The Shadow of Your Smile

B
Y
M
ARY
H
IGGINS
C
LARK

Just Take My Heart

Where Are You Now?

Ghost Ship
(Illustrated by Wendell Minor)

I Heard That Song Before

Two Little Girls in Blue

No Place Like Home

Nighttime Is My Time

The Second Time Around

Kitchen Privileges

Mount Vernon Love Story

Silent Night/All Through the Night

Daddy’s Little Girl

On the Street Where You Live

Before I Say Good-bye

We’ll Meet Again

All Through the Night

You Belong to Me

Pretend You Don’t See Her

My Gal Sunday

Moonlight Becomes You

Silent Night

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

The Lottery Winner

Remember Me

I’ll Be Seeing You

All Around the Town

Loves Music, Loves to Dance

The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories

While My Pretty One Sleeps

Weep No More, My Lady

Stillwatch

A Cry in the Night

The Cradle Will Fall

A Stranger Is Watching

Where Are the Children?

B
Y
M
ARY
H
IGGINS
C
LARK AND
C
AROL
H
IGGINS
C
LARK

Dashing Through the Snow

Santa Cruise

The Christmas Thief

He Sees You When You’re Sleeping

Deck the Halls

M
ARY
H
IGGINS
C
LARK

S
IMON
& S
CHUSTER
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and

incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or

are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events

or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2010 by Mary Higgins Clark

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or

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Designed by Jill Putorti

Manufactured in the United States of America

10  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clark, Mary Higgins.

The shadow of your smile : a novel / Mary Higgins Clark.

  p.      cm.

1. Women psychologists—Fiction. 2. Criminologists—Fiction.
3. Brothers—Fiction. 4. Twins—Fiction. 5. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 6. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3553.L287S48 2010

813'.54—dc22                       2009043894

ISBN 978-1-4391-7226-1

ISBN 978-1-4391-9987-9 (ebook)

Acknowledgments
 

In my last book I wrote about the medical miracle of a heart transplant and that the recipient may have taken on some of the characteristics of the donor.

This story concerns a different miracle, one that medical science cannot explain. Last spring I attended the Beatification Ceremony of a nun who founded seven hospitals for the aged and infirm and is credited, by the power of prayer, with saving the life of a child.

At that beautiful ceremony, I decided I wanted to write about that subject as part of this novel. I have found it to be an insightful journey—one that I hope you will enjoy sharing.

As always I’m indebted to the faithful mentors and friends who make smooth the path as I labor at the computer.

It has been a constant joy that Michael Korda has been my editor for thirty-five years. From page one to
The End,
his guidance, encouragement, and enthusiasm have been an unfailing source of strength.

Senior Editor Amanda Murray has accompanied us every step of the way with her wise suggestions and input.

Thank you always to Associate Director of Copyediting Gypsy da Silva; my publicist, Lisl Cade; and my readers-in-progress Irene Clark, Agnes Newton and Nadine Petry. What a grand team I have.

Many thanks to Patricia Handal, coordinator of the Cardinal Cooke Guild, for her invaluable and generous assistance in discussing the canonization process.

Many thanks to Detective Marco Conelli for answering my questions about police procedure.

Thanks also to patent attorney Gregg A. Paradise, Esq., who advised me about patent laws, an important element in this story.

It is high time that I give a tip of the hat to marvelous photographer, Bernard Vidal, who for twenty years has journeyed from Paris to take my cover photo and to Karem Alsina, master hair stylist and makeup artist, who allows me year after year to put my best face forward on the back cover of the newest book.

No accomplishment would have any meaning if it were not being shared with my husband, John Conheeney, spouse extraordinaire, and our children and grandchildren. You know how I feel about all of you.

And now my readers and friends, I hope you curl up and enjoy this latest effort. Happy Reading and God bless you one and all.

For my youngest child

Patricia Mary Clark

“Patty”

whose wit, resilience, and charm

has brightened all our lives

With Love

1
 

On Monday morning, Olivia Morrow sat quietly across the desk from her longtime friend Clay Hadley, absorbing the death sentence he had just pronounced.

For an instant, she looked away from the compassion she saw in his eyes and glanced out the window of his twenty-fourth-floor office on East Seventy-second Street in Manhattan. In the distance she could see a helicopter making its slow journey over the East River on this chilly October morning.

My journey is ending, she thought, then realized that Clay was expecting a response from her.

“Two weeks,” she said. It was not a question. She glanced at the antique clock on the bookcase behind Clay’s desk. It was ten minutes past nine. The first day of the two weeks—at least it’s the start of the day, she thought, glad that she had asked for an early appointment.

He was answering her. “Three at the most. I’m sorry, Olivia. I was hoping . . .”

“Don’t be sorry,” Olivia interrupted briskly. “I’m eighty-two years old. Even though my generation lives so much longer than the previous ones, my friends have been dropping like flies lately. Our problem is that we worry we’ll live too long and end up in a nursing home, or become a terrible burden to everyone. To know I have a very short time left, but will still be able to think clearly
and walk around unassisted until the very end is an immeasurable gift.” Her voice trailed off.

Clay Hadley’s eyes narrowed. He understood the troubled expression that had erased the serenity from Olivia’s face. Before she spoke, he knew what she would say. “Clay, only you and I know.”