Daylight Runner (25 page)

She nodded reluctantly.

It did not matter that Maslow had lied about having proof of Schaeffer's control of the Clockworkers. Once the word was out, dozens of people had come forward with stories. It turned out that Inspector Ponderosa had been trying to nail Schaeffer and his kind for years but could never get enough evidence. Now he was on a witch hunt, purging the cabal of industrialists involved in the sabotage and assassinations. They would be trying the cases for years. There were rumors that Ponderosa would be running for mayor now that Haddad was destined for prison.

Cleo was planning to use her newfound fame to get gigs for her band in some of the city's best venues. They'd got the end-of-year gig after all—with Julio's help—but she found it wasn't nearly as important to her now. Sol had preferred to keep out of the public eye. Maslow had completely disappeared after becoming the most famous man in Ash Harbor. Looking sidelong at Sol, Cleo guessed what he was thinking.

“You'll probably never see him again, huh?”

“Don't want to,” he murmured. “Not after what he did. I'm done with him. That's the end of it.”

Cleo took a breath of smoke and gazed up at the light.

“Wonder if we can change enough,” she mused. “Hard to think that there might be no one left, a few hundred years from now.”

“Dunno.” He sniffed. “Makes for some good song lyrics, though.”

“Damn right.” She blew a twisting smoke ring. “Music to become extinct to. ‘The Gig at the End of the World'—now
that
would be a party. I wanna be there for that one.”

Sol grinned.

“You've got to have something to live for,” he said.

Writing is a solitary business, but no one creates a book on their own. As ever, I must thank my family for their ongoing enthusiasm and support—they are responsible for my best qualities. My thanks also to my agent, Sophie Hicks, for doing what she does so well, and for her tact and reassurance throughout the process.

I'm especially grateful to the original editor of this book, Shannon Park, for her friendly professionalism in filing the many rough edges off the text, and to Greg Ferguson, for his deft editing of the story for the U.S. market and all the team at HarperCollins for their enthusiasm in taking on this book.

And finally, a big thank you to The O'Brien Press in Ireland and Random House in the United Kingdom, and to all the people who have taken such an interest in my books over the last couple of years and helped to get me this far.

I am indebted to all of you.

Oisín

Jacket art © 2008 by Larry Rostant

Jacket design by Andrea Vandergrift