Fifty years ago, when she was five, Sister Mary Katherine witnessed something terrible . . . A former Seattle policeman now working for the Washington State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team, J.P. Beaumont has been hand-picked to lead the investigation into a half-century-old murder. An eyewitness to the crime, a middle-aged nun, has now recalled grisly, forgotten details while undergoing hypnotherapy. It's a case as cold as the grave, and it's running headlong into another that's tearing at Beau's heart: the vicious slaying of his former partner's ex-wife. What's worse, his rapidly unraveling friend is the prime suspect. Caught in the middle of a lethal conspiracy that spans two generations and a killing that hits too close to home -- targeted by a vengeful adversary and tempted by a potential romance that threatens to reawaken his personal demons -- Beaumont may suddenly have more on his plate than he can handle, and far too much to survive. Praise for J.A. Jance: “Jance delivers a devilish page-turner.” - People “J.A. Jance does not disappoint her fans.” - Washington Times “Suspenseful, action-packed.” - Dallas Morning News “Taut . . . entertaining.” - Entertainment Weekly “Credible and entertaining.” - Orlando Sentinel “Taut, colorful...The clever and complex plot line...shows Jance at her best.” - Publishers Weekly “Crisply written and filled with suspense.” - Tucson Citizen “J.A. Jance knows suspense. Her latest thriller shines. . . .Jance is addictive.” - Statesman Journal (Oregon) Fifty years ago, when she was five, Sister Mary Katherine witnessed something terrible . . . A former Seattle policeman now working for the Washington State Attorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team, J.P. Beaumont has been hand-picked to lead the investigation into a half-century-old murder. An eyewitness to the crime, a middle-aged nun, has now recalled grisly, forgotten details while undergoing hypnotherapy. It's a case as cold as the grave, and it's running headlong into another that's tearing at Beau's heart: the vicious slaying of his former partner's ex-wife. What's worse, his rapidly unraveling friend is the prime suspect. Caught in the middle of a lethal conspiracy that spans two generations and a killing that hits too close to home -- targeted by a vengeful adversary and tempted by a potential romance that threatens to reawaken his personal demons -- Beaumont may suddenly have more on his plate than he can handle, and far too much to survive. J. A. Jance  is the  New York Times  bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, six thrillers about the Walker Family, and one volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, she lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington. Long Time Gone By J. Jance HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright ©2006 J. Jance All right reserved. ISBN: 0380724359 Chapter One Anyone who is dumb enough to live on one side of Lake Washingtonand work on the other is automatically doomed to spend lotsof time stuck in bridge traffic. Such was the case one January morningas I headed for my job as an investigator for the Washington StateAttorney's Special Homicide Investigation Team, known fondly toall of us who work there by that unfortunate moniker, the SHITsquad. I live in Belltown Terrace, a condo at the upper end of Second Avenuein downtown Seattle. My office is sixteen miles away in a southBellevue neighborhood called Eastgate. That morning's commute washampered by two separate phenomena, both of which were related toa mid-January blast of arctic air that had come swooping down onwestern Washington from the Gulf of Alaska. The first traffic hazardwas black ice, which had turned most of the minor side streets intoskating rinks. Unfortunately, I'm a world-class procrastinator, and thewinter weather had snuck up on me while my Porsche 928 was stilldecked out in summer-performance tires. The other major traffic hazard was mountains?not driving overthem, but seeing them. For nine months of the year, the mountainsaround Seattle are mostly invisible. Hidden by cloud cover, they sitthere minding their own business, but when the ?mountains are out,?as we say around here, and Mount Rainier emerges in all its snow-cladsplendor, trouble is bound to follow. Unwary drivers, entranced by theunaccustomed view, slam into the fenders of the cars in front of them,and traffic comes to a dead stop. The frigid air had left the snowcappedmountains vividly beautiful against a clear blue sky. As a result,I-90 was littered with pieces of scattered sheet metal, chrome-trimpieces, and speeding tow trucks. Between ice- and gawker-related accidents, my normal twentyminutecommute had turned into an hour-long endurance test.Adding insult to injury was the fact that this was my first morningback at work after a weeklong stay in Hawaii.You'll notice I said stay, not vacation, because it wasn't. I was th