“Sure. Berney, this is my dear friend, Cindy,” I said.

As Rich and I stepped outside to give Cindy some privacy, I could hear her saying, “I want you to have the material Burke has written. But when it’s cleared, I will need it for publication.” She was smiling when she handed the phone back to me.

I said good-bye to Joe and Berney, and then Cindy called her lawyer and friend, Bob Barnett.

Bob had represented Cindy when she’d written her true-crime thriller, Fish’s Girl.

I put my ear next to the phone so I could hear, too.

“Bob, I’m in Las Vegas. I’ve got a blockbuster in the works, a true-crime story that reads like fiction.”

Bob sounded delighted to hear her voice.

“Cindy, this is the Burke story? I’ve been following it. Avidly. As soon as you can, come to Washington so we can talk it over and make a plan.”

“See you soon,” she said.

We shared a group hug, then Rich started up the car and we headed back to the airport and home.