James Patterson - The 8th Confession

Her mom was usually right downstairs, running the vacuum in the living room. Why couldn’t Daddy kick out his wife? Why couldn’t he make Norma and her mom his real family, since he loved them both so much?

And then something happened.

His wife came in and saw Norma and her father together, and she’d gotten enraged.

“No, Chris. Not here. I told you. Never bring that girl into my house.”

And her daddy had said, “Yes, dear. Sorry, dear.”

And Norma had been holding the snake in her hand, its jaws held open at the hinge by her thumb and forefinger, just like Daddy had taught her.

But at that moment, there was panic in his face. He said, “I’ve got to get you out of here.” Like she was trash. Not flesh and blood. Not his daughter. Not the descendant of a senator’s daughter and the first citizen of California.

She’d ducked under his arm, run past “the witch” and down the hallway to the master-bedroom suite. And there, where they slept together, she’d slipped the krait under the covers of the bed where it was dark and snug, just what that snake would love. And she thought she was leaving the krait so that his wife would die – but she knew that her daddy slept in that bed, too.

He found her in the master bathroom. He banged on the door.

“Hurry up!” he’d shouted.

It was the last thing he’d said to her. She came out of the bathroom and ran out of the house and sat for hours on the curb.

She’d cried when he died.

And everything changed after that. But she wasn’t sorry. She’d stood up for herself, and now life was good again. All of her needs were being met. And she was the baddest, most important citizen in this place. She was respected here. She was respected.

“You okay in there, Norma?” the guard asked, coming to let Norma and Bernie out for their hour in the yard, keys clanging, making that comforting sound.

“I’m just fine,” said Norma Johnson, giving the guard a rare smile. “Never better.”

OUR GREAT THANKS to these top professionals who shared with us their valuable time and expertise during the writing of this book: Captain Richard Conklin, Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Chuck Hanni, Mickey Sherman, Philip R. Hoffman, Dr. Michelle Koo, Dr. Maria Paige, Tim Hettrich, and Rebecca DiLiberto.

Our special thanks to Maryellen Dankenbrink for her bus rap, to Chris Cooper, to Narayan Radhakrishnan, and to two first-class team players, Lynn Colomello and Mary Jordan.

JAMES PATTERSON is one of the bestselling writers of all time, with more than 160 million copies of his books sold worldwide. He is the author of the two most popular detective series of the past decade, featuring Alex Cross and the Women’s Murder Club. He has won an Edgar Award – the mystery world’s highest honor – and his novels Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider were made into feature films. His lifelong work to promote books and reading is reflected in his new Web site, ReadKiddoRead.com, which helps parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians find the very best children’s books for their kids. He lives in Florida.

MAXINE PAETRO is a novelist and journalist. She lives with her husband in New York.