The following Sunday the five of us drove to a place called the Rutgers Boarding Academy in Ojai, California, an hour and a half northwest of Los Angeles. We took their Saturn. Clark sat in the front with me, and Teri, Charles, and Winona sat in the back. Charles said, 'Can I drive on the way back?'

Teri said, 'Don't be stupid.'

Teri appeared somber on the way out.

It was a beautiful, clear day, and the ranches and farms we passed were green from the spring rains. The Rutgers Academy was in the foothills, and as we turned through the gate and made the long drive toward a cluster of modern buildings, Clark said, 'This is very pretty.'

Winona said, 'Yeah.'

Charles said, 'Do we get to shoot guns?'

Teri leaned forward between the front seats and stared at the approaching buildings. Maybe she knew more deeply than the others that, if they agreed, this would be her home for the next few years. I said, 'Well?'

'They have stables and horses.'

'Uh-huh.' Three girls about Teri's age were walking roan horses along a bridle path.

There's supposed to be tennis courts and a pool.'

'I'm sure they'll show us.'

The headmaster was a soft-spoken man in his fifties named Adamson. I had phoned ahead, and he was waiting to show us around. He wasn't waiting alone. An attractive plump woman he introduced as Mrs. Kennedy was with him, along with a couple of sixteen-year-old students, Todd and Kimberly.

We introduced ourselves, and Mrs. Kennedy said, 'Why don't I show Winona the horses? Would you like that, Winona?'

'Yes!'

Kimberly was there to show Charles around, and Todd was there for Teri. Todd said, 'I can tell you anything you want to know about this place. I've been here since I was ten.' Todd looked like Robert Redford, young.

All three Hewitt children went in different directions, and Mr. Adamson said, 'We have a strong peer support program here. They're in good hands.'

Clark said, 'I have a lot of questions.'

'That's why I'm here, Mr. Hewitt. Why don't you and I go inside and discuss your situation.'

Clark went inside with Adamson, and I did, too, but I didn't stay long. I had already discussed Clark 's situation with Adamson, as I had discussed fees and contracts. When Teri had first suggested the place I checked it out thoroughly both through the state and on my own. I am not the World's Greatest Detective for nothing.

The Rutgers Boarding Academy had a fine academic reputation, and was known as a safe and nurturing environment. Adamson had a doctorate in education, was married with three children, and had been elected Colorado Teacher of the Year twice before assuming headmaster duties at Rutgers. His record was impeccable. There had never been a charge of any adverse nature filed against the school, or against any of its teachers or employees.

I left Clark to ask his questions and went out into the courtyard and breathed the clean mountain air. A group of kids were sitting in a circle beneath an oak tree that looked five hundred years old, talking and laughing. Parents walked with other kids around the grounds, going to or coming from cars. They probably thought I was a parent, too. I liked this place, but what I liked didn't matter a lot. What mattered was whether or not it was right for Teri and Charles and Winona.

I couldn't see Winona or Charles, but I saw Teri. She and Todd walked out of the stables toward the three girls with the horses. Todd introduced them. The three girls smiled at Teri, and Teri smiled back. They talked for a few minutes, and then the three girls continued on, and Todd and Teri turned toward a group of buildings I figured were classrooms. Todd said something, and Teri laughed. Todd laughed, too, and Teri pushed him. Then they both laughed.

They disappeared into the buildings. A little while later they reappeared and joined me at the car. Todd said, 'Anything else you want to know?'

Teri told him that she didn't think so, and thanked him for showing her around.

'Anytime.' When Todd grinned, he flashed deep dimples.

Teri and I stood together by the car, waiting for the others. I said, 'How do you like it?'

She chewed at her lip. 'It's okay.'

'That guy's kinda cute, huh?'

She turned red and adjusted her glasses.

'Will you come visit us?' She was scared. If I was her, I would probably be scared, too.

'You bet I will. As often as you want.'

She chewed the lip some more, and then she slipped her hand into mine. I gave it a squeeze. 'You're going to be okay, Teri. You're going to be just fine.'

'I know.'

Robert Crais

Robert Crais is the author of the best-selling Elvis Cole novels. A native of Louisiana, he grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in a blue collar family of oil refinery workers and police officers. He purchased a secondhand paperback of Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister when he was fifteen, which inspired his lifelong love of writing, Los Angeles, and the literature of crime fiction. Other literary influences include Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker, and John Steinbeck.

After years of amateur film-making and writing short fiction, he journeyed to Hollywood in 1976 where he quickly found work writing scripts for such major television series as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, and Miami Vice, as well as numerous series pilots and Movies-of-the-Week for the major networks. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on Hill Street Blues, but is most proud of his 4-hour NBC miniseries, Cross of Fire, which the New York Times declared: "A searing and powerful documentation of the Ku Klux Klan’s rise to national prominence in the 20s."

In the mid-eighties, feeling constrained by the collaborative working requirements of Hollywood, Crais resigned from a lucrative position as a contract writer and television producer in order to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a novelist. His first efforts proved unsuccessful, but upon the death of his father in 1985, Crais was inspired to create Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life as the basis of the story. The resulting novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat, won the Anthony and Macavity Awards and was nominated for the Edgar Award. It has since been selected as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

Crais conceived of the novel as a stand-alone, but realized that-in Elvis Cole-he had created an ideal and powerful character through which to comment upon his life and times. (See the WORKS section for additional titles.) Elvis Cole’s readership and fan base grew with each new book, then skyrocketed in 1999 upon the publication of L. A. Requiem, which was a New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller and forever changed the way Crais conceived of and structured his novels. In this new way of telling his stories, Crais combined the classic ‘first person’ narrative of the American detective novel with flashbacks, multiple story lines, multiple points-of-view, and literary elements to better illuminate his themes. Larger and deeper in scope, Publishers Weekly wrote of L. A. Requiem, "Crais has stretched himself the way another Southern California writer-Ross Macdonald-always tried to do, to write a mystery novel with a solid literary base." Booklist added, "This is an extraordinary crime novel that should not be pigeonholed by genre. The best books always land outside preset boundaries. A wonderful experience."

Crais followed with his first non-series novel, Demolition Angel, which was published in 2000 and featured former Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Technician Carol Starkey. Starkey has since become a leading character in the Elvis Cole series. In 2001, Crais published his second non-series novel, Hostage, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and was a world-wide bestseller. Additionally, the editors of Amazon.com selected Hostage as the #1 thriller of the year. A film adaptation of Hostage was released in 2005, starring Bruce Willis as ex-LAPD SWAT negotiator Jeff Talley. Elvis Cole returned in 2003 with the publication of The Last Detective, followed by the tenth Elvis Cole novel, The Forgotten Man, in 2005. Both novels explore with increasing depth the natures and characters of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. RC’s third stand-alone novel, The Two Minute Rule, was published in 2006, and was followed in 2007 by The Watchman, the first novel in the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series to feature Joe Pike in the title role.