As always, I must thank my beta readers for their tireless efforts to set me straight.
Kristin, thank you for helping me finish this puppy on time and with minimal psychological damage. You are my favorite architect.
Tori B., you make me laugh and gave me encouragement I didn’t know I needed.
Tori N., you’re bloody brilliant. Thank you for helping make this a better book in ways you may never know.
J.C., you are the best cheerleader, and don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
Brooklyn Ann, you helped me figure out how to fit in a touch of romance in the darkest of moments. How the hell did you manage that?
Kate, I’m sorry that I’m not sorry, but the socks had to stay.
To those who had a hand in the research that went into this book, whether they knew it or not, thank you. A special word of thanks to Captain Awkward and the rest of the Awkward Army for introducing this lurker to terms like “pantsfeelings” and concepts that gave more depth to parts of this story than I thought I was capable of capturing in words. To the people of YouTube, Twitter, and the blog-o-sphere I follow, there are too many of you to list, but I love you fiercely for the education and entertainment you provide. A huge thank you to MacAllister Stone and the gang at the Absolute Write Water Cooler for providing invaluable resources and the kind of camaraderie one could only expect from other writers who have been there and done that.
I want to acknowledge the Polaris Project (www.polarisproject.org) for the education they provided on the current state of human trafficking in the United States and abroad. Their website was an invaluable resource for me when doing research for this book. I hope you’ll consider showing your support of the Polaris Project, and other organizations like it, to help put an end to human trafficking.
Thank you to my agent, Ellen Pepus, and to the team at Kensington who have worked so hard to make these stories shine and get them into the hands of readers. John, Peter, Vida, Ross, Alex, Justine, and everyone else who had a hand in getting the H&W Investigations off the ground, you guys are the best.
Last but certainly not least, thank you to all you fans out there.
You all rock my socks. Thank you for all you do.