George Pelecanos: The Night Gardener

As these movers of the Reagan generation enjoyed themselves, murder cops and techs worked at a crime scene at 33rd and E, in the neighborhood of Greenway, in Southeast, D.C. On this cool, wet evening in December 1985, two young uniformed police officers and a middle-aged homicide detective were on the scene.

Near the crime tape, a security guard stood alone, fingering a braid of hair decorated with colorful beads that he carried in his pocket like a charm. Later he would return to his place, slip the braid inside a plastic bag and place it in one of the album sleeves of his extensive electric jazz collection, alongside the hair he had taken from Otto Williams and Ava Simmons. The album's title, Live Evil, was spelled the same way forward and back. It was the Miles Davis record that had been playing in the living room of his uncle's apartment, the very first time he'd been sexually abused as a child.

Soon it began to drizzle for the second time that night. The drops grew heavier and became visible in the headlights of the cars. It was said by some of the police on the scene that God was crying for the girl in the garden. To others, it was only rain.

IN MEMORIAM

Carole Denise Spinks, 13 Darlenia Denise Johnson, 16 Angela Denise Barnes, 14 Brenda Fay Crockett, 10 Nenomoshia Yates, 12 Brenda Denise Woodward, 18 Diane Williams, 17

I would like to thank the officers from the Violent Crime Branch of the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., who allowed me access to their world and helped make this book possible. Their kindness, generosity, and good work are much appreciated.

George P. Pelecanos was born in Washington, DC in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, shoe salesman, electronics salesman, construction worker, and retail general manager before publishing his first novel in 1992.

He is the author of nine crime/noir novels set in and around Washington, DC. THE BIG BLOWDOWN was the recipient of the International Crime Novel of the Year award in both Germany and Japan; KING SUCKERMAN was shortlisted for the Golden Dagger award in the UK. His short fiction has appeared in ESQUIRE and the collections Unusual Suspects and Best American Mystery Stories of 1997. He is an award-winning journalist and pop-culture essayist who has written for THE WASHINGTON POST.

Pelecanos served as producer on several feature films. As a screenwriter, he has written an adaptation of KING SUCKERMAN, and was co-writer on the recently completed feature PAID IN FULL. Most recently, he has written a script based on a team in the American Basketball Association for HBO Films.