The Innocent (55 page)
And she had been a killer.
Just like he was a killer.
His had been by choice.
She had had no real choice in the matter.
So who was the guiltier one?
It was like Julie had said. You had to take life as it came. It gave no quarter, spared no feelings. Limited no pain. Put no ceiling on happiness.
This was his world.
He was who he was.
He could not change that.
He was not an innocent.
And the people he hunted certainly weren’t innocent.
Maybe the best Robie could do was protect those who actually were.
T
O
M
ICHELLE
, your extraordinary enthusiasm for this book really meant a lot.
To David Young, Jamie Raab, Emi Battaglia, Jennifer Romanello, Tom Maciag, Martha Otis, Chris Barba, Karen Torres, Anthony Goff, Lindsey Rose, Bob Castillo, Michele McGonigle, and all at Grand Central Publishing, who support me every day.
To Aaron and Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs Baker, Lisa Erbach Vance, Nicole James, Frances Jalet-Miller, and John Richmond, for being the best team a writer could ever have.
To Maja Thomas, who continues to lead the way on ebooks.
To Anthony Forbes Watson, Jeremy Trevathan, Maria Rejt, Trisha Jackson, Katie James, Aimee Roche, Becky Ikin, Lee Dibble, Sophie Portas, Stuart Dwyer, Anna Bond, and Matthew Hayes at Pan Macmillan, for catapulting me to the top in the UK.
To Ron McLarty and Orlagh Cassidy, for terrific audio performances.
To Steven Maat at Bruna, for taking me to the top in Holland.
To Bob Schule, for your friendship, enthusiasm, and editorial skills.
To the charity auction winners: Jane Wind, Gabriel Siegel, Elizabeth and Brooke Van Beuren, Diana Jordison, Cheryl Kosmann, and Michele Cohen. I hope you enjoyed your characters.
To David and Catherine Broome, for the use of your last name, although you’re much cooler than the “Broome” characters in the novel.
To Kristen, Natasha, and Erin, because I’d be lost without you.
And last but far from least, to Roland Ottewell for another great copyediting job.
Absolute Power
Total Control
The Winner
The Simple Truth
Saving Faith
Wish You Well
Last Man Standing
The Christmas Train
Split Second
Hour Game
The Camel Club
The Collectors
Simple Genius
Stone Cold
The Whole Truth
Divine Justice
First Family
True Blue
Deliver Us from Evil
Hell’s Corner
The Sixth Man
One Summer
Zero Day
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Columbus Rose, Ltd.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First e-book edition: April 2012
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ISBN 978-0-446-57300-9