A Good Killing (37 page)

“So,” Anna said. “It’s done.”

“It’s done. Thank you.” Jody said, putting down the newspaper. “What you did was amazing. As a lawyer and a sister. I never thought you’d be happy for a group like Anonymous to get involved in one of your cases.”

“I never realized how much I was willing to bend the rules until they were all stacked against you.”

“Maybe a little of me rubbed off on you, and a little of you rubbed off on me.”

“I have been swearing more.”

Jody laughed. “Do you want to hear the whole story now?”

“Of course I do.”

“What about your lawyerly obligations? Will you have to report the stuff I tell you if, hypothetically, it involved some criminal activity?”

“Not as long as it’s done. If you’re planning to go kill someone tonight, I might have an obligation to tell somebody. But past crimes are the opposite. As your lawyer, it’s my duty
not
to disclose any confidences you share with me.”

“Okay,” Jody said. “I wanted to tell you. But it wasn’t just my secret. It belonged to two other women, who were in equal danger. The three of us had a pact. We swore we’d never tell anyone. And I was going to do whatever I could to protect them. I didn’t want you to throw them under the bus to save me. But just now, while Isabel was outside playing, Wendy and Kathy told me I should tell you. So now it’s a pact of four.”

“Okay.”

“Where should I start?”

“Start at the beginning.”

Anna would close her mouth and try to refrain from questions and commentary. This was Jody’s story, and Anna had waited and worked a very long time to hear it. All she had to do now was listen.

Leigh let out a hungry cry. Jody shifted the baby, pulled up her shirt, and unclasped her nursing bra. Leigh latched on, making happy cooing clucks between swallows.

“Well, let’s see. I guess it all started with the high jump.” Jody stroked the soft hair on Leigh’s head. “When I was fifteen, my favorite place in the world was the high-jump setup at the school track. The bar provided a simple obstacle with a certain solution. You either cleared it or you didn’t. In a world of tangled problems with knotty answers, that was bliss . . .”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

T
he rape-kit backlog referenced in this novel is a real and scandalous problem in America. Most jurisdictions don’t even keep track of how many rape kits are processed. While no one knows the precise numbers, it’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of rape kits are sitting in warehouses, untested. Some have been rotting there for years—even decades—the forensic value of their DNA samples degrading with each passing month. As a tool for solving crime and getting predators off the streets, rape kits are worth their weight in gold. For example, when Detroit started testing its more than eleven thousand untested rape kits, the city found over one hundred serial rapists in the first sixteen hundred tests. But these kits only work if they’re tested. Apathy and lack of funding still contribute to the national backlog. To learn more about the problem and how to end it, visit
www.endthebacklog.com
.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

O
ne of my favorite steps in crafting a novel is the research that happens before a single word is written. I owe thanks to many generous people who shared their time, knowledge, and experience, and provided so many rich details for this story. Any mistakes are my own.

I am very grateful to my friend, Gemma D’eustachio, and her boyfriend, Johnathon Mullen, an Army veteran who lost both legs in an IED blast in Afghanistan. Their candor in speaking to me about their experiences—as a military amputee dealing with his return to America, and as the strong young woman who fell in love with him—helped me envision Cooper’s life and the relationship between Anna and Cooper. Johnathon’s sacrifice to this country is awe-inspiring, as were his kindness and humor when my young sons asked about his “robot legs.” I was also inspired by Johnathon’s determination to reinvent himself stateside as a photographer. He took my author photo; if you flip this book over, you’ll see his talented work.

Thank you to Detective Jeff Folts of MPD’s Major Crash Unit for sharing his expertise on car accidents and automobile deaths; Dr. Joseph Scott Morgan, a death investigator and acclaimed author, for his keen and startling forensics insights; and defense attorney Steven Levin, for his sage advice on how
not
to bribe public officials (because, of course, none of his clients would do such a thing). Thanks to Toni Kalem, from whom I stole the line, “Sisters are each other’s witnesses.”

I am grateful to the wonderful authors in my critique group: Alma Katsu, Kathleen McCleary, and Rebecca Coleman. They helped me fashion this story as I wrote it, and their wise advice improved it remarkably.

Many thanks go to the usual suspects, the good friends on whom I rely for storytelling advice, real-life crime tales, and the occasional stiff drink: Lynn Haaland, Jessica Mikuliak, Jenny McIntyre, Jeff Cook, M.R., Moira Campion McConaghy, Jen Wofford, Ed, Steve Quisenberry, and Glenn Kirschner, who gave me the inspiration for this book’s title.

I am fortunate to work with two incredible women: my agent, Amy Berkower, and my editor, Lauren Spiegel. Their instincts and guidance are invaluable. I am also grateful to Amy’s associate, Genevieve Gagne-Hawes, who helped develop this concept from the first inkling to the final rewrite. I am very grateful to the entire team at Simon & Schuster and Touchstone for all their work in making this book and this series come to life.

And of course, an infinity of thanks to Mike and my boys. I love you.

A GOOD KILLING

Critically acclaimed author Allison Leotta introduces the next thriller in her Anna Curtis series. When Anna gets a call from her small hometown of Holly Grove, Michigan, she is shocked to discover that her sister, Jody, is in trouble: she is a suspect in the violent death of revered high school football coach Owen Fowler. Anna immediately rushes to her sister’s side. She and Jody may look alike, but their lives couldn’t be more different. A Harvard Law School graduate, Anna has a successful career as federal sex crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C. Jody, however, never left her small town, and works on the assembly line at GM. Aching from her recent breakup with her fiancé, Anna decides to put her job on the line and work on the other side of the courtroom as Jody’s defense lawyer. However, as Anna investigates the case she can’t shake her suspicion that Jody isn’t telling her the whole story. It’s up to Anna to see through the lies and determine what really happened—and what she finds nearly brings her to her knees.

For Discussion

1. The book opens with Jody addressing Anna directly, explaining events from her point of view. Why do you think the author chose this kind of opening?

2. Jody loved being on the track-and-field team in high school, and she calls the high-jump setup “my favorite place in the world.” Do you have a similarly positive place, activity, or memory? What made it significant for you? Discuss with your group.

3. Early in the story Jody says,
“Nothing fuels hate like love gone wrong.”
Do you agree with this idea? How does it apply to Jody’s relationship with Coach Fowler? How does it apply to Anna’s broken engagement?

4. Anna had been
“relieved when she’d left [Holly Grove], and she never liked coming back.”
Why did she feel this way? Contrast her behavior with that of Jody, who stayed in Holly Grove her entire life. What do you think caused each sister to make the decision to move away or stay?

5. With their mother deceased and their father absent since their childhood, Anna and Jody grew up essentially without parents. How does this affect their relationship with each other?

6. In telling her story about Coach Fowler Jody says,
“There’s something about being fifteen that makes everything that happens stay clear and bright.”
How does this phenomenon affect her life? Discuss any memories, positive or negative if you are comfortable, from your teenage years that are still particularly vivid for you.

7. In the courtroom Anna has
“the disconcerting sense of living on the other side of the looking glass”
What does she mean? Before coming to help her sister, how had Anna been sheltered in her own convictions of right and wrong? What factors helped open her eyes?

8. While Anna is being held in jail a fellow inmate tells her,
“We all got scars. Some’s just harder to see.”
What is the significance of scars in the story? Compare characters in the story who have visible scars to those whose scars are emotional.

9. When pondering Coach Fowler’s behavior Jody wonders,
“What makes someone evil?”
She concludes, “We’re all victims of the victims who came before us.” Do you agree with her opinion? Why or why not?

10. When Coach Fowler pleads for her mercy, Jody wonders,
“What is in female DNA that makes us want to fulfill others’ requests? It’s amazing how much you can get from us just by asking.”
Do you think Jody is correct? Is it the idea of fulfilling requests an intrinsic part of being a woman, or do culture or environment play a part? Is it necessarily a bad thing?

11. Reflect back on the Italian proverb used in the epigraph,
“Since the house is on fire, let us warm ourselves.”
How does that sentiment apply to Jody’s actions toward coach Fowler? What does fire represent in the story?

12. Were Jody, Wendy, and Kathy justified in what they did to Coach Fowler? Do the ends justify the means?

13. After the book’s conclusion, do you think Anna will decide to stay with Cooper, leaving her life in D.C. behind? If so, how do think she will adjust?

A Conversation With Allison Leotta

Your character Cooper lives in Detroit, and he is active in helping to revitalize the city. That idea seems to be gaining momentum: the television show
Rehab Addict
features a woman dedicated to renovating dilapidated houses in Detroit and improving the community. As Cooper says, “Today we’ve got musicians and artists, hipsters and farmers, city planners and community activists, all sorts of creative thinkers figuring out how to find beauty and meaning in the ruins.” Because you feature this aspect of Detroit, do you feel a part of this community? Do you think your book will have a positive impact on the city?

I grew up near Detroit and was fascinated by the city: its beauty and its problems, both of which are world-class. Detroit has been the symbol of the best and the worst that America can be. And right now, it’s at a historic brink, poised between utter ruin and creative people who see an exciting, unprecedented opportunity to try new things. Cooper embodies that optimism, and I love him for that. I hope my book will have a positive impact on the city and get people thinking about the possibilities and creative solutions.

If you’re interested in reading more about Detroit, I’d recommend two terrific non-fiction books:
Detroit: An American Autopsy
, by Charlie LeDuff, which chronicles the city’s decline in wry, devastating prose, and
Detroit City Is The Place to Be
, by Mark Binelli, which explores the radical sense of possibility that comes when a city hits rock bottom.

This is your fourth novel. Has the writing process changed for you in any way? Has it gotten easier or more challenging?

The process is definitely not easier! In part, that’s because I’m trying to challenge myself, get better, and push my abilities further with each story.

I feel very lucky that I can concentrate on writing full-time now. When I wrote my first two books, I was still working at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and could only write from 5:00 till 7:00
a.m
., before heading in to my day job. Now that I’m a full-time writer, I can sleep a little later! But I also have to be extremely disciplined with how I use my time.

Being a published author is like running a small business out of your house. I generally write in the morning, and use the afternoon for the business side of things. Blogging, social media, public speaking, opining, networking, and generally “building your platform.” That’s one of any modern author’s biggest challenges—balancing the writing of the books with the promotion of them.

Your experience as a federal prosecutor certainly affects your subject matter. How closely do your stories reflect your own experiences with actual cases?

I try to take the most interesting parts of my real cases and make them elements of my stories. Some of the most implausible plot twists are things that actually happened in D.C. Superior Court! I am also pulled by the emotions that come with these incredibly personal cases. There’s terrible heartbreak and tragedy, but also moments of real courage, love, and healing. I was inspired by the people around —victims who had the courage to come forward, police officers devoted to helping their community, prosecutors working late into the night to try to make a difference. It’s very satisfying when I write a scene and feel like I’ve captured that.

In the bio section of your website you say, “I wanted to create stories that would both entertain and teach about the way the criminal justice system works—and doesn’t work.” While your career as a prosecutor must have caused you to experience frustrating or dark moments, are there aspects about it that you miss?

I loved being a sex-crimes prosecutor. I think it’s one of the most rewarding legal careers in America. There’s nothing like waking up every day knowing that your job is to put predators in jail, figure out the truth, help make your community safer, and, most of all, do the right thing (a luxury most lawyers don’t have).

Being a writer now is a bit of a dream come true—but it’s very solitary. I miss my friends and colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They’re an amazing group of talented and devoted public servants. The bonding that goes on there is a bit like boot camp—many of my best friends are the people with whom I worked there, and I expect they will be for the rest of my life.