopper a home on Cougar Mountain.
Shaun Luciano (a.k.a. Domino King) is a cop in California who I met playing iPhone chess. He answers my U.S. law enforcement questions between moves in our games.
Mark and Elizabeth Sullivan welcomed me into the extreme snow culture that is Tailgate Alaska, where I learned about heli-skiing, sledding, and avalanche safety while having a raucously good time.
And from social media:
Hilary Davidson is my publicity role model — on Twitter and in real life. Jana Benincasa named the bar Avalanche. Kim Moritsugu is the evil genius behind the teddy cam. J.J. Lee is my go-to fashion guru — he can dress anyone from gangstas to politicians. Judy Hudson gave me Zoe’s cello brand. Scott Chantler clarified the difference between the iPhone and BlackBerry user. Natalie Stover Miele and Ilonka Halsband hooked up airport Starbucks intel. Kelvin Kong has strong opinions on everything, some of which are surprisingly useful. I could go on forever: I had so much help with title brainstorming and cover art feedback and morale boosts from every corner of the internet.
If I’ve forgotten you, send me a nasty email. I’ll make sure I don’t forget you twice.
Robin Spano grew up in downtown Toronto and now lives in rural B.C. She studied physics at university but dropped out to travel North America on her motorcycle, waitressing in various cities and towns while trying to write her first novel. When she’s not lost in fiction, she loves to get outside snowboarding, hiking, boating, and riding the curves of the local highways in her big, black pick-up t
ruck. She is married to a man who hates reading.
Copyright © Robin Spano, 2013
Published by ECW Press
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Spano, Robin
Death’s last run / Robin Spano.
(A Clare Vengel undercover novel)
ISBN 978-1-55022-997-4
ALSO ISSUED AS: 978-1-77090-351-7 (PDF); 978-1-77090-352-4 (EPUB)
I. Title. II. Series: Spano, Robin Clare Vengel undercover novel.
PS8637.P35D43 2013 C813'.6 C2012-907521-3
Editor for the press: Emily Schultz
Cover and text design: Cyanotype
The publication of Death’s Last Run has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada, and by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit. The marketing of this book was made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.