I looked to Cindy and saw tears streaming down her cheeks. I hugged her hard and tried not to cry myself. It was too painful. The scrapbook had transformed Burke’s bragging and lying and sly intimations into real people; real people Burke had killed.
“What do I do?” Cindy said. “What’s my first step?”
Conklin said, “Let me see that note from Burke, the one the nurse gave you.”
He sat on the floor next to us and read the handwritten note, the map to Burke’s house, and also something of a legal document.
“I, Evan William Burke, do hereby leave my possessions from my house in Lonelyville to Cynthia Thomas.”
It was dated, signed, and witnessed “Nancy Shepherd, RN.”
Richie said, “These books belong to you, Cin. But the information in here? It can’t just go out online.”
“No, of course not,” Cindy said. “But which police?”
“I know what we should do,” Rich said.
We rifled through the books on the shelves, the desk, too, and found more letters and an accordion file of photos, all of which we put into the wooden box. We tossed the drawers and closets and found other items of interest:
A key to a Sea Ray motorboat, the same model Wendy Franks had owned.
A luggage tag, monogrammed “SW,” presumably for Susan Wenthauser, the young traveler killed before she could find her way home.
A picture of Misty Fogarty in her blue and white school uniform, taped to the inside of a kitchen cabinet. It was disgusting to think that he’d taken this picture and then killed her out of spite.
With the chest of evidence in the trunk, Rich drove us to a Lowe’s about fifteen minutes away where we picked up a strong wifi signal in the parking lot.
And we made calls.
First to Brady, to let him know we were safe. Then I called Joe. He said, “Hang on,” and connected us in a conference call. The next voice I heard was Berney’s.
“We have Evan Burke’s murder records,” I said. “He gave them to reporter Cindy Thomas with a signed, witnessed document.
“May I talk to her?”
“Sure. Berney, this is my dear friend, Cindy,” I said.
As Rich and I stepped outside to give Cindy some privacy, I could hear her saying, “I want you to have the material Burke has written. But when it’s cleared, I will need it for publication.” She was smiling when she handed the phone back to me.
I said good-bye to Joe and Berney, and then Cindy called her lawyer and friend, Bob Barnett.
Bob had represented Cindy when she’d written her true-crime thriller, Fish’s Girl.
I put my ear next to the phone so I could hear, too.
“Bob, I’m in Las Vegas. I’ve got a blockbuster in the works, a true-crime story that reads like fiction.”
Bob sounded delighted to hear her voice.
“Cindy, this is the Burke story? I’ve been following it. Avidly. As soon as you can, come to Washington so we can talk it over and make a plan.”
“See you soon,” she said.
We shared a group hug, then Rich started up the car and we headed back to the airport and home.
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Acknowledgments
With thanks for the advice of these exceptional people:
Captain Richard Conklin, BCI, Stamford, Ct. PD, Lisa Raquel Pallack, forensic pathologist, Ulster County Dept of Health, NY, and our gifted researchers, Vivian Kahn, Heather Parsons, and Ingrid Taylar, who has been our West Coast sleuth for fifteen years. To Team Patterson: You are the best. And we are most grateful to Mary Jordan, who keeps the runway clear for takeoffs and landings and disappears random UFOs.
And we will always have fond memories of attorney, Philip Hoffman, partner, Pryor Cashman, LLP, NYC, who advised us on the trials in this and previous works. RIP, Phil.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author and most trusted storyteller. He has created many enduring fictional characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and I Funny. Among his notable literary collaborations are The President Is Missing, with President Bill Clinton, and the Max Einstein series, produced in partnership with the Albert Einstein Estate. Patterson’s writing career is characterized by a single mission: to prove that there is no such thing as a person who “doesn’t like to read,” only people who haven’t found the right book. He’s given over three million books to schoolkids and the military, donated more than seventy million dollars to support education, and endowed over five thousand college scholarships for teachers. For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, Patterson was awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal. The National Book Foundation presented him with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and he is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and nine Emmy Awards. He lives in Florida with his family.
Maxine Paetro is a novelist who has collaborated with James Patterson on the bestselling Women’s Murder Club, Private, and Confessions series; Woman of God; and other stand-alone novels. She lives with her husband, John Duffy, in New York.
Books by James Patterson featuring
the Women’s Murder Club
The 20th Victim (with Maxine Paetro)
The 19th Christmas (with Maxine Paetro)
The 18th Abduction (with Maxine Paetro)
The 17th Suspect (with Maxine Paetro)
The 16th Seduction (with Maxine Paetro)
The 15th Affair (with Maxine Paetro)
The 14th Deadly Sin (with Maxine Paetro)
Unlucky 13 (with Maxine Paetro)
12th of Never (with Maxine Paetro)
The 9th Judgement (with Maxine Paetro)
The 8th Confession (with Maxine Paetro)
7th Heaven (with Maxine Paetro)
The 6th Target (with Maxine Paetro)
The 5th Horseman (with Maxine Paetro)
4th of July (with Maxine Paetro)
3rd Degree (with Andrew Gross)
2nd Chance (with Andrew Gross)
1st to Die
For a preview of upcoming books and information about the author, visit JamesPatterson.com or find him on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
