lisa gardner - the killing hour

1、AcknowledgmentsA little bit of research went into the making of this novel. In the absolutely, highly recommended, great-way-to-spend-a-weekend department, I was privileged to once again visit the FBI Academy and learn

2、 more about life amid an active Marine base. I have done my best to re-create the facilities and culture of the Academy. In regard to some of the anecdotes and traditions, however, buyer beware. The Academy is a living

3、, breathing institution, undergoing constant change depending on the year, the class, and Bureau needs. As fast as one agent told me a story of a hallowed tradition during his Academy days, another agent would confess

4、he'd never heard of such a thing. Being a crafty writer, I sifted through the various anecdotes, selected the ones I liked best and delivered them here as the gospel truth. That's my story and I'm sticking

5、to it.As much as I enjoy interviewing FBI agents, I confess I was totally blown away by the nice men and women I met via the U.S. Geological Survey team of Richmond, Virginia. I needed some experts on the great outdoor

6、s and boy, did I hit the mother lode. Not only were the team members very patient when explaining to me the intricacies of properly analyzing water samples, but they came up with a dynamite list of cool places to kill

7、people. They also gave my husband and me a personal tour of their recommended crime scenes, which had us on good behavior for weeks.Following is the rather extensive list of nice folks who took time away from their very

8、 busy lives just to answer my phone calls. These people gave me correct information with the best of intentions. What happened to it after that is entirely my fault.FIRST, THE EARTH EXPERTS:Jim Campbell, Subdistrict Ch

9、ief, U.S. Geological SurveyDavid Nelms, Hydrologist, U.S. Geological SurveyGeorge E. Harlow, Jr., P.G., Hydrologist, U.S. Geological SurveyRandall C. Orndorff, Geologist, U.S. Geological SurveyWilliam C. Burton, Geologis

10、t, U.S. Geological SurveyWil Orndorff, Karst Protection Coordinator, Virginia Department of Conservation and RecreationWendy Cass, Park Botanist, Shenandoah National ParkRon Litwin, Palynologist, U.S. Geological SurveySE

11、COND, THE DRUG EXPERTS:Margaret CharpentierCelia MacDonnellTHIRD, THE PROCEDURE EXPERTS:Special Agent Nidia Gamba, FBI, New YorkPROLOGUETHE MAN FIRST STARTED NOTICING IT IN 1998.Two girls went out to a bar, never came ho

12、me again. Deanna Wilson and Marlene Mason were the first set. Roommates at Georgia State U, nice girls by all accounts, their disappearance didn't even make the front pages of the Atlanta Journal- Constitution . Pe

13、ople disappear. Especially in a big city.Then, of course, the police found Marlene Mason's body along Interstate 75. That got things going a bit. The fine folks of Atlanta didn't like one of their daughters bein

14、g found sprawled along an interstate. Especially a white girl from a good family. Things like that shouldn't happen around here.Besides, the Mason case was a head-scratcher. The girl was found fully clothed and with

15、 her purse intact. No sign of sexual assault, no sign of robbery. In fact, her corpse looked so damn peaceful, the passing motorist who found her thought she was sleeping. But Mason was DOA. Drug overdose, ruled the M

16、E (though Mason's parents vehemently denied their daughter would do such a thing). Now where was her roommate?That was an ugly week in Atlanta. Everyone looking for a missing college coed while the mercury climbed

17、to nearly a hundred degrees. Efforts started strong, then petered out. People got hot, got tired, got busy with other things. Besides, half the state figured Wilson had done it offed her roommate in some dispute, proba

18、bly over a boy, and that was that. People watchedLaw & Order . They knew these things.A couple of hikers found Wilson's body in the fall. It was all the way up in the Tallulah Gorge, nearly a hundred miles away

19、. The body was still clad in Wilson's party clothes, right down to her three-inch heels. Not so peaceful in death this time, however. For one thing, the scavengers had gotten to her first. For another, her skull wa

20、s shattered into little bits. Probably from taking a header down one of the granite cliffs. Let's just say Mother Nature had no respect for Manolo Blahnik stilettos.Another head-scratcher. When had Wilson died? Whe

21、re had she been between that time and first vanishing from a downtown Atlanta bar? And had she offed her roommate first? Wilson's purse was recovered from the gorge. No sign of any drugs. But strangely enough, neit

22、her was there any sign of her vehicle or her car keys.The Rabun County Sheriff's Office inherited that corpse, and the case once again faded from the news.The man clipped a few articles. He didn't really know w

23、hy. He just did.In 1999, it happened again. Heat wave hit, temperatures and tempers went soaring, and two young girls went out to a bar one night and never made it back. Kasey Cooper and Josie Anders from Macon, Georgi

24、a. Maybe not such nice girls this time. Both were underage and never should've been drinking except that Anders's boyfriend was a bouncer at the bar. He claimed they weren't “hardly tipsy at all“ when he la

25、st saw them climbing into Cooper's white Honda Civic. Their distraught families claimed that both girls were track-and-field stars and wouldn't have gone anywhere without a fight.People got a little more nervou