Brian Freeman - Spilled Blood

‘I love you, too.’

Olivia eyed both of her parents, and she got a silly smile as she watched them together. For a moment, she could have been ten again, their little girl, not a young woman who had already had her heart broken and grown up too fast. She was happy. Chris realized that his daughter had learned something that it had taken him decades to figure out. When something good happens, you don’t ask questions. You just smile and hold on tight.

Hannah stood beside him as Olivia hobbled toward the school to find her friend. He felt her fingers curl around his, and she took his hand. They both knew. They both felt it. She didn’t ask if he was staying, if he would be there for her, if he would be there for Olivia, if they could rebuild themselves along with the towns. It was understood. No questions. Smile and hold on tight.

Maybe they had months. Maybe they had years. Time was a funny thing. He didn’t care. He wasn’t going anywhere. Right there, holding onto Hannah, he felt time freeze as solid as the winter ice, until it didn’t move at all.

Note from the Author

You can write to me at brian@bfreemanbooks.com. I welcome e-mails from readers and always respond personally. Visit my web site at www.bfreemanbooks.com to join my mailing list, get book club discussion questions, read bonus content, and find out more about me and my books. You can also join me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bfreemanfans.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The towns of Barron and St. Croix are fictional, so those of you who enjoy using Google Earth to follow my locales won’t find them on a map this time. However, most of the scenes in the book are based on real places found in Southwestern Minnesota towns such as Montevideo, Granite Falls, Ortonville, and Hazel Run. The Spirit Dam was inspired by the Lac Qui Parle dam over the Minnesota River.

I’m very grateful to the team that has helped me navigate the last few years of significant change in the publishing industry. This includes my international agents Ali Gunn and Diana Mackay and my U.S. agent Deborah Schneider, as well as co-agents around the world who have helped me bring my books to readers in many countries. In the publishing world itself I am especially grateful to my new UK colleagues, David North and Charlotte Van Wijk of Quercus, for their enthusiasm and support in launching Spilled Blood .

A special thanks also to Isanti County Attorney (and long-time reader of my books) Jeff Edblad for his help on juvenile legal proceedings in Minnesota. Any errors or dramatic license in such matters are, of course, totally of my own making.

I’ve been privileged to enjoy the support of a very loyal cadre of readers around the world. I’m grateful to my advance readers – Marcia (who never lets love get in the way of helpful criticism!), Matt and Paula Davis, Mike O’Neill, and Alton Koren – for their insights and advice on the earliest drafts of this manuscript. I also want to thank the Italian readers at Corpi Freddi – especially Marco Piva – for many years of dedication to me and my books. These ‘cold bodies’ have warm hearts!

Marcia and I are fortunate to have dear friends to help us through the roller-coaster ride of the writing life, including Barb, Jerry, Matt, Paula, Keith, Katie, Terri, Pat, Gary, Sally and many others who open their hearts to us. My parents, my brother and his family, have been supportive of my career in so many ways; they are far from us in distance but always close to us in spirit.

Finally, readers who have followed me from the beginning know that the most important words in each book are the first two: ‘For Marcia.’ For twenty-eight years, she has been my wife and best friend, and I’m always grateful to her for sharing this ride with me.