The sixth book in the Kinsey Millhone series

The author wishes to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the following people: Steven Humphrey; Deputy District Attorney Robert P. Samoian, County of Los Angeles; Patricia Barnwell, M.D.; Alan S. Gewant, Pharm.D., and Barbara Long, La Cumbre Pharmacy; Jail Commander Pat Hedges, San Luis Obispo County Jail; Officer Eben Howard, Santa Barbara Police Department; John T. Castle, Castle Forensic Laboratories, Dallas, Texas; Vice President Peter Wisner and Financial Consultant Michael Karry, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner amp; Smith Inc.; Lieutenant and Mrs. Tony Baker, Santa Barbara County Sheriffs Department; Anne Reid; Florence Clark; Brent and Sue Anderson; Carter Blackmar; William Pasich and Barbara Knox; and Jerome T. Kay, M.D.

The Ocean Street Motel in Floral Beach, California, is located, oddly enough, on Ocean Street, a stone's throw from the sea wall that slants ten feet down toward the Pacific. The beach is a wide band of beige trampled with footprints that are smoothed away by the high tide every day. Public access is afforded by a set of concrete stairs with a metal rail. A wooden fishing pier, built out into the water, is anchored at the near end by the office of the Port Harbor Authority, which is painted a virulent blue.

Seventeen years ago, Jean Timberlake's body had been found at the foot of the sea wall, but the spot wasn't visible from where I stood. At the time, Bailey Fowler, an ex-boyfriend of hers, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Now he'd changed his tune. Every violent death represents the climax of one story and an introduction to its sequel. My job was to figure out how to write the proper ending to the tale, not easy after so much time had elapsed.