Through the Darkness

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks…

As always, to my husband, Barry, for the galvanized stomach that gets him through the fast food stages of my peripatetic writing life.

To the Rev. Margaret Waters, priest, longtime friend, and ought-to-be-published novelist, for keeping me straight, liturgically speaking.

To Special Agent Marina Murphy, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Annapolis Regional Authority, who answered all my questions about FBI policy and procedures with intelligence and sensitivity.

If I got it wrong, it’s entirely my fault, not theirs.

To Perverted-Justice.com, Dateline NBC, and reporter Chris Hanson, whose “To Catch A Predator” television specials both inspired and informed this story.

To the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Nation’s Missing Children Organization, Child Quest International, Beyond Missing, America’s Most Wanted, Laura Recovery Center, The Polly Klaas Foundation, The Jimmy Ryce Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction, the Maryland Center for Missing Children, and similar organizations throughout the United States and abroad who work tirelessly to make the world a safer place for our children.

To Linda Jones of Bedford, England, massage therapist extraordinaire, whose hands ought to be insured by Lloyds of London; and to Barbara Holderby, for a truly inspirational “Girls Day Out” at the Spa at Pinehurst in North Carolina.

To my writers groups-Sujata Massey, John Mann, Janice McLane, and Karen Diegmueller in Baltimore and Janet Benrey, Trish Marshall, Mary Ellen Hughes, Ray Flynt, Sherriel Mattingly, and Lyn Taylor in Annapolis-for tough love.

To my amazing editor, Sarah Durand; her excellent assistant, Jeremy Cesarec; my can-do publicist, Danielle Bartlett; and everyone at HarperCollins who makes it such an incredibly supportive place for a mystery writer to be.

To my web diva and lunch buddy, Barbara Parker. Come see what Barbara can do at www.marciatalley.com.

To Erika E. Rose, attorney at law, whose generous bid at a charity auction sponsored by the Friends of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra earned her a starring role in this book.

And to Kate Charles and Deborah Crombie, without whom…