The Narrows (30 page)

45

I
STOOD ON THE PORCH, elbows on the railing, for a long time after Rachel left. My guess was that I would never see her again, whether or not she took a transfer to Los Angeles. I felt a loss. I felt like something good had been taken from me before I really knew how good it could be.

I tried to put her out of my mind for a little while. Terry McCaleb, too. I looked out at the city and thought it was beautiful. The rain had cleaned the sky out and I could see all the way to the San Gabriels and the snow-covered peaks beyond. The air seemed to be as clean and as pure as the air breathed by the Gabriele?s and the padres so many years before. I saw what they had seen in the place. It was the kind of day you felt you could build a future on.

Acknowledgments

THE AUTHOR WOULD LIKE to thank many individuals who helped with the writing of this book. They include Michael Pietsch, Jane Wood, Pamela Marshall, Perdita Burlingame, Jane Davis, Terry Hansen, Terrill Lee Lankford, Ed Thomas, Frederike Leffelaar, Jerry Hooten, and researcher Carolyn Chriss. Also of great help to the author were Philip Spitzer, Joel Gotler, Shannon Byrne, Sophie Cottrell, John Houghton, Mario Pulice, Mary Capps, Ken Delavigne, Patricia and George Companioni, and the entire staff at Little, Brown and Company as well as the Time Warner Book Group.

Two books that were very helpful to the author were
Zzyzx: History of an Oasis
, by Anne Q. Duffield-Stoll, and
Rio L.A.: Tales from the Los Angeles River
, by Patt Morrison with photographs by Mark Lamonica.

Special thanks go to Chief William Bratton and Detective Tim Marcia of the Los Angeles Police Department and special agents Gayle Jacobs and Nina Roesberry of the FBI’s Las Vegas field office.

MICHAEL CONNELLY is a former journalist and author of the bestselling series of Harry Bosch novels, along with the bestselling novels
Chasing the Dime, Void Moon, Blood Work
, and
The Poet
. Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and novels, including an Edgar Award. He is currently the president of the Mystery Writers of America.

ALSO BY MICHAEL CONNELLY

The Black Echo
The Black Ice
The Concrete Blonde
The Last Coyote
The Poet
Trunk Music
Blood Work
Angels Flight
Void Moon
A Darkness More Than Night
City of Bones
Chasing the Dime
Lost Light

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE

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Acknowledgments

ALSO BY MICHAEL CONNELLY