My heart hiccuped. “What kind of problems?”
“She’s an addict, for one thing. And I tried to tell you about her.”
“When?”
“Every single time I said we were two of a kind.”
I thought my heart couldn’t beat any harder. But it could. It could. It could. It could. His sister. He takes care of his sister.
He smiled. “You thought Mary was my girlfriend?”
My face flushed.
I looked away, ashamed. But he reached out again, pulling me into himself. I dropped my head, resting my face on his chest. His arms wrapped around me. I could hear his heart beating, beating so fast, beating like mine, beating a million miles a minute just so we could meet each other in the middle.
“So.” His voice felt hot on my ear. “Do we have a deal. Just you and me?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “It’s a deal.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent. With every breath, something burned behind my eyelids. A moment later, I felt a tear, slowly tracing its way down my cheek. I tried to breathe in again, but there was no room left inside my chest.
All my life I’d run from love. Run fast, run hard, run away.
But now?
Now, I would run to it.
* * *
ACKNOLWEDGMENTS
Every Raleigh Harmon book creates another adventure in writing. She remains as surprising to me now as she did at the beginning of this series. Rest assured, many more Raleigh Harmon mysteries are coming—soon.
But since Raleigh constantly catches me off-guard, these books only get written with help from other people. Too many people to list. But here are a few.
My editor, Lora Doncea. She offers nothing but support, yet holds me accountable and laughs with me when life spins out of control. Her sister Pamela Nastase—genius reader, aficiando of backyard fowl—provides still more insights and encouragements. I can’t thank these two sisters enough.
As for the vast puzzle of forensic geology, it comes together in these mysteries only because of the smart people who are doing the real-life work. All mistakes are mine. Two of the world’s best forensic geologists have generously answered my many questions: William Schneck and Raymond Murray. If you’d like to learn more about forensic geology itself, check out Murray’s marvelous book, Evidence from the Earth.
For police matters (again, all mistakes mine), I am indebted to former Navy SEAL and former Washington State Trooper, Joe Ulicny. This wonderful guy has been helping me since The Rivers Run Dry. Thank you, Joe.
And readers, thank you for the wonderful emails and notes. I adore hearing from you, please don’t stop writing. Thank you for reading. Thank you for appreciating books. And thank you for being YOU.
Last but never least, my family. They keep me in check—and stitches. Three amazing, amusing, and wonderful men populate my immediate universe: My sons, Daniel and Nico, and my husband, Joe. Thank you for all the times you pranked me while I stressed about deadlines. Thank you for dealing so generously with my absent-mindedness. And thank you for eating pizza whenever I fell behind schedule. For all that, I will never name a villain after you. Yes, that’s right. I love you that much.
—Sibella
Sign up for Sibella’s newsletter to learn about upcoming Raleigh Harmon releases and other books. You’ll also receive a free Raleigh Harmon short story, “Hers.” Go to www.sibellawrites.com, or click HERE to sign up.
Raleigh Harmon’s career as an FBI agent began in The Stones Cry Out, which is available HERE.
There’s also a young adult mystery series featuring Raleigh Harmon as teenager, solving crime and trying to survive high school. In these books, her dad is still alive—but her mom’s still crazy.
Stone and Spark
Stone and Snow
Stone and Sunset
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sibella Giorello is the fourth generation of her family to grow up in Alaska. After riding a motorcycle across the country, she wrote feature stories for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Her stories won state and national awards, including two nominations for the Pulitzer Prize. She now lives in Washington state with her husband, sons, a large dog, a sweet parakeet, and a Russian tortoise that could’ve worked for the KGB.
The Waves Break Gray (The Raleigh Harmon mysteries Book 6) Page 25
