The Ancient Rain (29 page)

Meanwhile, the rain was falling. It was an old rain. Blood puddled in the rain along with the oil. There was the smell of gasoline in the air, but it didn't matter. It was a rain that had been falling for a long time. It didn't clean anything, but it kept falling anyway.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This novel takes its title from a poem by San Francisco poet Bob Kaufman, “The Ancient Rain,” which appeared in a volume of poetry by the same title, originally published by New Directions in 1981. The brief appearance of Kaufman himself in these pages, and the videotape described, are apocryphal renderings and should not be regarded as biographical fact. Also, the activities of the Symbionese Liberation Army, and the events leading to their apprehension, have been fictionalized for the sake of this drama. This book is a work of the imagination, and all characters are fictitious.

Also by Domenic Stansberry

The Big Boom

Chasing the Dragon

Manifesto for the Dead

The Last Days of Il Duce

The Confession

The Spoiler

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE ANCIENT RAIN.
Copyright © 2008 by Domenic Stansberry. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stansberry, Domenic.

The ancient rain / Domenic Stansberry. —1st ed.

        p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36453-3

ISBN-10: 0-312-36453-9

1. Private investigators—Fiction. 2. North Beach (San Francisco, Calif.)—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3569.T3335A84 2008

813'.54—dc22

2007049768

First Edition: April 2008

eISBN 9781466857766

First eBook edition: October 2013