Dead Soon Enough: A Juniper Song Mystery Read online

  “It was you or Van, and Van was the murderer. And at the very least, it was decent of you to lie for him.”

  “I wonder if the LAPD would agree. Or Mr. and Mrs. Mkrtchian.”

  She shrugged. “Van’s dead. He wasn’t going to stand trial. And as for Nora’s parents—without a body, telling them wouldn’t have made a difference. I’ve told them about Hong and Boris, and they won’t buy it.”

  “Maybe because it’s bullshit. Maybe because as far as anyone can tell, Hong and Boris are figments of my imagination.”

  “In any case, you’ve spared Ruby. You’ve spared Alex. You’ve spared a shiny new child from a legacy of guilt.”

  I pointed behind her. “She says, leaning against a hotly contested genocide memorial.”

  “Okay, I see the irony there, you fucking smart-ass.” She smirked and looked behind her, touching the bronze. “Speaking of children—”

  “Were we?”

  “—now that you have all this free time, do you think you’ll track down your eggs?”

  “Are you going to maternity test Alex?”

  “Jesus, no.”

  “It won’t kill you not to know?”

  “I can’t say I’m not curious, but I think I’ll have to deal.”

  I leaned back on my hands, cracking my knuckles. “I feel exactly the same way.”

  “Everything’s a mess all the time, isn’t it?” She sighed and rested her head against Nora’s memorial, turning lazily to me.

  I met her eyes and smiled. A current of joy bubbled through me, unexpected, and subsided just as quickly, leaving a lingering coolness, temporary serenity.

  I tore up a handful of grass and scattered it back on the ground. “It is what it is, I guess. Might as well get used to it.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book owes its genesis to a conversation in Lake Arrowhead with my friends Levon Paronyan and Lara Kalaydjian. Thank you guys for your support and enthusiasm, and for sharing your experiences as Armenian-Americans in L.A.

  As always, thanks to my agent, Ethan Bassoff, for your hard work and friendship. We’ve gone through a lot together in the last five years, and I’m grateful for all of it.

  Thanks to my editor, Anne Brewer, for guiding me through our third (!) book together. Thanks, too, to Shailyn Tavella, Jennifer Letwack, and the rest of the St. Martin’s team.

  Thanks to Phillip Burruel, for buying me lunch and sharing your stories.

  Thanks to Ben Loory, for regular doses of clarity (for example, on how to handle acknowledgments).

  Thanks to Naomi Hirahara, for your warmth and mentorship.

  My friends—thanks for all of the hugs and drinks and conversations.

  Mom, Dad, Andrew, Peter—thanks for your continuing love and support.

  Thanks to my intern, Duke Charbabella, for your steadfast companionship.

  Thanks to my husband, Matt Barbabella, for loving me even at my laziest and most self-loathing. You were right about that jigsaw puzzle.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  STEPH CHA is the author of Follow Her Home and Beware Beware. She is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times. A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, she lives in her native city of Los Angeles, California. This is her third novel. You can sign up for email updates here.

  ALSO BY STEPH CHA

  Beware Beware

  Follow Her Home

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Steph Cha

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS.

  An imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.

  DEAD SOON ENOUGH. Copyright © 2015 by Steph Cha. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.thomasdunnebooks.com

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein

  Cover photograph by Evan Lane

  eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Cha, Steph.

  Dead soon enough: a Juniper Song mystery / Steph Cha.—First edition.

  pages; cm

  “A Thomas Dunne Book.”

  ISBN 978-1-250-06531-5 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-46687206-6 (e-book)

  1. Women private investigators—Fiction. 2. Los Angeles (Calif.)—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3603.H27D43 2015

  813’.6—dc23

  2015017138

  e-ISBN 9781466872066

  First Edition: August 2015