By Blood Written (51 page)

Hank settled her back down on the ground and turned her to face Taylor. “Jackie, this is the friend I was telling you about, Taylor Robinson. And Taylor, this is my daughter and the captain of the Butler School’s varsity soccer team, Jackie Powell.”

Hank’s daughter grinned shyly. “Don’t, Daddy, I’m just co-captain.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Taylor said, offering her hand. The girl took it, shook it warmly.

“She’s pretty, Dads. You did well.”

This time, Taylor blushed shyly. “Yes, she is,” Hank said,

“but we are just friends and I don’t want you to make anything else out of it.”

“Right, that’s why you brought her up here on parents’

weekend,” Jackie said. Behind them, a whistle blew loudly.

“Oops, gotta run! You’re staying for the game?”

“Of course,” Hank called as she trotted away. “And dinner afterward!”

The players gathered in the center of the field, lined up against each other. Another whistle blew and the game started. Hank’s daughter was on the line, the right side, and she took a pass cleanly and expertly from the center and began moving it downfield.

As the game began, Taylor entwined her arm through his, holding on to him as they stood on the sidelines next to the bleachers.

“She’s beautiful,” Taylor said. “She looks like that picture you showed me of Anne.”

“Yes,” Hank said. “She’s just like her mother. In a lot of ways …”

“You must be very proud of her.”

Hank pulled his arm loose from hers, then draped it across her shoulder and pulled him to her. “Yeah,” he said. “I am.”

Acknowledgments
?

Books are rarely written in a vacuum; this one is no exception. Without the help of a number of people, this book could neither have been written nor come to life in published form. With your indulgence, I’d like to thank a few people who were particularly responsible for helping this book see the light of day.

First of all, I’d like to thank Lieutenant (retired) Tommy Jacobs of the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Murder Squad, who inspired this novel one afternoon just over a decade ago when he called me at home to tell me I’d been accused of committing a particularly grisly double murder.

The thought of a writer committing murder as a form of research grew into this book. I’d also like to thank him for not taking the accusation seriously.

Collier Goodlett, a brilliant and overworked Assistant Public Defender in Tennessee’s Nineteenth Judicial District, became my legal guru and advisor for this book. He patiently and graciously fielded dozens of phone calls and provided enormous help. If the legal aspects of this novel and the courtroom scenes ring with any authenticity, it is because of him. If there are any mistakes, they are mine alone.

Otto Penzler, a legend in the mystery world in more aspects than I have room to depict here, was the first person
404 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

to see any merit in this story after a number of people had passed on it. I’m grateful for his help in getting this novel into print.

Sarah Durand, my editor at Avon, was supportive and in-sightful and constructive in every way; in short, the ideal editor. As Rick said to Louie, I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Finally, I’m incredibly grateful and appreciative of my wife, Alana, and our two daughters, Isabel and Ava, for their love, support, and endless patience in meeting the challenges of living with a writer.

—SW

About the Author

STEVEN WOMACK

is the
New York Times
Notable, Edgar(r) and Shamus
awards-winning author of ten novels, including
Dead

Folks’ Blues
and
Dirty Money.
He lives with his wife
and two daughters in Nashville, Tennessee, where
he is also a professor of screenwriting at Watkins
Film School.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Praise?

BY BLOOD WRITTEN

“Readers … will find their pulses racing… .

The mood is dark, and the action fast-paced with page-turning suspense.”

Nashville Tennessean

“[A] distinct Southern voice.”

Columbus Dispatch

“
By Blood Written
is fast-paced … compelling.”

Nashville Scene

a cognizant original v5 release october 13 2010

By Steven Womack

By Blood Written

Dirty Money

Murder Manual

Chain of Fools

Way Past Dead

Torch Town Boogie

The Software Bomb

Dead Folks’ Blues

Smash Cut

Murphy’s Fault

Copyright
?

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

BY BLOOD WRITTEN. Copyright (c) 2005 by Steven Womack All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader September 2007

ISBN 978-0-06-154650-1

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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• Cover Image
  
• Title Page
  
• Contents
  
  • Part One: The Tour
    
    • Chapter One
      
    • Chapter Two
      
    • Chapter Three
      
    • Chapter Four
      
    • Chapter Five
      
    • Chapter Six
      
    • Chapter Seven
      
    • Chapter Eight
      
    • Chapter Nine
      
    • Chapter Ten
      
    • Chapter Eleven
      
    • Chapter Twelve
      
    • Chapter Thirteen
      
    • Chapter Fourteen
      
  • Part Two: The Investigation
    
    • Chapter Fifteen
      
    • Chapter Sixteen
      
    • Chapter Seventeen
      
    • Chapter Eighteen
      
    • Chapter Nineteen
      
    • Chapter Twenty
      
    • Chapter Twenty-One
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Two
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Three
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Four
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Five
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Six
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Seven
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Eight
      
    • Chapter Twenty-Nine
      
  • Part Three: The Trial
    
    • Chapter Thirty
      
    • Chapter Thirty-One
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Two
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Three
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Four
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Five
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Six
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Seven
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Eight
      
    • Chapter Thirty-Nine
      
    • Epilogue
      
  • Acknowledgments
    
  • About the Author
    
  • Praise
    
  • By Steven Womack
    
  • Copyright Notice
    
  • About the Publisher