Ethan jogged back to his apartment and took a long, hot shower, running through his mind everything that had happened in the past week. He felt strangely detached from events, as though so much had happened after so long a wait that his mind wasn’t prepared to accept it. He had searched for Joanna for years and then suddenly she had reappeared. Yet, within days, she was gone again. The burden of regret was definitely lifted from his shoulders and the bitterness had dissolved into warmth that permeated his soul, but in the wake of her final departure was the feeling that tomorrow was an unknown. With his life’s goal now resolved and having officially parted company with the DIA, he realized that he didn’t know what to do next.
Ethan drove to the office he rented with Lopez, pulled up outside and sat silently in his car, looking at the building. The afternoon sun was setting to the west and he could see that the office light was on. Lopez was still there, probably calling every police department in the state to catch up on the names of bail-runners sought by the courts.
Ethan got out of the car and walked across to the door, punched in his access code and entered the building. Lopez was sitting behind her desk, gripping her phone tightly and jabbing a finger in the air while talking to the unfortunate person on the other end of the line.
‘… you’ll pay our fees on time or you’ll wake up tomorrow morning to find me standing over you with a goddamned bat in my hand, you feel me? You’ve got twelve hours.’ She slammed the phone back into its cradle. ‘Have a nice day,’ she added laconically as she looked up at Ethan. ‘Well?’
Ethan eased into the chair behind his desk. ‘Everything’s going to be fine.’
‘Joanna?’
‘We crossed paths,’ he replied. ‘For the last time, I think.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Lopez said, and Ethan could tell that she meant it.
‘It’s been a long time coming. It feels okay.’
‘You sure?’
‘I’m sure.’
‘Good.’
Ethan looked at her quizzically as she began shuffling through the mountain of paperwork on her desk. ‘Good?’
‘Good.’ Lopez nodded, still smiling. ‘You and I have got months of work to catch up on, and you were never any good while half your brain was focused on Joanna. At least now, I’ll have your full attention.’
‘You’ll have it?’
‘Damned right,’ she insisted. ‘No more Jarvis, no more DIA and no more Joanna Default — as I’ve come to think of her.’
‘Joanna Default,’ Ethan echoed. ‘That’s nice.’
‘You know what I mean.’ Lopez flashed a bright smile as she tossed him a thick wad of folders, each bearing the name of a down-and-out bail-runner loose somewhere in Illinois. ‘Your cases. And I’ll need you to book a reservation for us both for dinner this evening.’
Ethan gaped at her. ‘Dinner? We’ve never gone to dinner before.’
‘That’s right,’ she agreed, ‘we’ve always had carry-out, eaten at our desks, or grabbed morsels while running all over the goddamned country for the DIA. I’ve had it with fast food, so you’re taking me out to dinner. Somewhere nice. I like Mexican, if that helps. Any questions?’
There was a self-satisfied little smile coloring her features as he stared at her.
‘Sure, I guess.’
‘Thank you, kind sir.’
‘And we’re going to get on with all this, just like that?’
‘Just like that.’
‘And you don’t want to talk about going back home to Mexico, or how we’re going to survive without the extra work from the DIA and pay our rents, or…?’
‘We’ll survive, Ethan,’ she said. ‘That’s what people like us do. In fact, without Jarvis sending us to near-certain death every few months, we’ll probably thrive, know what I mean?’
Ethan sighed. ‘Yeah, figures.’
‘Good,’ Lopez replied brightly. ‘I’ll get coffee and donuts. You figure out which one of these losers we’re going after next and we’ll get on the case. Any further questions?’
Ethan almost laughed, but he shook his head and flipped a mock salute. ‘No, ma’am.’
Lopez grabbed her keys and sauntered toward the office door. He called after her as she walked out.
‘Hey, you sure this is what you want?’
Lopez looked back over her shoulder at him. The smile was still there, but it seemed calmer, more content than before.
‘Sure I am. You?’
Ethan thought only for a moment longer. A normal life, one that neither of them had been able to enjoy for years. No-brainer. ‘Yeah, definitely.’
Lopez hurried away as Ethan pulled out his cellphone and scrolled down through his contacts menu. He found the entries for Doug Jarvis and Joanna Defoe and deleted them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Throughout the writing of these books I have owed an immense debt of gratitude to my literary agent Luigi Bonomi and his team at LBA, who discovered me as a writer and helped me become a successfully published author, in doing so changing my life beyond recognition and helping a long-held dream come true; to the publishing team at Simon & Schuster who all work so hard to develop and promote the series; and to my family and friends who all champion my work so enthusiastically. I also would like to mention the fans of the books who so often contact me with kind words and who follow my journey as an author through my website, Twitter and Facebook pages. Without readers all authors would be redundant and every one of you makes this author’s work worthwhile.
In addition, for much of the revelatory detail in this novel I am indebted to Dr Penny Sartori. An immensely experienced Intensive Care nurse, Penny was awarded a PhD for her extensive research into near-death experiences. In 2008, her academic monograph “The Near-Death Experiences of Hospitalized Intensive Care Patients: A Five Year Clinical Study” was published. It was from this reference that I obtained many of the genuine near-death experiences referred to by characters within this novel, and Dr Sartori’s detailed study remains a unique and remarkable investigation into a phenomenon that fascinates all who encounter it.
About the Author
Dean Crawford began writing after his dream of becoming a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force was curtailed when he failed their stringent sight tests. Fusing his interest in science with a love of fast-paced revelatory thrillers, he soon found a career that he could pursue with as much passion as flying a fighter jet. Now a full-time author, he lives with his partner and daughter in Surrey.