Think Twice

Be

“Yes, I’m a new homeowner, and Anthony and I are doing great, too.”

“Congratulations on that, too! Are you guys going to live together?”

“Not yet.” Mary shook her head, smiling. “We’re taking it slow.”

“Good. Tell Anthony I said hello, will you?”

“You can tell him yourself. He’s here, and he brought a friend.”

Mary stepped aside with a flourish, and her parents, Fiorella, and The Tonys cleared away. Anthony emerged from the back of the crowd, holding a leash, and at the end stood Bear, wagging his tail. His belly had been shaved and two of his legs had a bandage, but when he saw Be

“Bear!” Be

Grady beamed. “I couldn’t bring myself to put him down and I asked them to do the surgery. I had to make secret phone calls to see how he was, but I didn’t want to tell you until he was out of the woods.”

“I love you!”

“Me or the dog?” Grady asked, but Be

“Let’s go home, gang,” Be

“Arf!” Bear barked, and everybody laughed.

Acknowledgments

Think Twice is a thriller with gunplay, chase scenes, and bad girls, but at its warm and gooey center, it’s a story about the power of a mother’s love. So first, thanks go to my mother, Mary Scottoline. She’s the strongest person I know, or could even imagine, and has triumphed over so much adversity to become the woman she is that I can’t decide whether I love her more than I admire her, or the other way around. She’s the reason Is tarted writing, because I wanted to see in books the kind of strong, smart, and fu

I’m a big fan of thank you, and after sixteen novels, I’m lucky enough to have a SWAT team of go-to experts to answer all of my hard questions, though any mistakes are mine. For legal and police procedures, I always turn to Gle

For medical issues, thanks to Brad Zerr and Tina Saurian. For financial and banking issues, thanks to the folks at PNC, Rick Monterosso and Marlene McCafferty. And for law firm finances, thanks to my BFF Franca Palumbo, Esq., now of her own law firm, Thalheimer & Palumbo. Congrats, Franca!

Big hug to the University of Pe

Think Twice took me off the reservation big time, for a research trip to Nassau, Bahamas, where everyone was enormously helpful and friendly. Thanks so much to Officer Antonio Bain, of the Royal Bahamian Police, who answered all of my questions and took me on a tour of the police station in Nassau, and huge thanks to Wilbert Moss, an expert criminal defense attorney, who spent so much of his valuable time teaching me the intricacies of Bahamian criminal law. Thank you both so much for your expertise and hospitality.

On the publishing end, thank you to the gang at St. Martin’s Press, starting with my editor and coach, Je

Thanks and big love to my genius agent, Molly Friedrich, to the Amazing Paul Cirone, and to the lovely and talented Lucy Carson.

My wonderful assistant and bestie Laura Leonard is invaluable in every way. Thanks, sweetie, and especially for going to Nassau with me as one of our continuing excellent adventures. Nobody is better on a research run than Laura, and plus, she’s fun!

Finally, biggest thanks and love go to my remarkable daughter, Francesca, a writer herself, who helped me with this book, as well as our dogs, cats, and a very stubborn pony, who shall remain nameless.

Lisa Scottoline