I looked at her. Ever the protector of her case.
“How is the investigation going?” I asked.
“It’s moving,” she said. “Slowly but surely.”
I nodded toward the body.
“Too bad you won’t be able to get him to talk,” I said.
“Guys like him never talk,” Ruth said.
I nodded and she walked off. The crime scene was beginning to draw a crowd. People wearing masks. People wearing rubber gloves and face shields. I then went to my car, finding the trunk still open but my haul of groceries still in their bags intact.
I closed the trunk and checked the rear bumper, a habit born of recent experience. The license plate was there as it should be, its six letters announcing my fate and my standing to the world.
NT GLTY
I got in my car and drove home to shelter.
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges the help of many people in the research, writing, and editing of this novel. They include Asya Muchnick, Bill Massey, Emad Akhtar, Pamela Marshall, Betsy Uhrig, Terrill Lee Lankford, Rick Jackson, Linda Connelly, Jane Davis, Heather Rizzo, Dennis Wojciechowski, and John Houghton. A great debt of thanks goes to legal eagle Dan Daly as well as Roger Mills, Rachel Bowers, and Greg Hoegee.
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About the Author
MICHAEL CONNELLY is the author of thirty-four previous novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Fair Warning, The Night Fire, and Dark Sacred Night. His books, which include the Harry Bosch series, the Lincoln Lawyer series, and the Renée Ballard series, have sold more than seventy-four million copies worldwide. Connelly is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He is the executive producer of Bosch, starring Titus Welliver, and the creator and host of the podcast Murder Book. He spends his time in California and Florida.
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