Acknowledgements

I finished writing this book the week that Hurricane Matthew blew over South Florida. The storm came just close enough to give me two uninterrupted writing days but not close enough to blow the roof off the house. Thank you to Nathan for blanketing my apartment in aluminum, thereby converting it into the world’s most secure writing bunker. Shout out to FPL for keeping the lights on, the coffee hot, and my laptop fully charged even as the trees in our neighborhood blew sideways. Also, thanks to the storm I was amused to imagine what Rachel would do in the event of a hurricane. (Answer: probably just die.)

Thank you to Beef for acting as a constant voice of reason. To Joe for the police jargon and the tweaker videos; to Hermione for your help with Creole; to Dawn for the many, many meals and the peppermint oil; to Jodee for the crepes, coffee, and conversation; to Janiece for helping to nail down the end; and to Alissa for years of calm and steady friendship. Rachel never did learn to run, but thanks to you, I did—13.1 and counting.

Thanks to Florida for being Florida. Living here isn’t all palm trees and ocean breezes, but I love it. (As one of my beta readers was quick to point out, the scene in which Rachel rolls into a ditch with a bag over her head to wrestle an angry tweaker is probably the most quintessentially-Florida scene in this book.)

To Megan Lee, Nicola Martinez, and everyone at Pelican Book Group: thank you for helping me drag Rachel through this series. You’ve been entirely patient, kind, and supportive.

Above all, thank you to Yahweh: to the Father for Your mercy and grace, to Jesus for Your sacrifice, and to the Spirit for Your comfort and guidance. May everything I create reflect my Creator.