Love You More: A Novel

Whatever. It’s mostly like street level buys and busts, you know, Joaquim shooting Rakim, blah blah blah.





SARAH




You think Homicide’s gonna be any different?





HOLDER




Least you got a bad guy.





SARAH




Yeah? Who’s that?





Holder looks at her, waiting for more. No luck. They stop at a light.

On the sidewalk, a TEEN RUNAWAY — 16, male, filthy dreads, kindly face — slouches numbly against a monstrous duffel bag. Rain drizzling down.

Holder presses two fingers against the glass: “Peace”. The Teen Runaway lazily sticks up his middle finger: “Fuck you”.

Holder grins, gives him the finger back. As they pull away—





HOLDER




Is that why you running away, Linden? Cuz you don’t know no more?





She doesn’t even look at him. Off which—

EXT. SEATTLE - AERIAL SHOT FROM A DISTANCE - DAY

Transition.

EXT. DISCOVERY PARK - FIELD - DAY

Sarah drives down the fire road, pulling up to the scene. A scattering of UNIFORMS in a desolate field, woods in the near distance, lonely fire road. Rain abated for now.

Exiting their car, Sarah and Holder make there way to the scene and are approached by a young, UNIFORM in charge—





UNIFORM




Detective Linden …





SARAH




Where’s the body?





UNIFORM




Still lookin’. School kids on a field trip this mornin’ found this.





He hands a clear Evidence BAG to Sarah — inside a shimmery pink SWEATER. Torn, blood-smeared.





HOLDER




This park’s like Tweaker Central at nights. Ho-bags bringin’ their tricks down. Could be some basehead—





SARAH




(hands the evidence bag back to the Uni)



The owner’s not an addict. At least not the kind who hangs around here.



(off Holder’s look)



It’s a wool sweater. Looks recently cleaned.





HOLDER




Brought it to the coin wash, so what.





SARAH




You dry clean wool? Do you know any tweakers who drop their wardrobe off at the cleaners?



(to uniform) Anything else?





UNIFORM




This. ATM card.





He holds out a baggie: inside, a bank CARD. Imprinted on the front: “STANLEY LARSEN”. Holder takes it—





HOLDER




‘Stanley Larsen’. Guy loses his wallet while he’s gettin’ his knob polished?





ON Sarah as she steps away from Holder and the Uni, surveys the field — taking it in.

HOLDER (O.S.) (CONT’D)



(to Uni)



Anyway, keep lookin’. Search the field …





SARAH




(to Uni)



You find anything else, mark it, don’t move it. And call in Sex Crimes. This is theirs for now.





She heads to the car. Holder, surprised, follows—





HOLDER




Yo. We got here first.





SARAH




Yeah and we don’t got a body.





HOLDER




Not yet.





Sarah, impatient, checks her watch.





SARAH




You wanna follow it up, go for it.





HOLDER




You’re my ride, Linden.





SARAH




So, I’ll drop you off at the station, I need to finish packing up—





HOLDER




I thought you were done.



(off her look)



Flight’s not til nine, right? I won’t let you miss it. Promise.





Holder grins, walks ahead.

HOLDER (CONT’D)



Let’s have a talk with this Stanley Larsen.





Sarah clocks something on the back of his neck, peeking above his collar: a TATTOO. The top of an ornate CRUCIFIX. Sarah, curious, follows.





AUTHOR’S NOTE AND

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


With all due respect to Detective D. D. Warren, my favorite part of embarking on a new novel isn’t spending time with old characters, but rather, researching new and inventive ways to commit murder and mayhem. Oh, and, um, also spending quality time with law enforcement professionals who remind me why a life of crime really isn’t a good idea, and thus I should continue to hope the whole writing gig pans out.

For Love You More, I got to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams of conducting research at the University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility, aka the Body Farm. I am deeply indebted to Dr. Lee Jantz, who is one of the smartest people I know, working one of the coolest jobs on the planet. She can look at a pile of cremated bones and tell you within thirty seconds pretty much everything about the person, including gender, age, chronic health issues, and what kind of dental floss he/she used. I had many moments with Dr. Jantz I would’ve liked to have put in the novel, but I didn’t think anyone would believe me.