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PROLOGUE

Inspector Richard Conklin was conducting what should have been a straightforward intervieith a female victim The woman was the only knoitness to a homicide

But Mrs Joan Murphy, the subject, was notConklin’s job any easier She was understandably distraught, traumatized, and possibly a bit squirrelly As a result, she’d taken the interview straight off road, through the deep woods, and directly over a cliff

She’d seen nothing She couldn’t re interviewed by a cop in the first place

“Why am I even here?”

The question ?

They were in a hospital roo in a bed with a sling around her right aritated Her face was so tightly drawn that Conklin thought she ery Either that, or this hat the aftereffects of a near-death experience looked like

Currently, Mrs Murphy was shooting looks around the hospital rooh theIt reminded Conklin of that viral video of the deer who’d wandered into a convenience store, then leapt over the cash register and the pretzel rack before finally crashing through the plate-glass s

“Mrs Murphy,” he said

“Call me Joan”

A nurse ca, Mrs Murphy? Open up for ue, and after a minute, she read the numbers and made a note on the chart