The Melody Lingers On
B
Y
M
ARY
H
IGGINS
C
LARK
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Daddy’s Gone A Hunting
The Magical Christmas Horse
(Illustrated by Wendell Minor)
I’ll Walk Alone
The Shadow of Your Smile
Just Take My Heart
Where Are You Now?
Ghost Ship
(Illustrated by Wendell Minor)
I Heard That Song Before
Two Little Girls in Blue
No Place Like Home
Nighttime Is My Time
The Second Time Around
Kitchen Privileges
Mount Vernon Love Story
Silent Night/All Through the Night
Daddy’s Little Girl
On the Street Where You Live
Before I Say Good-Bye
We’ll Meet Again
All Through the Night
You Belong to Me
Pretend You Don’t See Her
My Gal Sunday
Moonlight Becomes You
Silent Night
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
The Lottery Winner
Remember Me
I’ll Be Seeing You
All Around Town
Loves Music, Loves to Dance
The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories
While My Pretty One Sleeps
Weep No More, My Lady
Stillwatch
A Cry in the Night
The Cradle Will Fall
A Stranger Is Watching
Where Are the Children?
B
Y
M
ARY
H
IGGINS
C
LARK AND
C
AROL
H
IGGINS
C
LARK
Dashing Through the Snow
Santa Cruise
The Christmas Thief
He Sees You When You’re Sleeping
Deck the Halls
B
Y
M
ARY
H
IGGINS
C
LARK AND
A
LAFAIR
B
URKE
The Cinderella Murder
First published in the US by Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2015
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2015
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Mary Higgins Clark, 2015
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
The right of Mary Higgins Clark to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988.
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
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222 Gray’s Inn Road
London WC1X 8HB
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Hardback ISBN: 978-1-47114-852-1
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-47114-853-8
eBook ISBN: 978-1-47114-854-5
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd are committed to sourcing paper that is made from wood grown in sustainable forests and supports the Forest Stewardship Council, the leading
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O
nce again the tale has been told. In this case the song has ended.
As always I’ve enjoyed the journey. While I am happy to write the words “The End,” there is also a certain poignancy about it. I have become very fond of the characters in this
book. I leave you to discover anyone I am not fond of.
As usual there are those who walked the mile with me. To them a tip of the hat and my great gratitude.
First, of course, my editor of fifty years, Michael Korda. I am so blessed to have teamed up with him all these years.
Marysue Rucci, V.P., editor-in-chief at Simon & Schuster, for her wise input and guidance.
Elizabeth Breeden, for her diligence and patience throughout the editing process.
Art Director Jackie Seow, for the compelling cover art she creates.
Ed Boran, retired FBI agent and current president of the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, who was my mentor as I learned how the Bureau would investigate a crime like this one.
Interior Designer Eve Ardia, who instructed me on how to spend five million dollars decorating an apartment in this story.
Nadine Petry, my assistant and right hand these past seventeen years.
Rick Kimball, for his advice on how to move large amounts of money around—away from watchful eyes.
Finally my family support group—Spouse Extraordinaire John Conheeney for his unwavering support; my children, all of whom are always available and helpful when I want their comments on a
chapter or two. They are especially helpful when they point out that an expression I am using is unrecognizable by today’s generation.
Tempus fugit
and all that!
Happy reading, one and all.
Mary Higgins Clark
In memory of June Crabtree
Dear friend since our days at Villa Maria Academy
With love
1
T
hirty-year-old Elaine Marsha Harmon walked briskly from her apartment on East Thirty-Second Street in Manhattan to her job as an assistant
interior decorator fifteen blocks away in the Flatiron Building at Twenty-Third Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Her coat was warm but she had not worn gloves. There was a distinct chill this
early November morning.
She had twisted her long auburn hair and fastened it at the back of her head. Now only wisps of it blew around her face. Tall, like her father, and slender, like her mother, she had realized
after graduating from college that the life of a teacher was not the way for her to go. Instead, she enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology and after receiving a degree had been hired by
Glady Harper, the doyenne of interior decorating among the wealthy and the socially ambitious.