MARY CLARK: Piece of My Heart

“Let’s do this,” she said.

At last.

Acknowledgments

It has been our joy to complete another Under Suspicion novel together. Laurie Moran and her crew provide more than enough material to fill the imaginations of two storytellers.

Once again, our biggest champion on this adventure has been Marysue Rucci, vice president and editor in chief of Simon & Schuster. Thank you, as well, to her right-hand assistant, Hana Park.

We are also grateful to the advice of Professor Barry Scheck, codirector of the Innocence Project, whose expertise regarding the use of DNA evidence in wrongful conviction claims is unrivaled. Though he generously shared his scientific knowledge with us, this book and the lawyers in it are works of fiction. We suspect the story would have unfolded quite differently had Professor Scheck been on the case.

Last, but never least, we thank you, dear readers. Words on a page do not become a story until you read them. This book is dedicated to you.

More from the Authors

Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry

You Don't Own Me

I've Got My Eyes on You

Every Breath You Take

All By Myself, Alone

The Sleeping Beauty Killer

About the Authors

Author photograph by Bernard Vidal

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark wrote forty suspense novels, four collections of short stories, a historical novel, a memoir, and two children’s books. With bestselling author Alafair Burke she wrote the Under Suspicion series, including The Cinderella Murder, All Dressed in White, The Sleeping Beauty Killer, Every Breath You Take, and You Don’t Own Me . With her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, she coauthored five suspense novels. More than one hundred million copies of her books are in print in the United States alone. Her books are international bestsellers.

© DEBORAH COPAKEN

Alafair Burke is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels, including The Better Sister, The Wife, The Ex, and the upcoming Find Me , in addition to the Under Suspicion series, coauthored with Mary Higgins Clark. A former prosecutor, she now teaches criminal law and lives in New York City.

SimonandSchuster.com

www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Mary-Higgins-Clark

www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Alafair-Burke

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ALSO BY MARY HIGGINS CLARK

Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry

I’ve Got My Eyes on You

All By Myself, Alone

As Time Goes By

The Melody Lingers On

Death Wears a Beauty Mask

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Daddy’s Gone A Hunting

The Lost Years

The Magical Christmas Horse (Illustrated by Wendell Minor)

I’ll Walk Alone

The Shadow of Your Smile

Just Take My Heart

Where Are You Now?

Ghost Ship (Illustrated by Wendell Minor)

I Heard That Song Before

Two Little Girls in Blue

No Place Like Home

Nighttime Is My Time

The Second Time Around

Kitchen Privileges

Mount Vernon Love Story

Daddy’s Little Girl

On the Street Where You Live

Before I Say Good-Bye

We’ll Meet Again

All Through the Night

You Belong to Me

Pretend You Don’t See Her

My Gal Sunday

Moonlight Becomes You

Silent Night

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

The Lottery Winner

Remember Me

I’ll Be Seeing You

All Around the Town

Loves Music, Loves to Dance

The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories

While My Pretty One Sleeps

Weep No More, My Lady

Stillwatch

A Cry in the Night

The Cradle Will Fall

A Stranger Is Watching

Where Are the Children?

BY MARY HIGGINS CLARK AND CAROL HIGGINS CLARK

Dashing Through the Snow

Santa Cruise

The Christmas Thief

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping

Deck the Halls

BY MARY HIGGINS CLARK AND ALAFAIR BURKE

You Don’t Own Me

Every Breath You Take

The Sleeping Beauty Killer

All Dressed in White

The Cinderella Murder

BY ALAFAIR BURKE

The Better Sister

The Wife

The Ex

If You Were Here

Long Gone

THE ELLIE HATCHER SERIES

All Day and a Night

Never Tell

212

Angel’s Tip

Dead Connection

THE SAMANTHA KINCAID SERIES

Close Case

Missing Justice

Judgment Calls

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition November 2020

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-9821-3254-5

ISBN 978-1-9821-3256-9 (ebook)