Prologue (64 page)

Instead of answering she again checked the screen in front of her before sitting back on her stool.

“I just thought I’d do something different with my hair,” she said airily. “Like it?

“So
Nancy
,” she said turning her attention to the older girl without waiting for an answer, “you haven’t seen your father’s new lab? He’ll give you the grand tour. Every time is like a new experience for him, right,
honey
?” she asked, turning to Paul.

She checked the screen again.
“Maybe after you finish up that PhD at the
University
of
Chicago
you can get a professorship here with your dad.
Any reason you can’t have a father and daughter teaching in the same department, Paul?” she asked coyly.

Amanda reached over, clicked out of the screen in front of her, and stood up. As she passed Paul she lightly took his hand and guided him to his feet.

“It’s O.K.,” she said softly. “It’s all O.K. Like I said, there’s something else I have to tell you about, about
Ithaca
, about when I left, but it can wait.”

She turned to the two young women at the door. “First, we have to take our daughters to the game tonight at
Fenway
Park
. Some parents our age take their kids for granted but I don’t think we’ll ever do that, will we? And besides,” she added mischievously, “the rookie’s pitching and like you always say, Paul, we’ve got to prioritize.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Greg Ahlgren is a criminal defense lawyer in
Manchester
,
New Hampshire
. He received his B.A. degree from
Syracuse
University
in 1974 and his J.D. from the University
of Pennsylvania School of
Law in 1977. He has been a criminal justice professor, a state legislator, and a political activist, and has appeared as a frequent guest on both national and local television and radio shows on true crime and historical issues. His other books include the international thriller
The Medici Legacy
and, together with Stephen Monier, he co-authored the true crime book
Crime of the Century:
The
Lindbergh Kidnapping Hoax
. If you enjoyed this book and wish to peruse other books by the author, or wish to comment on this book, please visit his writing website at GregAhlgren.com. He can be contacted directly at
[email protected]
.