This Is How You Die Page 27

  “Are you serious?”

  I nodded. “Come on, it’ll be fun. What do you say?”

  She beamed a bright and happy smile. I picked up my wallet from the table. Irene’s picture was poking out, the edges of her smile revealed.

  I thought back to that night, to her house, to the bloodshed. I thought about her sons, her husband. I thought about her parents and then I thought about my mother.

  “Is everything okay?” Cassie asked, a concerned expression on her face as she noted how quickly my smile had faded. “You’re not changing your mind already, are you?”

  I forced a smile, handed her some money, and then closed the wallet. “Of course not. I just remembered that I have some business to attend to before I go. Just an old friend. You know how it is.” I winked at her. “Don’t worry, I won’t be long. And who knows, maybe I’ll bump into your old friend from school on the way.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book is dedicated to my father, whose love of reading rubbed off on me at a very young age. If not for him turning a blind eye when I chose to read his Stephen King novels at a time I should have been reading Roald Dahl, my life may have taken a different course. I would also like to thank my mother, who has done more than I can ever repay, and my brother, Gary, who was always there to fight my battles, even though I was always trying to fight him. I extend the same gratitude to my sister-in-law, niece and nephews, to my second family in Greece and Cyprus and, of course, to my partner, whose love and support has made life more bearable over the last decade.

  I owe a lot to the team at Skyhorse Publishing, who have made this process a lot easier than I ever thought it would be. Most of that is down to my editor, Nicole Frail, who goes above and beyond the call of duty and is always there to field my endless questions and to ease my—equally endless—concerns. I also want to thank Nicole Mele, who has the unenviable duty of reading my novels in their unedited form, and my agent Peter Beren, who has been brilliant throughout.

  I would like to thank Lilith_C of lilithcgraphics, an incredibly gifted designer who is responsible for this cover and some of my others. I would also like to thank Alan Fraser, Gary Neil, and Carl Ridge. I thanked them in the last acknowledgments but no matter how many times I express my gratitude, I still can’t repay them for the help they gave me.

  Steve Kelly, Anthony Harvison, and Jon Kirk also deserve my gratitude for helping me to promote my work. They took some of the burden off my shoulders and made my life easier. The same goes for Steve Rutley, who has an unrivaled knack for numbers and a huge heart.