The Printed Page

The next installment of Susan Arnout Smith’s gripping detective series starring CSI detective Grace Descanso. Opening just one day after the ending of ‘The Timer’ Game’, CSI agent, Grace Descanso has to come to terms with the reality of introducing Mac into Katie’s life, as her father. As the three spend time together in the Bahamas, Katie begins to develop a bond with her father. Grace knows that life as she knew it, with her daughter, has come to an end. It is not long before Grace’s personal life is interrupted. Thaddeus Bartholomew, a history professor is forced at gunpoint to drive to a soy field. As he lies dying, he leaves a message on his answerphone at home in Morse code: find Grace Descanso. Cut off before finishing, the FBI need to know why he asked for Grace. A journey into a world of activism and violence, secrets and lies, ‘Out at Night’ is a break neck rollercoaster of a thriller, gripping from the first page until the last.

“That’s it.”
“I’ll have a Riverside police officer there in five.”
Grace looked at Elaine, gathering books together and quietly weeping. Her cheeseburger lay untouched.
“You’re going to need somebody to talk to her professors. She’s worried about assignments being due and missing deadlines.”
“I’m worried about the Convention Center going up in flames in an hour, unless we can figure out what’s here.”
“Where are you taking me?” Elaine’s voice was subdued.
“Somebody from the police is going to take you into Palm Springs, Elaine.”
“No, I mean where.”
“Tell her the Convention Center Grace,” Pete barked in her ear.
“Everybody’s at the Convention Center,” Grace said quietly. “That’s where they’ll interrogate you.” She immediately wished she hadn’t used that word.
Elaine paled. “Grace, I just remembered something else. Tammy told me she was working there. She had a job at the Convention Center.”
Grace looked at her steadily. “Uncle Pete, you still there? Tammy was going to work the Convention Center.” She lowered her voice and turned so that Elaine couldn’t hear. “Were the student volunteers at the ag convention all printed?”
“To work there, yeah. And we just came up with a match to prints for the housekeeper at Bartholomew’s. A student named Mindy Coresu.”
“Mindy.” Grace searched her memory and found it: a dewy, glossy-haired student with a name tag: HELLO! MY NAME IS MINDY! Manning the information kiosk inside the Convention Center. If she was inside, and part of Bartholomew’s group, then what they had planned for that night could have made it inside.
~ From page 244, Out At Night by Susan Arnout Smith ~