A Last Goodbye Read online

  Pointing a finger at her he said, “Daphne, you are a truly golden golden retriever.”

  Our property manager, who was out on the patio at the time, put his arm around Daph’s shoulder and whispered in her ear, “You must catch a burglar to earn your plate of food.” Which it turns out, she did, the very next night, barking to alert us to the presence of an ­intruder in our BEDROOM!!! Yes, Daphne’s vet bills were definitely paid in full! Some of you may remember that the bedroom intruder incident, complete with a barking dog named Mojo, turns up in Joanna Brady #13, Damage Control.

  Aggie and Daph turned up in a novella called “The Case of the London Cabbie” in an anthology named Bark M for Murder. Their fictional owner turns out to be a widow named Maddy Watkins who lives on Whidbey Island. Maddy and her two dogs have turned up in more than one of the Ali Reynolds books.

  Four years after losing Aggie, we still had her sister, Daph, and were starting to get used to being a one-dog family. Then, on a rainy Saturday morning in October, my daughter, my grandson, and I caught sight of a stray miniature dachshund running down a busy street in Bellevue, Washington. Over time, we pieced together some of Bella’s history before she came into our lives and before she became Bella the Book Tour dog. She’s been on six book tours in the past several years, and she is still an important part of our lives. Right now she’s outside making noisy sure that no birds or lizards are trespassing in her territory.

  In writing Bella’s story—something my editor refers to as my “nobella,” I’ve had to use my literary license to re-create the portions of Bella’s story that we’ll never know.

  When Bella came to us, she was the exact opposite of Mandy. While Mandy refused to “get busy” on a leash, Bella refused to do anything without being on one. It was provoking to be outside in the rain and snow in two ­totally fenced yards, walking a dog who simply had to be on a leash. Eventually Bella would go on her own as long as we were at least standing there with a leash in our hands. Now she’s learned to go on her own, but she still prefers to have someone outside with her, and she appreciates having the door opened and closed for her rather than having to use the doggy door. And yes, I can assure you that the first time we took her to a hotel, she was completely at home in the elevator at the Ritz in Phoenix.

  Now, like many of my other dog companions, Bella, too, has wormed her squirmy little way into my fiction. I expect she’ll be a big part of B.’s and Ali’s lives for years to come, just as she’s a big part of ours.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  J.A. Jance is the top-ten New York Times bestselling author of Edge of Evil, Web of Evil, Hand of Evil, Cruel Intent, Trial by Fire, Fatal Error, Left for Dead, and Deadly Stakes. Moving Target is her 50th book in a career that spans more than thirty years. She is also the author of the Joanna Brady series, the J. P. Beaumont series, and four interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle and Tucson. Visit her website at www.jajance.com.

  FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: authors.simonandschuster.com/J-A-Jance

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  ALSO BY J.A. JANCE

  ALI REYNOLDS MYSTERIES

  Edge of Evil

  Web of Evil

  Hand of Evil

  Cruel Intent

  Trial by Fire

  Fatal Error

  Left for Dead

  Deadly Stakes

  JOANNA BRADY MYSTERIES

  Desert Heat

  Tombstone Courage

  Shoot/Don’t Shoot

  Dead to Rights

  Skeleton Canyon

  Rattlesnake Crossing

  Outlaw Mountain

  Devil’s Claw

  Paradise Lost

  Partner in Crime

  Exit Wounds

  Dead Wrong

  Damage Control

  Fire and Ice

  Judgment Call

  J.P. BEAUMONT MYSTERIES

  Until Proven Guilty

  Injustice for All

  Trial by Fury

  Taking the Fifth

  Improbable Cause

  A More Perfect Union

  Dismissed with Prejudice

  Minor in Possession

  Payment in Kind

  Without Due Process

  Failure to Appear

  Lying in Wait

  Name Withheld

  Breach of Duty

  Birds of Prey

  Partner in Crime

  Long Time Gone

  Justice Denied

  Fire and Ice

  Betrayal of Trust

  Ring in the Dead

  Second Watch

  WALKER FAMILY MYSTERIES

  Hour of the Hunter

  Kiss of the Bees

  Day of the Dead

  Queen of the Night

  Follow Ali Reynolds as she investigates the most extreme crimes.

  Cold Betrayal forces Ali to confront the face of evil, and the women who are being hunted. Available Spring 2015!

  Cold Betrayal

  * * *

  Ali Reynolds faces danger on both sides of the Atlantic when she unearths a cold case that may be connected to the mysterious murder of a juvenile offender.

  Moving Target

  * * *

  Can Ali Reynolds piece together enough clues to connect a frightened teenager, two dead bodies, and $300,000, before the body count rises?

  Deadly Stakes

  * * *

  ORDER YOUR COPIES TODAY!

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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.

  Copyright © 2014 by J.A. Jance

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

  First Pocket Star Books ebook edition November 2014

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  Cover design by Janet Perr

  ISBN 978-1-5011-0369-8